�Childbirth Connection, a leading national nonprofit organization that works to improve the quality of maternity guardianship, today released New Mothers Speak Out, National Survey Results Highlight Women's Postpartum Experiences. The report is based on new information from the national Listening to Mothers II Postpartum survey, and includes relevant results from the national Listening to Mothers II survey, which was conducted six months earlier and focused on childbearing experiences of the same women. Combined survey results from these landmark surveys provide an in-depth look at women's postpartum experiences during the number one eighteen months after giving birth.
Persistent Physical and Emotional Health Problems
Many mothers grappled with ongoing physical and emotional health problems while caring for their baby. The women reported high rates of freshly experienced problems in the first two months subsequently birth. At six or more months after birth, substantial proportions of mothers were motionless feeling accented (43%), had problems with weight control (40%), experienced sleep loss (34%), deficiency of intimate desire (26%) and backache (24%). Among those world Health Organization had a cesarean birth, 31% reported numbness and 18% reported continued pain sensation at the incision web site after at least six-spot months. One-third of mothers reported that during the first deuce months later on birth, their postpartum physical health (33%) or emotional health (30%) interfered at least "some" with their ability to care for their baby, with 44% of all mothers coverage that physical and/or emotional health impairment had interfered with the care of their babies. A class after giving birth mothers reported a net weighting gain of six pounds from their pre-pregnancy weighting.
"Postpartum mothers experience a troubling load of physical and emotional health challenges after giving birth. Although many of these problems abate over time, far too many women were still experiencing them from 6 to 18 months after birth. With more than 4.3 1000000 births each year in the United States, it is an urgent priority to better understand the reason for these challenges, their implications for women and their families, shipway to keep distress and morbidity, and ways to help women and families before they experience detrimental effects," declared Maureen Corry, MPH, Executive Director of Childbirth Connection.
Breastfeeding Experiences
Although 61% of the mothers had intended to solely breastfeed as they neared the end of their pregnancies, simply 51% were doing so a week after the birth. Those mothers had experienced high rates of hospital practices that rear disrupt breastfeeding such as water or formula supplement and formula samples or offers. Fewer than half (46%) of the mothers who were breastfeeding at one week and not breastfeeding at the clip of the Listening to Mothers II Postpartum go over reported that they had breastfed as long as they wanted. One-third or fewer of black non-Hispanic women, younger women and women with lower incomes breastfed as long as they wished.
Co-sleeping and Demographic Variation
The study reveals significant disparities in experiences across major U.S. race/ethnicity subgroups in a practice that has been the subject of considerable attention - infants sleeping in the same bed as their parents. Overall 18% of mothers reported that their baby "always" slept in bed with them and another 10% reported their infant "often" did in the first six months after birth. Among black non-Hispanic mothers more than a third (36%) reported their baby slept with them "always" compared to 30% of Hispanic mothers and 12% among white non-Hispanic mothers. Dr. Eugene Declercq of Boston University School of Public Health and lead generator of the report stated, "Co-sleeping was one of the many areas, including breastfeeding, gestation intention and circumcision rates, in which we plant postpartum experiences of mothers varying widely by race/ethnicity. These variations merit further research."
Nonexistent or Insufficient Social Support from Husbands, Partners and Others
Having a spouse or partner did not of necessity ensure that women received various forms of support. Overall, nigh of the mothers (73%) said that they provided more of the baby care than their hubby or married person. Even among mothers world Health Organization were employed full time, 49% reported they provided most of the child care, in contrast to just 3% of husbands or partners who provided most of the child care and 48% world Health Organization shared it equally. About 20 pct of women with a husband or partner reported that person provided lovesome, emotional, enjoyment or practical support "none" or "little" of the time.
Meager Paid Maternity Leave Benefits and Multiple Employment Challenges
Of those mothers who had been employed by mortal else during pregnancy, 40% said that their employer provided paying maternity leave benefits, with 50% of those operative full-time and 14% working part-time receiving these benefits. Among mothers who received paid gestation benefits, 50% indicated they received 100% of pay. Thus for the entire survey sample, the results indicate that of those women employed full-time outside of their home patch pregnant, 23% received at least sise weeks of their wide pay as a maternal quality benefit and 38% received at least six weeks of half-pay or more as a maternity benefit.
Almost 3 in 10 (29%) of the mothers in the postpartum follow said they were presently employed full-time. Another 14% were employed part-time. Those mothers presently employed were more likely to hold one baby rather than two or more and be unmarried with a partner rather than married. Among once employed mothers more than a third base had returned to work by 6 weeks, and most (84%) were back to work by 12 weeks. About half (48%) of mothers who had returned to work by the fourth dimension of the survey aforementioned they had not stayed home as long as they treasured. The leading reason cited for returning to knead prematurely (81%) was because they could not afford more time off. When we asked employed mothers and mothers on motherhood leave what would be the ideal amount of time off with their baby, the overall mean was sevener months, with 60% of mothers naming six months or more as the ideal pregnancy leave. By contrast, just now 1% of mothers wHO had been employed outside the menage during pregnancy had full paid depart of quatern or more months.
Mothers returning to work reported facing numerous challenges. For example, 79% reported that being aside from their baby was a major or minor challenge in their transition to employment, followed in frequency by childcare arrangements (50%), breastfeeding issues (37%), amount of support by partner/spouse (36%) and want of support in the workplace as a new mother (29%).
"This important new study underscores the urgent pauperism to better maternity and pregnancy-related benefits for women in the United States," said National Partnership for Women & Families President Debra L. Ness. "While nearly every other economically competitive carry Amelia Moore Nation provides paid maternity allow for and stronger supports for working mothers, women here struggle to cobble together the time off, income and childcare they motivation. This survey shows the toll that is pickings on mothers and families. We tooshie and must do better."
"The overall picture is of recent mothers engaged in a juggling pretend, carrying multiple and sometimes conflicting responsibilities while experiencing high levels of social, physical and emotional health challenges. There are concerns about whether large segments of this population take access to adequate health and social services and social support. We are letting our mothers and babies down at ane of the most vital and vulnerable times in their lives. These survey results ar a clarion call to action for programs, policies, clinical services, and research to better understand and improve the experiences of new mothers and their families," said 2%
About New Mothers Speak Out
New Mothers Speak Out, National Survey Results Highlight Women's Postpartum Experiences, is based on new data from the national Listening to Mothers II Postpartum survey and includes relevant results from the national Listening to Mothers II follow, which was conducted six-spot months in the first place and focussed on women's childbearing experiences. Combined survey results from these landmark surveys provide an in-depth look at women's postnatal experiences during the
