It can be difficult and at times uncomfortable for mothers to breastfeed in public. It can be considerably even more difficult to implement this healthy way of feeding when at the workplace, thus making maternity leave a point of discussion. Basically, the sooner a new mother goes back to work after giving birth, the less likely she is to breastfeed her baby.
Moms who stayed home for at least nine months, or even 13 weeks, were more likely to predominantly breastfeed their babies for three months or more, while those women who went back to work within six weeks were less likely than other women to start breastfeeding, and when they did start were less likely to continue to do so. According to the CDC, seven of every 10 women in the United States breastfeed their babies at all, and just three of every 10 continue for a full six months.
Breastfed babies have lower rates of a number of pediatric illnesses, including eczema, middle-ear infections, pneumonia and asthma. Studies have also shown that breastfeeding influences future behavior.
Maria Quigley of the national prenatal epidemiology unit at Oxford University, who led the work, said the findings “provide even more evidence for the benefits of breastfeeding,” and continues:
“Mothers who want to breastfeed should be given all the support they need. Many women struggle to breastfeed for as long as they might otherwise like, and many don’t receive the support that might make a difference.”
Breast milk is the natural first food for babies, it provides all the energy and nutrients that the infant needs for the first months of life, and it continues to provide up to half or more of a child’s nutritional needs during the second half of the first year, and up to one-third during the second year of life.
Chinelo Ogbuanu at the Georgia Department of Health who participated in authoring the study from this week states:
“We would encourage all women to attempt to breastfeed and continue as long as they can. No matter how effective a breast pump is, it’s not as effective as an infant.”
She suggests that women try to take all their maternity leave at once, rather than breaking it up, and find ways to keep their baby close to the workplace during the day so they can breastfeed during work breaks.
Even though many Americans have the mistaken idea that today’s infant formulas are nearly identical to human milk and that they are “almost as good as breast milk”, that is not true at all. Formula-fed babies are sicker, sick more often, and are more likely to die in infancy or childhood. Compared to exclusive and extended breastfed babies, formula-fed babies have a doubled overall infant death risk, and 4-fold risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).
The authors did not find any relationship between breastfeeding and total allowed maternity leave, paid or unpaid, but instead focused on how long women took off before returning to work, concluding that the rate of breastfeeding in the United States might rise if new mothers delay their return.
Sources: Journal of Pediatrics, British Medical Journal and
Written by Sy Kraft