Draft Australian Dietary Guidelines (PDF, 3MB) - Eat For Health

5.3.1.3 Mothers in the workplaceEvidence is emerging that a mother’s employment status and number of hours worked outside thehome influences the initiation and duration of breastfeeding. Women who are not employed fulltime[906], are self-employed or have flexible working hours are more likely to breastfeed for sixmonths. Using only parental childcare has a positive association with continuation of breastfeeding[907].5.3.1.4 Low socioeconomic status mothersWomen from the lowest socioeconomic quintile in Australia have lower breastfeeding rates thanthose from the most affluent quintile [908-910].5.3.1.5 Culturally and linguistically diverse mothersLimited available data suggest that, in general, the rates of breastfeeding among CALD women inAustralia reflect trends in their countries of origin [911-915].5.3.1.6 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mothersIndigenous mothers tend to breastfeed for longer than non-Indigenous mothers, especially in ruralareas [30]. In the Perth Aboriginal Breastfeeding Study, Aboriginal Australians had higherbreastfeeding rates than non-Aboriginal women [916].5.3.1.7 Mothers who use illicit drugsWHO recommends that mothers who use illicit drugs while breastfeeding should be evaluated onan individual basis. Breastfeeding may need to be discontinued [917], but each case needs detailedmedical assessment [906].5.3.2 Support for breastfeeding5.3.2.1 Promoting breastfeeding in prospective parentsOverall, reviews of interventions to support breastfeeding have found that education before birthand continuing support after birth for breastfeeding mothers were effective in breastfeedingcontinuation.The US Preventive Services Task Force found that any intervention to promote breastfeedingsignificantly increased rates of exclusive breastfeeding in the short term [875].DRAFT Australian Dietary Guidelines- December 2011 141