Workplace Leave and Breastfeeding Duration Among Postpartum Women, 2016–2018

Details

• Alternative Title:
  Am J Public Health
• Personal Author:
  Kortsmit, Katherine ; Li, Rui ; Cox, Shanna ; Shapiro-Mendoza, Carrie K. ; Perrine, Cria G. ; D’Angelo, Denise V. ; Barfield, Wanda D. ; Shulman, Holly B. ; Garfield, Craig F. ; Warner, Lee
• Description:
  Objectives.
  
  To examine associations of workplace leave length with breastfeeding initiation and continuation at 1, 2, and 3 months.
  
  Methods.
  
  We analyzed 2016 to 2018 data for 10 sites in the United States from the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System, a site-specific, population-based surveillance system that samples women with a recent live birth 2 to 6 months after birth. Using multivariable logistic regression, we examined associations of leave length (< 3 vs ≥ 3 months) with breastfeeding outcomes.
  
  Results.
  
  Among 12 301 postpartum women who planned to or had returned to the job they had during pregnancy, 42.1% reported taking unpaid leave, 37.5% reported paid leave, 18.2% reported both unpaid and paid leave, and 2.2% reported no leave. Approximately two thirds (66.2%) of women reported taking less than 3 months of leave. Although 91.2% of women initiated breastfeeding, 81.2%, 72.1%, and 65.3% of women continued breastfeeding at 1, 2, and 3 months, respectively. Shorter leave length (< 3 months), whether paid or unpaid, was associated with lower prevalence of breastfeeding at 2 and 3 months compared with 3 or more months of leave.
  
  Conclusions.
  
  Women with less than 3 months of leave reported shorter breastfeeding duration than did women with 3 or more months of leave.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Adult Breast Feeding Female Humans Parental Leave Population Surveillance Postpartum Period Pregnancy United States Women, Working
• Source:
  Am J Public Health. 111(11):2036-2045
• Pubmed ID:
  34678076
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC8630484
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Funding:
  CC999999/ImCDC/Intramural CDC HHSUnited States/
• Volume:
  111
• Issue:
  11
• Collection(s):
  CDC Public Access
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:d8dfc68b287267d05f048cdf6775a8df59182eceecbc1aa12dcc1429c4437add0c3bf6b8c4cce16d619eb5406f411b6e5c88b6059a0c781a23325f69b712c952
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/113239/cdc_113239_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 351.37 KB ]