Is there competition between breast-feeding and maternal employment?

Theory suggests that the decision to return to employment after childbirth and the decision to breast-feed may be jointly determined. We estimate mode ls of simultaneous equations for two different aspects of the relationship between maternal employment and breastfeeding using 1993-1994 data from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Infant Feeding Practices Study. We fir st explore the simultaneous duration of breast-feeding and work leave follo wing childbirth. We find that the duration of leave from work significantly affects the duration of breast-feeding, but the effect of breast-feeding o n work leave is insignificant. We also estimate models of the daily hours o f work and breast-feedings at infant ages 3 months and 6 months postpartum. At both times, the intensity of work effort significantly affects the inte nsify of breast-feeding, but the reverse is generally not found. Competitio n clearly exists between work and breast-feeding for many women in our samp le.