Much research shows that breastfeeding provides short- and long-term health benefits for both mothers and their … children. However, few studies have yet investigated the factors which may promote or inhibit breastfeeding practices in Japan …. To fill this research gap, this paper uses data newly gathered in 2012 on breastfeeding initiation and duration for each …

We study postpartum decisions about paid work and breastfeeding using a simultaneous equations model. For our sample of … duration and duration of any, as well as of exclusive, breastfeeding, and daily work hours and daily breastfeedings at infant … age 3 months. We find that returning to paid work 1 week earlier reduces any breastfeeding duration by about two-thirds of …

labor market norm. The issue of breastfeeding adds complexity to this analysis. This paper argues that, in labor market … terms, there are costs attached to breastfeeding for most women. However, health-focused research indicates that there are … also significant benefits conferred by breastfeeding to mothers, infants, employers and wider society in industrialized as …