300133
In the United States, a mother's plans for infant feeding are associated with her plans for employment
Methods: Data from the Infant Feeding Practices Study II, included 2348 prenatally employed women who planned to work in the first year postpartum. Logistic regression was used to describe the association of plans for maternity leave duration (≤6 weeks, 7–12 weeks, ≥13 weeks) and return status (full-time, part-time) with plans for infant feeding.
Results: Overall, 59.6% of mothers planned to initiate exclusively breastfeeding. Thirty-six percent intended to return to work ≤6 weeks and 19% ≥13 weeks. Mothers planning to return within 6 weeks had 0.60 times the odds (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.46 - 0.78) and those planning to return at 7–12 weeks had 0.72 times the odds (95% CI: 0.56 - 0.93) of planning to exclusively breastfeed, compared with mothers planning to return after 12 weeks. Plans to return full-time were independently associated with lower odds of planning to exclusively breastfeed (aOR=0.62, 95% CI: 0.52 - 0.75) compared with part-time.
Conclusions: Mothers planning to return to work before 13 weeks and 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.
Learning Areas:
EpidemiologyPublic health or related public policy
Learning Objectives:
Describe the assocation between a mothers prenatal plans for infant feeding and her prenatally anticipated maternity leave duration.
Describe the association between a mothers prenatal plans for infant feeding and her prenatally anticipated return to paid employment at full-time vs part-time work status.
Keyword(s): Breastfeeding, Workplace
Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have published numerous papers in the field of neuroscience and drug abuse as a graduate student before coming to CDC. Here, I have independently completed many analytic studies in the area of early infant and young child feeding. I am especially interested in efforts to increase breastfeeding in the United States and how maternal employment impacts breastfeeding outcomes.
Any relevant financial relationships? No
I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.