Barriers and Facilitators for Breastfeeding Among Low-Wage Employees in the Washington, DC, Area.

Authors

Jennifer Af Tender, Elaine Cooper Russell, Janay Ezekwe, Kathleen Logan, Amira A Roess

Published in

Journal of human lactation : official journal of International Lactation Consultant Association. Pages 8903344261452634. Jul 12, 2026. Epub Jul 12, 2026.

Abstract

The workplace experience of low-wage breastfeeding employees is not well studied.Research Aims/Questions:To identify low-wage employees' workplace barriers and facilitators to breastfeeding at 4 and 6 months.
Data were collected from 111 low-income participants in a Washington, DC, pediatric clinic. Eligible participants had a child less than 3 years old, were employed when their child was less than 1 year old, and had either breastfed while employed or never breastfed because they planned to return to work.
81.0% of participants breastfed at least 4 months, and 69.8% breastfed for 6 months or greater. Participants who worked in the childcare sector had the highest breastfeeding rates at 4 (92.3%) and 6 months (80.0%) compared to other job sectors. Employees with greater levels of support in the workplace were more likely to breastfeed at 4 (p = .01) and 6 months (p = .02). Employees who were provided break times to pump had higher odds (odds ratio [OR] = 8.80, 95% CI: 1.90/40.68) of breastfeeding at 4 months. Additionally, having supportive coworkers and managers was associated with higher odds of breastfeeding at 4 months (OR = 7.55; 95% CI:1.58/36.07). Factors associated with having a manager supportive of employees' breastfeeding included working in childcare (p = .009), having a higher education (p = .046), and having a written workplace breastfeeding policy (p = .04).
Greater enforcement of breastfeeding policies, improved workplace accommodations, and enhanced support from managers and coworkers may improve breastfeeding rates in low-wage employees.

PMID:
42437473
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 13 Jul 2026.

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