Global Health
Breastfeeding, Maternal Work Type, and Child Underweight Status Using 2023 Data from the Chitwan Valley Family Study (CVFS) Lena Dang* Lena Dang Dang Dang Dang Dang University of Michigan – School of Public Health
Background: Breastfeeding is generally associated with reduced risk of underweight, and can contribute to optimal growth and development. Underweight remains prevalent in South Asia, where women’s labor force participation is rapidly increasing. However, there is little rigorous evidence regarding relationships between maternal work, breastfeeding, and child growth in this region. We analyze these relationships using detailed employment measures to contextualize how women’s labor force participation affects child nutrition.
Methods: We used data from 839 children under five years of age (n=784 mothers) from the 2023 Female Labor Force Participation and Child Outcomes data collection of the Chitwan Valley Family Study, a 30-year household panel study in Nepal. We estimated logistic regression models to examine the relationships between maternal work and current underweight status for 832 children with valid maternal work and underweight data. Models adjusted for child age and gender, household wealth quintile, and maternal education, with standard errors clustered by neighborhood. We then estimated the moderating effect of >12 months’ duration of any breastfeeding in a sub-sample of 678 children 12+ months with non-missing data.
Results: Over half of children were male (n=450, 54.1%). The overall prevalence of underweight was 10.7% (n=89), and girls tended to be more likely to be underweight (OR=1.43, p=.078). Mothers’ work in salaried jobs was associated with lower odds of underweight (OR=0.37, p=.002), while wage labor was significantly associated with higher odds of underweight (OR = 1.78, p = .037). Among children 12+ months, breastfeeding for >12 months tended to reduce the odds of underweight (OR=0.09, p=.107). There was no moderating effect of breastfeeding duration on the relationship between mothers’ salary work and underweight.
Conclusions: Longer breastfeeding duration may be protective against underweight among children whose mother engages in wage work.