**3. Results**

## *3.1. Breastfeeding Initiation*

Table 1 presents the maternal demographic, employment, and pregnancy characteristics for the overall sample and stratified by never or ever having initiated breastfeeding. The majority of our sample was between the ages of 18 to 34, non-Hispanic White, and approximately 50% were employed full- or part-time. Greater percentages of women aged 35 and over had ever breastfed, compared to women who had never breastfed (13.5% vs. 8.4%, *p* = 0.025). There were no differences in race/ethnicity or employment status by breastfeeding initiation (*p* = 0.123 and *p* = 0.723, respectively). By industry, a greater percentage of women who had ever breastfed worked in healthcare (26.3% vs. 20.0%) and a smaller percentage worked in accommodation and retail (20.4% vs. 33.8% and 16.1% vs. 24.6%) than women who had never breastfed (*p* = 0.011). Among women who had breastfed, 64.2% had hoped to exclusively breastfeed during pregnancy, compared to 12.6% of women who had never breastfed (*p* = 0.000). Among women who had never breastfed, approximately 40.3% had hoped to breastfeed during pregnancy. There was no difference in the percentage of women who had received information about breastfeeding during pregnancy by breastfeeding initiation status (*p* = 0.224).


**Table 1.** Maternal Demographic, Employment, and Pregnancy Characteristics by Breastfeeding Initiation (Never versus Ever).

<sup>1</sup> *p*-Value based on Fisher's exact tests or Fisher's exact tests with Freeman and Halton's adaptations for RxC tables. <sup>2</sup> Statistical significance (\*) was based on an alpha of 0.05 with Bonferroni correction based on the number of comparisons within each category or domain (with no correction for demographic variables). A Monte Carlo estimation with 10,000,000 samples was used to calculate Fisher–Freeman–Halton statistics for tables with industry. Estimates were considered marginally significant (ˆ) if they met the alpha criteria of 0.05 but were no longer significant after Bonferroni correction.

Table 2 presents maternal workplace characteristics for the overall sample and stratified by never or ever having initiated breastfeeding. Within the policies and culture domain, a greater percentage of women who had ever breastfed had break times for pumping (49.7% vs. 25.9%, *p* = 0.000), compared to women who had never breastfed. There was no difference in having paid maternity leave, other maternity leave, a breastfeeding policy, having seen the workplace breastfeeding policy, or having flexible break times for pumping by breastfeeding initiation status (all *p* > 0.400). Within the physical environment and safety climate domain, by breastfeeding initiation status (ever vs. never), there were significant differences in having private spaces for pumping (40.8% vs. 19.0%, *p* = 0.000), supportive coworkers (51.6% vs. 36.6%, *p* = 0.014), and supportive supervisors (51.0% vs. 38.0%, *p* = 0.011).


**Table 2.** Maternal Workplace Characteristics by Breastfeeding Initiation (Never versus Ever).

<sup>1</sup> For the Total Worker Health well-being domain questions, survey participants were only instructed to reply for their current job, and if they were currently on maternity leave or recently left their job, they were asked to respond for their most recent job. <sup>2</sup> *p*-Value was based on Fisher's exact tests or Fisher's exact tests with Freeman and Halton's adaptations for RxC tables. <sup>3</sup> Statistical significance (\*) based on an alpha of 0.05 with Bonferroni correction based on the number of comparisons within each category or domain (with no correction for demographic variables). A Monte Carlo estimation with 10,000,000 samples was used to calculate Fisher–Freeman–Halton statistics for tables with industry. Estimates were considered marginally significant (ˆ) if they met the alpha criteria of 0.05 but were no longer significant after Bonferroni correction.

In addition, in Table 2, the percentage of women reporting "not sure" was notable for all workplace factors. Women who never breastfed consistently had greater percentages of "not sure" than women who had ever breastfed. Across significant associations for having break times for pumping, private pumping space, supportive coworkers, and supportive supervisors, the percentages of women reporting "not sure" was greater for women who had never breastfed (range: 41.8–59.2%) than women who had ever breastfed (range: 23.1–40.4%).
