Excerpt: The current issue of Women's Health Issues has published an important study about the effects of paid leave and the timing of that leave on the health of women and their babies. The study, entitled Maternity Leave in the Ninth Month of Pregnancy and Birth Outcomes among Working Women found that women who took leave beginning in the 35th week of pregnancy were four times more likely to avoid a C-section birth than women who worked right up until going into labor. A second study, published in this month's issue of the journal, Pediatrics, and entitled Juggling Work and Breastfeeding: Effects of Breastfeeding and Occupational Characteristics, found that the longer the leave after birth (up to and beyond 12 weeks), the substantially greater likelihood that the woman would have established breastfeeding.  MORE >>