The Relationship Between Breastfeeding and Outcomes

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Moms with more education tend to have kids who do better in school. It is also the case that moms who breastfeed tend to be different than those who don't. So many of these kind of claims that are made just do not have support when we look at the best data.

Economist and author Emily Oster of Brown University talks about her book Cribsheet with EconTalk host Russ Roberts. Oster explores what the data and evidence can tell us about parenting in areas such as breastfeeding, sleep habits, discipline, vaccination, and food allergies. Oster often finds that commonly held views on some of these topics are not well supported by the evidence while on others, the evidence appears decisive. Oster thoughtfully explores the challenges of using empirical work and balances our sometimes ignorance with common sense.