The impact of maternal work participation on duration of breastfeeding among poor women in South India

Breastfeeding is important because of its relationship to child health and birth spacing. It has been well documented that mother’s milk is the best food for the newborn child and that it has a significant impact on reducing infant mortality. In developing countries, breastfed infants experience substantially lower morbidity and mortality risks than infants who are not breastfed, particularly in the first year of life (Knodel and Kinter, 1977; Palloni and Millman, 1986: Pebley and Stupp, 1987: Retherford and others, 1989; Shall and Khanna, 1990). The advantage of breastfeeding in terms of savings on expenditures on alternative food is also important in poor families. There are advantages for the mother too. Not only does breastfeeding help to establish a closer relationship between the mother and infant, but it also helps to delay the resumption of ovulation and thus promotes spacing of births (Van Esterik and Greiner, 1981). Bongaaits and Potter (1983) have pointed out that in populations without access to modern forms of contraception, birth intervals are determined primarily by duration of breastfeeding.