Can Employed Women Use LAM?
Women who are able to keep their infants with them at the work site or nearby and are able to breastfeed frequently can rely on LAM as long as they meet the three criteria for LAM. Women who are separated from their infants by work or for other reasons can use LAM if the separation is less than four to five hours at a time. Pregnancy rates may be higher for women who are separated from their infants, however. The one study that assessed use of LAM among working women estimated a risk of pregnancy of 5% during the first six months postpartum (238). In this study each woman was asked to express her breastmilk while away from her infant-at least as often as the feeding pattern at home and never less than every four hours. Expressing breastmilk may not signal the mother’s hypothalamus to stimulate milk production as well as suckling does. An employed woman may want to use LAM but worry that her job will prevent it. Health care providers can encourage the woman to breastfeed more often when
