Breastfeeding and infants' time use (Research Paper No. 43).

Abstract

Being breastfed during infancy is known to improve developmental outcomes, but the pathways by which this occurs remain unclear. This paper explores one possible mechanism: that breastfed infants may spend their time differently to infants who are not breastfed. The authors analysed infants' time use data from the first wave (2004) of Growing Up in Australia: The Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC), derived from diaries completed by the parents of almost 3,000 Australian infants aged 3?14 months. The results show that breastfed infants spend more time being held or cuddled and being read or talked to, and less time sleeping, or eating or drinking. They also cried slightly more, and watched television slightly less than infants who were not being breastfed. Infants who breastfed spent more time with their parents, and in particular, almost one additional hour a day alone with their mother compared to non-breastfeeding infants. The paper also uses the time use data to analyse which infants were still breastfeeding, and what factors are associated with differences in time spent breastfeeding, including child characteristics, mothers' employment status, Indigenous background, Non-English speaking background, educational attainment, and smoking.