According to new research published in the journal Pediatrics if the United States wants to significantly increase its breast-feeding rates, extending women's maternity leave would be a good place to start.
Say the public health researchers from the University of South Carolina women whose maternity leave lasted longer than six weeks were more likely to initiate breast-feeding, continue for more than six months and rely mostly on exclusive breast-feeding beyond three months, compared with women who returned to work between one and six weeks after giving birth. They noted that women whose maternity leave lasted at least 13 weeks were particularly likely to shun formula in favor of breast milk for more than three months after delivery.
Saundra Glover, associate dean for health disparities and social justice in the School of Public Health at the University of South Carolina said, “Based on our findings, if women delay their return to work, then the prevalence of breast-feeding in the U.S. may increase.” A greater proportion of poorer women return to work within six weeks, which likely contributes to their lower breast-feeding initiation rates she explained.
For the study the researchers interviewed 6,150 women at nine months postpartum, looking at length of total maternity leave, length of paid leave and point at which women returned to work to assess how time off after giving birth impacts breast-feeding. They controlled for other factors like ethnicity, race (blacks have lower rates of breast-feeding compared to whites) and age (women aged 35 or older are more likely to initiate breast-feeding and more likely to stay home from work at least six weeks).
Results showed that women who returned to work at 13 weeks or later were 99% more likely to predominantly breast-feed compared to those who returned within six weeks. They were also 21% more likely to breast-feed - with or without supplemental formula - beyond three months. Women who had not yet returned to work by the nine-month interview were 13% more likely to initiate breast-feeding compared with those who returned to work within the first six weeks. They also were 70% more likely to predominantly breast-feed beyond three months. On average, mothers stay out of work an average of 12.4 weeks, which coincides neatly with the 12 weeks that the federal Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) protects a woman's job from being ceded to another employee.
Chinelo Ogbuanu, a senior maternal and child health epidemiologist at the Georgia Department of Community Health who conducted the research as a doctoral student at the University of South Carolina said, “If the FMLA could be extended, and were some remuneration attached to leave as recommended in the Surgeon General's Call to Action to Support Breastfeeding, women would be more likely to stay home.” “Our major conclusion is that if the new mother is able to delay the time of returning to work, the prevalence of initiation and the duration of breast-feeding will increase,” Ogbuanu added.
The American Academy of Pediatrics, which publishes Pediatrics, recommends that mothers exclusively breast-feed their babies for the first six months of life, and that breast-feeding should continue—along with other foods—for at least another six months. However, only 10% to 20% of women follow those guidelines.
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