BREAST-FEEDING AND CHILD SURVIVAL IN MATLAB, BANGLADESH

This study investigates the effect of both total and unsupplemented breast-feeding in conjunction with birth interval on early childhood mortality, using longitudinal data from Matlab, Bangladesh. A discrete hazard model approach shows that it is not the duration of total breast-feeding but the duration of unsupplemented breast-feeding which increases child survival. Unsupplemented breast-feeding appears as such a crucial determinant of early childhood mortality that its effect could not be substantially attenuated even when important demographic and socioeconomic factors were controlled. Each of the covariates-supplementation, previous birth interval and onset of a subsequent conception-has an independent influence on early childhood mortality.