Impact of maternal employment on breastfeeding during 1st 6 months among mothers in Benha and October 6 university hospitals

Abstract

Background Maternal employment, particularly during the first 6 months after birth of an infant, has been identified in a number of studies as an important barrier to the continuation of breastfeeding to 6 months) Compelling evidence highlights the protective effect of breastfeeding for children and mothers, such as fewer infections, improved cognitive development , lower rates of child obesity , lower risk of postpartum depression , and lower rates of breast and ovarian cancer for the mother Aim Assess the relationship between mother's state of employment (working or not) and identify the relationship between characteristics of mother's employment on breast-feeding practice among mothers in Benha and October 6 university hospitals Subjects and methods Outpatient mothers in clinics of gynecology and pediatrics in childbearing period and have children of less than one year old (working and not working) the sample size was five hundred mothers, three hundred and eighty-four were working and one hundred and sixteen were not working. Conclusion Less than half of mothers (44.5%) practiced on demand breastfeeding, 96.6% gave pacifiers, most of them (73.4%) didn't express their breast milk during work hours, there was a decrease in breastfeeding times\day among most of the working mothers also 87.5% of them reported that there was increase in their infant morbidities.