Effects of motherhood timing, breastmilk substitutes and education on the duration of breastfeeding: Evidence from Egypt

Firat Demir, Pallab Ghosh and Zexuan Liu

World Development, 2020, vol. 133, issue C

Abstract: Breastfeeding has significant health and human capital effects on both mothers and infants. However, breastfeeding rates vary significantly within and across countries as societal, political, economic and cultural factors along with individual choices shape the breastfeeding practices. Using data from the Egyptian Demographic and Health Surveys, this study examines the effects of first motherhood timing, availability of breastmilk substitutes, and mothers’ education levels on breastfeeding duration in a major developing country, Egypt. The empirical analysis, which corrects for the estimation errors that plagued previous research, shows that delaying the first motherhood timing and increasing the availability of infant formulas have statistically significant negative effects on breastfeeding duration. Furthermore, breastfeeding duration is found to be decreasing in mothers’ education levels.

Keywords: Breastfeeding duration; Motherhood timing; Breastmilk substitutes; Education (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I12 J13 O12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:133:y:2020:i:c:s0305750x20301406

DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2020.105014

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