Downloads
![Image representing the file: Breastfeeding and child development](/sites/default/files/2022-08/WP202138-Breastfeeding-and-child-development.pdf.jpg)
Breastfeeding and child development
PDF | 1.26 MB
We show that children who are born at or just before the weekend are less likely to be breastfed, owing to poorer breastfeeding support services in hospitals at weekends. We use this variation to estimate the effect of breastfeeding on children’s development in the first five years of life, for a sample of births of low educated mothers. We find large effects of breastfeeding on children’s cognitive development but no effects on health or non-cognitive development during the period of childhood we consider. Regarding mechanisms, we study how breastfeeding affects parental investments and the quality of the mother-child relationship.
Authors
![Emla Fitzsimons](/sites/default/files/styles/square_desktop/public/2022-07/Emla%20Fitzsimons.jpg?itok=dRO7usQ4)
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.
![Marcos Vera Hernandez](/sites/default/files/styles/square_desktop/public/2022-06/Marcos_Vera_Hernandez.jpg?itok=TC0EwY1c)
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.2021.3821
- Publisher
- Institute for Fiscal Studies
Suggested citation
Fitzsimons, E and Vera-Hernandez, M. (2021). Breastfeeding and child development. London: Institute for Fiscal Studies. Available at: https://ifs.org.uk/publications/breastfeeding-and-child-development (accessed: 30 June 2024).
Grant
Related documents
Download online appendix
PDF | 5.86 MB
More from IFS
Understand this issue
![Female surgeon](/sites/default/files/styles/square_desktop/public/2024-04/female-surgeon-2.jpg?itok=DxoZaqMs)
If you can’t see it, you can’t be it: role models influence female junior doctors’ choice of medical specialty
24 April 2024
![Ed Davey](/sites/default/files/styles/square_desktop/public/2024-06/Ed-Davey-.jpg?itok=ztS9cL-S)
Liberal Democrat manifesto: a reaction
10 June 2024
![Jeremy Hunt outside 10 Downing Street](/sites/default/files/styles/square_desktop/public/2023-02/jeremy-hunt-outside-10-downing-st.jpg?itok=m0Sc2eBL)
Spring Budget 2024: What you need to know
7 March 2024
Policy analysis
![Doctor uses tablet](/sites/default/files/styles/square_desktop/public/2024-05/Doctor-checks-tablet_0.jpg?itok=WW7QqUXF)
IFS response to Labour Party announcement on NHS waiting lists
28 May 2024
![Ambulance and police car](/sites/default/files/styles/square_desktop/public/2024-06/Ambulance-and-police-car.jpg?itok=RMgHb2lX)
How should we interpret parties’ public spending pledges this election?
23 June 2024
![Ambulance and police car](/sites/default/files/styles/square_desktop/public/2024-06/Ambulance-and-police-car.jpg?itok=RMgHb2lX)
Main parties’ manifestos tell us little about the funding individual public services would actually receive
23 June 2024
Academic research
![Working Paper Cover](/sites/default/files/styles/portrait/public/2024-05/WP202421-The-role-of-hospital-networks-in-individual-mortality_Page_01.jpg?itok=BudO5o_w)
The role of hospital networks in individual mortality
13 May 2024
![Working paper cover](/sites/default/files/styles/portrait/public/2024-04/WP202411-A-senior-doctor-like-me-gender-match-and-occupational-choice_Page_01.jpg?itok=1aMC1EiX)
A senior doctor like me: Gender match and occupational choice
24 April 2024
![Working Paper Cover](/sites/default/files/styles/portrait/public/2024-05/WP202419-Forced-displacement-mental-health-and-child-development-evidence-from-the-rohingya-refugees_Page_01.jpg?itok=ZnUTIDEq)
Forced displacement, mental health, and child development: Evidence from Rohingya refugees
10 May 2024