Breastfeeding and Female Labor Force Participation; The Probability of Survival of Children Under- 3 years in Nepal

Abstract

Abstract Introduction: The number of breastfeeding mothers participating as a labor force to generate income has been increasing in Nepal. In this regards study aims to assess the survival of Under 3 children in Nepal from the mother based on their labor force participation and breastfeeding status. Methods: Data for the study were obtained from the Nepal Demographic Health survey 2016-2017. The sample size of the study was 2,994 live birth children born in the last three years from the day of interview. The robust hazard ratio and cox proportional hazard regression were conducted between dependent and independent variables to come to the conclusion.Results: Among 2994 live birth, 85 children died before reaching 36 months of their life. Among them more than 80 % of the non-working mothers were breastfeeding their children. The analysis revealed that the survival of the children under-3 is positively associated with the interaction with mother work and breastfeeding status, family structure, relationship with household head, wealth quintiles, caste and religion of mother. Conclusion: The highest rate of child survival was from the working mothers as well as continuing breastfeeding to their child followed by mothers breastfeeding the child but not working, mother working but not breastfeeding the child and mothers those were neither working nor breastfeeding their child respectively. Employers should be encouraged to have a breastfeeding policy in work place through establishment of breastfeeding facility, paid maternity leave and flexible work schedule.