In the United States, a Mother’s Plans for Infant Feeding Are Associated with Her Plans for Employment

Abstract

Background The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends 6 months of exclusive breastfeeding, however only 16% of US infants meet this recommendation. Shorter exclusive/predominant breastfeeding durations have been observed from women who return to work early and/or full-time. Objectives We assessed the relationship between prenatal plans for maternity leave duration and return to full-time/part-time status and plans for exclusive breastfeeding. Methods This study included 2348 prenatally employed women from the Infant Feeding Practices Study II (2005 - 2007), who planned to return to work in the first year postpartum. Bivariate analysis and logistic regression were used to describe the association of maternity leave duration and return status with plans for infant feeding. Results Overall, 59.5% of mothers planned to exclusively breastfeed in the first few weeks. Mothers planning to return to work within 6 weeks had 0.60 times the odds (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.46 - 0.77) and mothers planning to return between 7 and 12 weeks had 0.72 times the odds (95% CI: 0.56 - 0.92) of planning to exclusively breastfeed compared with mothers who were planning to return after 12 weeks. Prenatal plans to return full-time (≥30 hours/week; vs part-time) was also associated with lower odds of planning to exclusively breastfeed (adjusted odds ratio = 0.61, CI: 0.51 - 0.77). Conclusions Mothers planning to return to work before 12 weeks and/or full-time were less likely to plan to exclusively breastfeed. Longer maternity leave and/or part-time return schedules may increase the proportion of mothers who plan to exclusively breastfeed.

Early life factors associated with the exclusivity and duration of breast feeding in an Irish birth cohort study

“…This suggests that mothers determine how long they would like to breast feed based on their planned duration of maternity leave. This is supported by results from the United States' Infant Feeding Practices Study II (2005II ( -2007 which found that mothers decided how long they wished to breast feed for based on their duration of maternity leave (Mirkovic et al, 2014).…”

Contextualizing online human milk sharing: Structural factors and lactation disparity among middle income women in the U.S.

“…For example, returning to work is associated with breastfeeding cessation in the U.S. (Kimbro, 2006). The types of jobs women have and the timing of a return to work postpartum, rather than employment status, may be more important in the association between work and breastfeeding outcomes (Mirkovic et al, 2014). One study found that low-income women who were employed in administrative and manual labor occupations were more likely to end breastfeeding than women working in service jobs and career professionals (Kimbro, 2006).…”

Implementation of break time for employee nursing mothers at the University of Louisville : a case study.

“…(Sloan, Stewart et al 2006, Fein, Mandal et al 2008, Shealy, Scanlon et al 2008, 2011, Jones, Kogan et al 2011, Rasmussen and Geraghty 2011, Mirkovic, Perrine et al 2014 Because of the many facets of this wide topic, I am choosing to focus on the employment aspects as both barrier and conduit for a successful breastfeeding experience. This is defined as mother reaching her personal goal, without influence due to external factors, including place or timing of employment.…”

“…Maternal leave in the United States is not standardized. (Mirkovic, Perrine et al 2014) Some mothers will have no paid leave, some will take a few days or a week off, often returning to work for economic reasons before they themselves have been given medical clearance. This is often before a good milk supply is established, which may also hinder the best intentions of the mother when it comes to breastfeeding.…”

“…(Odom, Li et al 2013, Mirkovic, Perrine et al 2014 To this end, the Break Time for Nursing Mothers portion of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was passed into law to assist mothers in making this transition back or into the workforce and to help remove barriers to successful breastfeeding. Successful implementation of this program will require the removal of obstacles at the employer level, which are site specific, as well as the removal of individual barriers.…”