Anne,
I don't know about the US, but I've just read a paper published in the
British Dietetic Association's journal "Journal of Human Nutrition and
Dietetics" (vol.10, no.5, Oct.1997, pp.305-311) called "Maternal
employment: does it influence feeding practices during infancy?". (Earland,
J, Ibrahim, SO, Harpin, VA). I'll quote part of the abstract:
"Results: Employed mothers stopped breast-feeding (sic) earlier. This
difference became evident after two months of age and reached significance
at four months (p less than 0.05). Employed mothers introduced foods
earlier and relied more on commercial baby foods, with significantly more
spending over £7-10 per week at the time of the survey (p less than 0.05)."
(In the text the authors say there were no significant differences between
the study group and the control group in terms of initial breast-feeding
rates). "Conclusions: Maternal employment does influence infant feeding
practices and consequences may have repercussions on future health. Further
studies are needed etc etc"
Best wishes
Hannah
(midwife and National Childbirth Trust breastfeeding counsellor, UK)
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