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We show that children who are born at the weekend or just before are less likely to be breastfed, owing to poorer breastfeeding support services at weekends. We use this variation to estimate the effect of breastfeeding on children's development for a sample of uncomplicated births from low educated mothers. We find that breastfeeding has large effects on children's cognitive development, but not on non-cognitive development or health. Regarding mechanisms, we estimate how breastfeeding affects parental investments in the child and the quality of the mother-child relationship.
Authors
Research Fellow University College London
Emla Fitzsimons is a Professor of Economics at the University College London Institute of Education and a Research Fellow at the IFS.
Research Fellow University College London
Marcos is a Research Fellow at IFS, an Affiliate at the Rural Education Action Program and a Professor of Economics at the University College London.
Working Paper details
- DOI
- 10.1920/wp.ifs.2013.1331
- Publisher
- IFS
Suggested citation
Fitzsimons, E and Vera-Hernandez, M. (2013). Food for Thought? Breastfeeding and Child Development. London: IFS. Available at: https://ifs.org.uk/publications/food-thought-breastfeeding-and-child-development (accessed: 28 March 2024).
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