[Assessment of employment's impact on breastfeeding practices]

Objective: Employment is recognized as a weaning factor in many studies. Our aim was to evaluate the impact of employment on women's breastfeeding (BF) with a duration longer than 6 months in a Moroccan population.

Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted between November 2015 and April 2016 in four hospitals in the region of Rabat-Salé, Morocco. All ages were included with the condition that the woman had at least one living child. A questionnaire-based interview collected data on the duration of BF for each child, breast milk storage practices, woman's opinion on BF, and the perception of work conditions during BF. Factors associated with BF lasting longer than 6 months were analyzed using logistic regression carried out in SPSS 13.0 software.

Results: A total of 502 surveyed women were analyzed. The median duration of breastfeeding (exclusive or mixed) in working women was 8 months versus 15 months for those without employment (P<0.001). Only 26 % stored breast milk. For working women, BF practiced due to religious conviction or perceived as mandatory were higher than for unemployed women (18% vs 15% and 11% vs. 7%, respectively; P<0.001). Working conditions during BF were perceived as daunting in 61% of cases. In multivariate analysis, factors correlated with prolonged BF longer than 6 months were: (i) early baby initiation to BF (OR=3; 95% CI [1.9-4.6]), (ii) education level: middle and high school (OR=0.1; 95% CI [0.01-0.5]), and (iii) the social status of working women (OR=0.3; 95% CI [0.1-0.6]).

Conclusion: Employment has a negative impact on the duration of breastfeeding, work perception, and practices of breastfeeding women.