The Benefits of Breast Feeding across the Early Years of Childhood

Clive R. Belfield and Inas Kelly ()

Journal of Human Capital, 2012, vol. 6, issue 3, 251 - 277

Abstract: There has been much scrutiny recently of the choice to breast-feed rather than formula-feed an infant, yet key identification issues remain to be resolved. This study uses the Early Childhood Longitudinal Survey--Birth Cohort to explore the causal effect of breast feeding on child development. Using simultaneous equations models and propensity score measures and adjusting for confounding factors, we examine health, physical, and cognitive outcomes and relate these to a set of breast feeding and formula feeding intensities measures. Our results indicate that breast feeding is protective against obesity and improves cognitive outcomes at 24 months and 54 months. Furthermore, not being formula-fed at birth is associated with higher motor scores.

Date: 2012
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (52)

Downloads: (external link)
http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/667415 (application/pdf)
http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/667415 (text/html)
Access to the online full text or PDF requires a subscription.

Related works:
Working Paper: The Benefits of Breastfeeding Across the Early Years of Childhood (2013)
Working Paper: The Benefits of Breastfeeding Across the Early Years of Childhood (2010)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ucp:jhucap:doi:10.1086/667415

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Journal of Human Capital from University of Chicago Press
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Journals Division ().