MANAGING BEST PRACTICES: Breast milk & working women
One in four new mothers working on the job full-time are breast-feeding, nearly double the rate from 1996, and the highest rate ever recorded, according to the December 2002 issue of Pediatrics. Results are based on a survey by Ross Products Division of Abbott Laboratories consisting of 1.4 million questionnaires mailed to new mothers in 2001. Breast-feeding among working women is expected to grow due to changes in public health policies, new state laws, and better support for this practice by employers.
Breast milk is superior to baby formula because it includes the mother's disease-fighting antibodies along with great nutrition. And there's benefit for the mother, too. New research finds that women who breast-feed have a 50 percent less chance of developing breast cancer, although more studies are needed to determine why this is so.