Chapter 7. Employment and Day Care

Table 7.11. Percent of mothers who experienced each problem combining breastfeeding and work by infant age1,2, among mothers who breastfed and worked during the past 4 weeks

Infant Feeding Practices Study II

  Month 3 Month 6 Month 9 Month 12
A coworker made negative comments or complained to me about breastfeeding 4.3 3.3 3.6 3.9
My employer or my supervisor made negative comments or complained to me 1.6 3.0 1.8 2.2
It was hard for me to arrange break time for breastfeeding or pumping milk 30.2 31.6 29.6 21.0
It was hard for me to find a place to breastfeed or pump milk 19.5 16.8 18.2 11.0
It was hard for me to arrange a place to store pumped breast milk 5.5 3.7 5.4 4.4
It was hard for me to carry the equipment I needed to pump milk at work 10.1 6.8 5.1 4.4
I felt worried about keeping my job because of breastfeeding 4.1 2.6 3.0 1.8
I felt worried about continuing to breastfeed because of my job 17.7 14.0 9.6 8.4
I felt embarrassed among coworkers, my supervisor, or my employer because of breastfeeding 8.2 4.4 5.1 4.0
N 515 429 337 228

1Table is based on variables: M3H15A-I, M6H21A-I, M9H22A-I, MWH21A-I

2Column percentages do not add up to 100% because mothers could choose all that apply