In 2005, Scotland became the first nation to make breastfeeding in public a legal right, but current breastfeeding targets and maternity leave allowance do not acknowledge the conflicting demands women face when juggling employment and motherhood. This paper explores how employment and maternity leave relate to breastfeeding duration among mothers in Scotland. The Growing Up in Scotland national longitudinal cohort study of 5,217 babies born in 2004-2005 was used. Multivariate proportional hazards regression models were specified using one cross-sectional wave of data to predict breastfeeding duration. Mothers working as employees, full-time (Hazard Ratio 1.6) or part-time (HR1.3), had a higher risk of earlier breastfeeding cessation than non-working mothers. However, self-employed mothers did not differ significantly from non-working mothers in their breastfeeding patterns. Mothers who took longer maternity leave breastfed for longer. The relationships between employment, maternity leave and breastfeeding duration were significant when controlling for known predictors of breastfeeding. Younger mothers, those with less formal education, single mothers, those of white ethnic background, and first-time mothers were more likely to stop breastfeeding sooner, as has been noted in previous research. Employment and early return to work are both factors associated with a shorter duration of breastfeeding. More flexible working conditions and more generous employment leave could help to prolong breastfeeding among working mothers. Current health and employment policy in Scotland and the UK could be better coordinated so that working mothers have the adequate support to meet the conflicting demands of employment and motherhood.

BackgroundFew studies explore how the longitudinal cumulative and combined effects of dietary habits and oral hygiene habits relate to dental decay in very young children.MethodsUsing longitudinal survey data, logistic regression models were specified to predict dental decay by age 5. Predictor variables included questions on diet and oral hygiene from ages 2 to 5.ResultsCompared to mainly eating meals, children who snacked all day but had no real meals had a higher chance of dental decay (odds ratios (OR) = 2.32). There was an incremental association between a decreasing frequency of toothbrushing at age 2 and higher chances of dental decay at age 5 (OR range from 1.39 to 2.17). Among children eating sweets or chocolate more frequently (once/day or more), toothbrushing more often (once/day; twice/day or more) reduced the chance of decay (OR of 2.11–2.26 compared to OR 3.60 for the least frequent brushing group). Compared to mothers in managerial and professional occupations, those who had never worked had children with a much higher chance of decay (OR = 3.47).ConclusionThis study has shown that toothbrushing can only in part attenuate the association between snacking and long term sugar consumption on dental decay outcomes in children under 5.

The general consensus in the research to date is that family meals are linked to healthier eating habits in children, compared to not eating with the family. Yet, few studies explore what it is about commensality which leads to better food choices among children. Using a representative Scottish sample of five-year-old children, this research explores the extent to which family meal occurrence, meal patterns regarding where, when and with whom children eat and perceived meal enjoyment predict the quality of children's diets after controlling for indicators of maternal capital that influence both meal rituals and taste preferences. Eating the same food as parents is the aspect of family meals most strongly linked to better diets in children, highlighting the detrimental effect in the rise of 'children's food'. Although theoretical and empirical work pointed to the important health advantage in children eating together with parents, the results suggested that eating together was a far less important aspect of family meals. In evaluating the importance of the family meal, this article redirects attention away from issues of form and function towards issues of food choice. Policy implications and the importance for public health to recognise the way eating habits are defined by and reproduce social and cultural capital are discussed.

Objective: To examine changes in breast-feeding take-up rates among young children in Scotland and to assess whether maternal education or occupationbased social class is a stronger and better predictor of breast-feeding take-up. Design: Binary logistic regression models were developed from the first sweep of the Growing Up in Scotland longitudinal survey, for the two cohorts of children. Results: Mothers from more privileged social classes and those with more educational qualifications resulted as more likely to breast-feed. However, maternal education was a better and more robust predictor of breast-feeding take-up compared with social class. There were no significant differences in breast-feeding take-up between the two cohorts and only minor differences between mothers aged 20-29 years and those who stated an intention to bottle-feed prior to birth. Conclusions: The study suggests that the importance of maternal education in influencing breast-feeding has been somewhat overlooked in research based in more developed countries. The results indicate that, compared with occupationrelated social class, maternal education is a more informative, accurate and useful lens through which to understand and explain patterns of breast-feeding take-up. Keywords Infant feeding Lactation Education Social classGrowing policy attention has been paid to the nutrition of infants and the importance of breast milk for child development. Policy documents are based on a wealth of national and international research indicating the positive health outcomes of breast-feeding for mother and child (1)(2)(3)(4) . At an international level, documents like the WHO Innocenti Declaration (5) and the European Commission's Protection, promotion and support of breastfeeding in Europe (6) reflect the supranational impetus in promoting breast-feeding. At a UK-wide level, this is seen with programmes such as the UK Baby Friendly Initiative. At the Scottish level, the Scottish Joint Breastfeeding Initiative and the Infant Feeding Strategy for Scotland (7) reflect a policy agenda which acknowledges the importance of breast-feeding in improving children's chances for a healthy future. More importantly, Scotland recently introduced the Breastfeeding etc. (Scotland) Act 2005, thus becoming the first nation where breast-feeding has become a legal right (8) . This makes Scotland a unique and interesting platform for research on infant feeding.Despite this policy impetus, a recent Scottish Government research report based on Millennium Cohort Study data showed that breast-feeding take-up in Scotland was low at 64?7 %, and notably lower than in England at 72?2 % (9) . A series of national and international initiatives have endorsed breast-feeding, but it appears that mothers, particularly in Scotland, are less inclined towards the breast-feeding option. While maternal education and social class go some way in explaining differences in breast-feeding trends, there seem to be independent policy-related or socio-cultural elements at work which make mot...

Please cite only the published version using the reference above.See http://opus.bath.ac.uk/ for usage policies.Please scroll down to view the document.i Paper title:Change in tobacco excise policy in Bulgaria: the role of tobacco industry lobbying and smuggling Authors:Skafida, V (1); Silver, K E (2); Rechel, B P D (3); Gilmore, A (4) AcknowledgementsThe authors would like to thank Katherine Smith and Simon Williams for conducting initial exploratory searches for the report, and Cathy Flower for her administrative support.