Children of women who work in the ninth month of pregnancy weigh about 230 grams less than in the case of the mothers who stop working between the sixth and eighth month. This means that mothers' working in the last month of pregnancy is as harmful as smoking during the pregnancy for their children. That is according to a University of Essex research The Guardian informed about.
The research has worked with data from three major statistical studies, two British and one American (British Household Panel 1991-2005, Millennium Cohort Study 2000-2001 and U.S. National Survey of Family Growth 1970-1995). It showed that an earlier departure on maternity leave benefits especially for children of less educated women who perform more physically demanding work. What is surprising is that for women under 24 years no adverse impact of working at an advanced stage of pregnancy has been found. For older mothers, however, the risk increases with each year of age.
One of the authors of the study, Professor Marco Francesconi, pointed out that low birth weight causes many health problems and also reduces the children's chances to achieve higher education, earn lots of money and survive to old age.
"We need to think seriously about parental leave, because – as this study suggests – the possible benefits of taking leave flexibly before the birth could be quite high," said Francesconi and appealed to the government to consider incentives for employers offering more flexible maternity leave to women before their children are born.
While in the 1990s, 16% of British women have worked during the last month before delivery, it has been 30% beween the years 2000 and 2001.
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