The Use of Breast Milk Substitutes in Developing Countries

The Impact of Women's Employment

Bibliographic Data

ID10797160
AuthorsVirginia Hight-Laukaran (corresponding author), Shea O Rutstein, Anne E Peterson, Annika Peterson (Georgetown University), Miriam H Labbok (0000-0001-9515-3963)
Year1996
Volume27
Issue6
Pages350
Publication date1996-11-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueStudies in Family Planning (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0039-3665 • E-ISSN: 1728-4465
PublisherJSTOR (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.2307/2138034
OpenAlexW2312725084
LanguageEN
References cited3

OBJECTIVES: This study quantified the influence of employment, specifically a mother's employment away from her infant, on the use of breast milk substitutes in developing countries. METHODS: Data from the Demographic and Health Surveys were used to calculate the population attributable risk percentage for use of breast milk substitutes among women employed away from their babies in 15 countries for which suitable data were available. RESULTS: The estimated proportion of breast milk substitute use attributable to employment away from the baby ranged from 0.74% to 20.9% in the various countries. CONCLUSIONS: Employment is not the main determinant of breast milk substitute use. Efforts to improve breast-feeding can be safely targeted at the majority of women who are not employed away from their babies while nevertheless giving appropriate attention to the minority of new mothers who are employed away from their babies

Breast feeding · Breast milk · Breastfeeding · Business · Developed country · Developing country · Economic growth · Economics · Environmental health · Population · Breastfeeding Practices and Influences · Child Nutrition and Water Access · Demography · Global Maternal and Child Health · Infant Nutrition and Health · Medicine · Poverty, Education, and Child Welfare · Pediatrics