The committee opinion concluded with a call for public policy changes, including endorsement of guaranteed 100% paid parental leave for a minimum of 6 weeks with full benefits. Currently, 23% of employed mothers return to work in the first 10 days after giving birth, and another 22% return within 10-30 days, the committee cited. Close to half of employed mothers therefore go back to work before the 6-week postpartum follow-up visit.
“Obstetrician-gynecologists and other obstetric care providers should be in the forefront of policy efforts to enable all women to recover from birth and nurture their infants,” the committee wrote.
The ACOG Presidential Task Force on Redefining the Postpartum Visit and the Committee on Obstetrics Practice developed the new clinical opinion, which is endorsed by the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine, the American College of Nurse-Midwives, the National Association of Nurse Practitioners in Women’s Health, the Society for Academic Specialists in General Obstetrics and Gynecology, and the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine. The committee opinion did not require external funding, and the authors did not report any disclosures.
SOURCE: Obstet Gynecol 2018;131:e140-50.