Recent studies revealed that women should take break from work before and after birth of the baby.

In first study, Sylvia Guendelman, professor of maternal and child health at UC Berkeley''s School of Public Health and her collogues found that women who took leave before they gave birth were almost four times less likely to have a primary C-section as women who worked through to delivery.

These findings were based on the data collected from data from 447 women who worked full-time in the Southern California counties of Imperial, Orange and San Diego.

Researchers compared data collected from those who took leave after the 35th week of pregnancy with those who worked throughout the pregnancy to delivery.

In second study, the researchers used data from 770 full-time working mothers in Southern California to asses the effect of maternity leave on breast feeding. Data analysis revealed that returning to work within 12 weeks of delivery had a greater impact on breastfeeding establishment for women in non-managerial positions, with inflexible jobs or who reported high psychosocial distress.

Commenting on the results, Guendelman said: “These new studies suggest that making it feasible for more working mothers to take maternity leave both before and after birth is a smart investment.”