| Breastfeeding support has increased over the past 2 decades, especially in the workplace. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 provided several protections for working, breastfeeding women. Prior to the passage of this legislation, the North Dakota State Legislature amended SB 2344 to create an Infant Friendly business designation available to any business or organization in the state providing specified lactation accommodations for their employees. While this amendment has been in effect since 2009, and the first cohort of businesses was designated in 2011, there has been no evaluation of this designation to determine effectiveness. The purpose of this research is to examine the difference in breastfeeding continuation rates between women working for Infant Friendly and non-designated businesses, and to identify how intention, self-efficacy, and other worksite factors influence breastfeeding duration. An 85 item online questionnaire was developed and distributed using various sampling methods to working women across the state of North Dakota. T-tests, Analysis of Variance, and forward step-wise regression were used to analyze results. While there was no statistically significant difference in breastfeeding duration between designated and non-designated businesses, there was a 3-month difference in duration between continually designated businesses and those letting their designation lapse. Participants disagreed that breastfeeding education was available from their employers. With regard to intention, women who intended to exclusively breastfeed did so with a four month longer duration than those with other feeding intentions, although the results were not statistically significant. Women who perceived only minor challenges with combining breastfeeding and working, and those with greater self --efficacy for breastfeeding had longer breastfeeding durations as well. While the designation is a starting point for worksite breastfeeding support, it could be more comprehensive. Adding a policy promotion and breastfeeding education component to the designation may improve awareness and use of accommodations, making the designation more impactful. These additions may also aid in increasing breastfeeding intention and self-efficacy among working women, and decrease the perception of barriers. |
