WORKING-CONDITIONS AND THE DECISION TO BREAST-FEED IN SPAIN

The aim of this paper is to determine occupational factors related to the decision to breastfeed. A survey was carried out on 602 primiparou s or secundiparous employed women who delivered a live baby in a large public hospital in the city of Valencia. Information was collected by means of a personal interview conducted in hospital 2 days after chil dbirth. Bivariate and multivariate statistical analysis techniques wer e employed. It was found that the probability of deciding to breastfee d is lower among women in the lower occupational grades (domestic serv ice workers, etc.) with an adjusted odds ratio (OR(adjusted)) of 0.4 a nd in secundiparous women with an OR(adjusted) of 0.4. Proportionately more women both in the 26-30 years age group and who intend to stay a t home for 12-24 weeks after the birth decide to breastfeed (OR(adjust ed) of 12-24 weeks after the birth decide to breastfeed (OR(adjusted) of 1.9 and 1.7 respectively). We conclude that analysing the breastfee ding decisions in a structural analytic framework breastfeeding decisi ons in a structural analytic framework (maternity leave options and wo rking conditions) is a more useful approach to research on this subjec t. Successful attempts to promote breastfeeding must take into account options for making choices.