Longer Maternity Leave Linked to Increase in Number of Breastfeeding Mothers

In today’s economy, with women having more and more demands on their time just to make ends meet, only about 10 to 20 percent of mothers who give birth remain at home with their babies until they reach the age of one year. In fact, many mothers return to work within just one to twelve weeks, leading many women to opt for bottle-feeding versus breastfeeding.

Confirmation of this trend comes from a new study recently published in Pediatrics, the journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), with findings that women who stay home longer after giving birth are more likely to breast-feed their babies, as well as continue to do so for up to 12 months.

Although the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends that mothers solely breast-feed infants for the first full six months of their lives, followed by the continuation of breast-feeding combined with the introduction solid foods for an additional six months, the vast majority of mothers fail to follow these guidelines. The lack of income, and/or fears over job security, cause many women to return to work far earlier that they would have preferred.

The issue is one of concern to public health experts, since research has shown that breastfeeding lowers the risk of allergies, asthma, and serious infection, as well as significantly decreases rates of infant mortality. Other studies suggest that breastfed babies have a decreased likelihood of becoming obese or developing diabetes later in life, and are less likely to develop behavior problems. In addition, mothers who breastfeed their infants may have a lower risk of developing breast cancer and other serious diseases, as well as have a greater chance of achieving their pre-pregnancy weight than those who opt for bottle-feeding. There is also strong evidence to support that breast-feeding develops a powerful bond between mother and child.

According to Chinelo Ogbuanu, M.D., lead study author and a senior epidemiologist at the Georgia Department of Community Health in Atlanta, Georgia, “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.” Her research team found that new mothers who remained at home for three months or more after giving birth were over twice as likely to continue breastfeeding beyond three months.

For their study, the research team reviewed data on a nationally representative sample of 6,150 working women who had given birth to a single child from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort. Findings indicated that among women taking a minimum of 13 weeks of maternity leave, 74 percent began breastfeeding, in comparison to about 65 percent of those who took between one and six weeks of maternity leave. Among women who remained at home beyond three months, 34 percent continued to primarily breastfeed for, compared to only 18 percent of those who returned to work within six weeks of giving birth.

Regarding the results of the study, Ogbuanu pointed out, “Women need to be helped. If the government could make changes, like extending the Family and Medical Leave Act, women would know they have job security, and it would help those who want to breast-feed.” She also noted that it would be even better if paid maternity leave was made available to all women, commenting, “That could help women stay home longer.” She further explained, “Some women don’t take leave because they don’t get paid.”

Although the U.S. Family Leave and Medical Act was signed into law in 1993 requiring employers to provide 12 weeks of unpaid leave after the birth of a child, it only applies to employers having more than 50 employees. In addition, women must have been employed at their job for a minimum of one year, as well as must have worked at least 1,250 hours during the past 12 months to be eligible.

Currently, only five states offer maternity leave with additional benefits, such as partial wage compensation. These states include California, Hawaii, New Jersey, New York and Rhode Island. However, in Canada, 17 weeks of maternity leave with 55 percent of wages is generally provided for mothers of newborns, with actual benefits varying according to province, while Sweden provides a full 16 months at 80 percent of pay, and Japan offers a modest 14 weeks, but with 66 percent of a woman’s salary.