The Price of Being a Devoted Mom: How Infant Feeding Practice Affects Women’s Occupational Development

• In Event: Labor and Labor Movements Section Refereed Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Roundtable 4: Devotion, Discipline, and Inequality in Contemporary Labor Regimes

Abstract

Using data from the National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG) and multinomial logit models, this study examines the association between breastfeeding duration and postpartum labor-force status, and whether this relationship varies by partnership status. Results reveal a nonlinear association between breastfeeding duration and labor-force participation. Net of covariates, the predicted probability of full-time employment is highest at shorter breastfeeding durations and declines at longer durations, reaching a low point among those breastfeeding for 53–104 weeks before partially rebounding at the longest durations. Correspondingly, the probability of part-time work increases with longer breastfeeding and peaks at mid-to-long durations, while the probability of nonemployment rises with extended breastfeeding and is highest among those breastfeeding for 105+ weeks. Models incorporating interaction terms demonstrate strong moderation by partnership status. Among respondents without a spouse or cohabiting partner, the predicted probability of full-time employment increases with longer breastfeeding duration, reaching particularly high levels at the longest durations. In contrast, among married or cohabiting respondents, full-time employment declines sharply as breastfeeding duration lengthens, accompanied by higher probabilities of nonemployment and, to a lesser extent, part-time work. These divergent trajectories suggest that breastfeeding duration is embedded within broader household arrangements and labor-market constraints rather than functioning as an isolated behavioral choice. The findings reveal a constraint and coordination process in partnered households, where longer breastfeeding aligns with gendered divisions of labor and caregiving specialization that reduce full-time employment. Overall, the study demonstrates that breastfeeding duration is meaningfully linked to postpartum labor-force participation, and that partnership status fundamentally reshapes this relationship, underscoring the importance of household context in understanding work–family dynamics.

Author

• Jingzhi Guo, University of Connecticut