Breastfeeding Laws and Breastfeeding Practices by Race and Ethnicity

ObjectivesWe sought to examine breastfeeding practices by race and ethnicity in areas with and without eight specific breastfeeding laws.MethodsThe 2003 through 2010 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey provides national breastfeeding practice information. We assessed eight breastfeeding laws before and after legislation was enacted and linked to population-based estimates of breastfeeding initiation and duration for children between birth and age one.FindingsRelative to Whites, Mexican-American infants were 30% more likely to breastfeed for at least 6 months in areas with laws protecting break-time from work to pump, and 20% more likely to breastfeed for at least 6 months in areas with pumping law enforcement provisions. Unexpectedly, five laws with the intention of supporting breastfeeding duration were significantly less helpful for African-American women relative to White women. African-American women were nearly half as likely to breastfeed for at least 6 months, relative to Whites in areas with provisions to provide break-time from work (adjusted odds ratio [AOR], 0.6; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.5–0.8), private areas to pump at work (AOR, 0.6; 95% CI, 0.4–0.8), exemption from jury duty (AOR, 0.6; 95% CI, 0.4–0.9), awareness education campaigns (AOR, 0.5; 95% CI, 0.3–0.8), and pumping law enforcement provisions (AOR, 0.6; 95% CI, 0.5–0.8).ConclusionsBreastfeeding laws influence African Americans and Mexican Americans differently than Whites. Examination of specific laws in conjunction with the interaction of known specific barriers for African-American mothers could help to achieve the Healthy People 2020 goals for breastfeeding.