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 Overall, about 42 percent of female physicians who are mothers
breastfeed for at least a year, compared with about 27 percent of
mothers nationwide, researchers report in JAMA Internal Medicine.
Still, nearly half of doctors who are mothers said they stopped
breastfeeding sooner than they would have if their jobs had been
more accommodating, and only 28 percent said they kept going until
they achieved their personal goal for the duration of breastfeeding.
“We showed that longer maternity leave, accommodating schedules for
pumping and dedicated private space for pumping is associated with
longer breastfeeding,” said lead study author Dr. Nelya Melnitchouk
of Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in
Boston.
“As physicians, we are taught to lead by example, and we can start
with more accommodating work places to support breastfeeding,”
Melnitchouk said by email.
Other mothers may also have a better shot at breastfeeding when
their doctors are able to set this example, Melnitchouk added.
“Physicians’ breastfeeding behavior has been shown to correlate with
physician breastfeeding advocacy for the patients and increases
patients breastfeeding status,” Melnitchouk said.
Pediatricians recommend that mothers exclusively breastfeed infants
until they’re at least six months old because it can reduce babies’
risk of ear and respiratory infections, sudden infant death
syndrome, allergies, obesity and diabetes. For mothers,
breastfeeding for at least one year has been linked to a lower risk
of depression, obesity, and certain cancers.
Results from the current study are drawn from anonymous online
surveys completed by 2,363 members of a social media group for
female physicians with kids. Women who were currently breastfeeding
were excluded.
Almost everyone in the study – 94 percent – had breastfed for at
least a while.
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Mothers were more likely to continue for at least one year when they
were older, with more years practicing medicine and additional
children.
Most women who used breast pumps to express milk said they did this
in their own office, while about 19 percent used lactation rooms, 13
percent used on-call rooms, 14 percent used their car, and 21
percent used empty patient rooms.
The most common barriers to continued breastfeeding were inadequate
time to pump during the workday and an inflexible schedule, followed
by the lack of space.
The study wasn’t a controlled experiment designed to prove whether
or how specific workplace policies or aspects of the job might
directly impact the initiation or duration of breastfeeding.
Still, the barriers women face are well established and include a
lack of time, stigma, discrimination, and a perception that women
don’t have a strong work ethic when they engage in maternal
responsibilities, said Patricia Davidson, dean of the Johns Hopkins
School of Nursing in Baltimore.
“The most important finding of this study is that these educated
women, with options, face substantial barriers,” Davidson, who
wasn’t involved in the study, said by email. “In a dialogue of
money, sex and power - it is frightening to think of the experience
of (other) women (who are) uneducated, powerless and with limited
options for income.”
“Incorporating breastfeeding, particularly pumping at work, requires
dedication, commitment but most importantly support of colleagues
and an enabling and supportive culture,” Davidson said. “Many health
professionals rarely have time for a bathroom break – so this
requires not just commitment from a woman but also from her
colleagues and administration.”
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/2poWvGg JAMA Internal Medicine, online March
19, 2018.
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