The Relationship Between Infant Milk Powder Feeding And Early Childhood Development

Since the reform and opening up policy launched in 1978,China's economy has made it step onto a fast developing road and has become one of the fastest growing economies in the world.Though China has made remarkable achievements in economic growth and poverty reduction,poverty and inequality still exist.Compared with the national average poverty level,children in western rural areas are more likely to get into poverty than others.More and more countries in the world have chosen to invest in human capital as the focus of anti-poverty policy.Research shows that in the different stages of human development,the investment return in childhood is the most cost-effective.Research on child nutrition in particular emphasizes the key role played by the 'critical first 1,000 days',including the prenatal period and first two years after birth.Infant and child feeding is a cornerstone of early childhood care,and have an important influence on children's nutritional status,physical development and development level.Appropriate feeding ensures an adequate provision of nutrients beginning in the early stages of life,which is crucial to ensure good physical and mental development and long-term health.Inappropriate feeding practice and the consequent consequences will impede social and economic development and then the reduction of poverty.The economic development of the country is also difficult to gain a notable increase in the long-term.A recent market report showed that China is the largest market of infant formula in the world,the usage of formula is widespread.At present,there are a large number of studies analyzing the current situation of infant breastfeeding and its short-term and long-term effects,but little attention has been paid to infant formula feeding.Based on the importance of infant and young child feeding to early childhood development and concerns about child development in poor areas,the overall goal of this paper is to describe the formula feeding behavior in rural southern Shaanxi and to examine the relationship between formula feeding and early childhood development.In order to improve the healthy growth and development of infants in rural areas,as well as the increase of human capital,this paper also offer scientific and reasonable suggestions and provide relevant departments with effective policy references.The data used in this paper comes from the Infant Nutrition Project jointly carried out by Center for Experimental Economics in Education at Shaanxi Normal University,Center for Chinese Agricultural Policy at Chinese Academy of Sciences and the West China College of Medicine at Sichuan University.We conducted our study in 11 nationally-designated poverty counties located in southern Shaanxi Province from April 2013 to April 2015,and we use a rich panel dataset that consists of 1,802 infants between 0-3 years old.To accomplish this goal,we have several specific objectives.Firstly,we describe caregiver formula feeding behavior based on the age group of their infants,meanwhile,we seek to understand the relationship between formula intake and dietary diversity over time,and also,we identify the types of families who use formula to feed their children.Secondly,by collecting information on hemoglobin concentrations,anemia,mental development,psychomotor development,and socio-emotional development,weight-for-height Z-scores and infant illnesses as measures of early childhood development,we study the relationship between formula feeding and early children development.The main results of this paper are as follows:First,infant formula is widely used in the rural Southern Shaanxi.On the one hand,it is reflected in the high proportion of usage of infant formula,the proportion of the sample infants who used formula between 6-30 months always exceeded 50%.On the other hand,the long period usage of formula also shows a dependence on formula.Second,although influenced by family assets,those infants who were fed formula have significantly greater dietary diversity than those infants who were not,the more formula consumed per day,the more likely that the infants cannot meet the minimum dietary diversity standard.Third,infants were more likely to be fed formula if their family's economic conditions are better,if their mother isn't the primary caregiver,if they have no siblings,if they were born prematurely,when the primary caregiver has over nine years of education,and if they have a better dietary diversity.In addition,for younger infants(statistically shows between 12-18 months),they are more likely to be formula fed,while infants above 18 months are less likely to be formula fed when they get older.Fourth,the results of empirical analysis shows that there exists relationships between formula feeding and hemoglobin concentrations,anemia,psychomotor development,weight-for-height Z-scores as well as times of illness in the previous month,however,no significant relationship was found between formula feeding and the mental development or socioemotional development of the sample infants.What's more,the main results using child fix effects estimates that formula feeding is associated with an increase in Hemoglobin concentration and a reduction in anemia rates.Based on the results of this paper,the policy suggestions are as follows:(1)suggest that relevant departments should improve content of infant nutrition education and scientific feeding knowledge,provide scientific training and guidance on scientific breastfeeding and supplementary food for infants and young children;(2)more attention should be paid to problem in rural areas where it is difficult for mothers to continue breastfeeding because of migration.