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Because the benefits of breast-feeding for both mothers and infants have become widely recognized, a national health objective has specified that by the year 2,000 the rate of breast-feeding in the US should be 75 percent at hospital discharge and 50 percent at six months after childbirth. However, the rates of initiating breast-feeding have declined from 60 percent in the early 1980s to 54 percent in 1988. Simultaneously, the employment rate of married mothers with infants of one year or less increased from 24 percent in 1970 to 52 percent in 1987. Previous studies do not clarify the relationship between employment plans of a mother and her decision to breast-feed. The effect of a mother returning to work shortly after childbirth on the initiation and continuation of breast-feeding was assessed in a mixed urban population. A group of women were interviewed twice in the first three months following childbirth. There was no relation between planning to be employed within the first six months following childbirth and the initiation of breast-feeding. However, employment shortly after childbirth was associated with the cessation of breast-feeding as early as two to three months. Less than 50 percent of the mothers who returned to work after childbirth were still breast-feeding by the second interview. In contrast, two-thirds of the mothers who were unemployed continued to breast-feed by the second interview. Women who worked 20 hours per week or less were more likely to continue breast-feeding. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)