Breastfeeding and Child Disability: A Comparison of Siblings from the United States

George Wehby

No 19940, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: Little is known about whether breastfeeding may prevent disabilities throughout childhood. We evaluate the effects of breastfeeding on child disability using data from the National Survey of Family Growth merged to the National Health Interview Survey for a large nationally representative sample of children aged 1 to 18 years from the U.S. including over 3,000 siblings who are discordant on breastfeeding status/duration. We focus on a mother fixed effect model that compares siblings in order to account for family-level unobservable confounders and employ multiple specifications including a dynamic model that accounts for disability status of the prior child. Breastfeeding the child for a longer duration is associated with a lower risk of child disability, by about 0.2 percentage-points per month of breastfeeding. This effect is only observed on the intensive margin among breastfed children, as any breastfeeding has no effect on the extensive margin. We conclude that very short breastfeeding durations are unlikely to have an effect on reducing disability risk.

JEL-codes: I12 J13 J24 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014-02
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hea
Note: CH EH
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Published as George L. Wehby, 2014. "Breastfeeding and child disability: A comparison of siblings from the United States," Economics & Human Biology, vol 15, pages 13-22.

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