Maternity Leave Length Impact on Breastfeeding and Postpartum Depression

In January 2016, the U.S. Department of Defense increased the duration of paid maternity leave for active duty service members from 6 weeks to 12 weeks. Our study aims to determine the impact of maternity leave length on breastfeeding duration and postpartum depression rates in active duty service members.

An institutional review board-approved survey of 9 questions was given to patients at the Brooke Army Medical Center Obstetrics and Gynecology Clinic. Patients were offered voluntary participation if they had delivered a baby while on active duty in the preceding 20 years. The survey included questions about length of maternity leave, duration of breastfeeding, age at delivery, route of delivery, and whether the patient suffered from postpartum depression.

A total of 214 surveys were collected. Fisher exact test was used to compare rates of breastfeeding and postpartum depression between the 2 groups. A total of 87% of service members initiated breastfeeding. Among women who had 6 weeks versus 12 weeks of maternity leave, 51.64% versus 56.96% breastfed up to 6 months, p = 0.45.The overall rate of postpartum depression was 13.5%. Among women who had 6 weeks versus 12 weeks of maternity leave, 16.1% versus 9.5% reported postpartum depression, p = 0.11.

The ideal maternity leave duration is unknown. With recent changes to the Department of Defense maternity leave policy, we aimed to evaluate the effect this had on breastfeeding and postpartum depression rates. No statistically significant difference was seen when we compared rates of breastfeeding in women who had 6 weeks versus 12 weeks of maternity leave. Further research is required to determine the ideal maternity leave duration and best practices to promote breastfeeding.When looking at postpartum depression, our study shows that postpartum depression was noted in 16% of patients who took 6 weeks versus 9% of those who took 12 weeks of maternity leave. No statistically significant difference was seen; however, this was likely because of the small sample size. Only 29 out of 214 women suffered from depression regardless of length of maternity leave. More research is needed to determine if maternity leave length does indeed impact postpartum depression rates.