Annotated Bibliography: Sibling Comparisons of Breastfeeding Effects

This annotated bibliography focuses on the impact of breastfeeding on child health and wellbeing, particularly in the United States. It references a study using sibling comparisons and panel data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY) to assess the long-term effects of breastfeeding. The study supports the notion that breastfed children in their first year of life exhibit better health conditions compared to bottle-fed children, including improved immunity and reduced asthma risk. While acknowledging a randomized control trial highlighting the role of long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids in neural development, it also contrasts findings from a study on Belarusian women. The bibliography notes the strengths of the primary study, such as the large dataset used, while also pointing out the limitation of the data not representing the current U.S. population. Desklib offers access to similar annotated bibliographies and study tools for students.

Running head: ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Annotated Bibliography
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Colen, C. G., & Ramey, D. M. (2014). Is breast truly best? Estimating the effects of
breastfeeding on long-term child health and wellbeing in the United States using sibling
comparisons. Social Science & Medicine, 109, 55-65.
Breast feeding is the best way for a baby to receive all the essential nutrients necessary for the
growth and the development of the infants.
The main purpose of this study to find the long term effect of breast feeding among the
children of United States as the existed evidence is not adequate to address the benefits of
breastfeeding. In this study, sibling comparison was used in colligation with panel data of 25
years. The data was collected from the National Longitudal survey of youth (NLSY) (CDC
2013). In this study, children, who were at the age group of 4-14 years, were selected as sample.
This study supported the fact that breastfed children in the 1st year of their life, had better
condition of the life than that of the bottle fed children. In addition to this, this study also full
filled the aim that breastfed child had better immunity by revealing the fact that the breast fed
infant had less chances of having asthma than that of the infants who were bottle fed during the
1st year of their life. In support of this study a randomized control trial had been conducted to see
any significant effect in the neurologic development in a child due to breastfeeding and it was
found that breast milk contains long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids playing an essential role in
the neural and the retinal development (Kramer, 2010) . On the contrary a study has been
conducted for promoting breast feeding among the Belarusian women, and it has been found that
breast feeding has not reduced any risk of asthma or allergy. The main weakness of this study
is that, the data used in this study did not represent the current U.S population. The main strength
of the study is that a huge amount of data was used to conduct the research and this would reduce

2ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY
the skewness of the data. The study succeeded to establish the positive effect of breast feeding on
the health and wellbeing of the infant.

3ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY
References
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC]. (2013). Progress in increasing breastfeeding
and reducing racial/ethnic disparities United States, 2000e 2008 births. Morbidity and
Mortality Weekly Report, 62(5), 77e80.
Colen, C. G., & Ramey, D. M. (2014). Is breast truly best? Estimating the effects of
breastfeeding on long-term child health and wellbeing in the United States using sibling
comparisons. Social Science & Medicine, 109, 55-65.
Kramer, M. S. (2010). “Breast is best”: the evidence. Early human development, 86(11), 729-
732.