Babies in the Workplace

Coworkers and executives in baby-friendly companies frequently bond with the babies that come to work and frequently spend short periods of time playing with and interacting with the babies. This "community" or "village" approach to baby care and parent support is actually more normal in terms of human history and human psychology than isolating new parents at home alone with a baby (the way our culture has done in recent decades). Babies and new parents thrive on social support, and structured workplace programs provide extensive benefits in those first months of new parenthood, as well as enabling others in the workplace to benefit from the soothing effect of holding and interacting with happy babies.

Since returning to work is a primary reason that many women stop breastfeeding (or never start), babies-at-work programs offer the potential for much higher breastfeeding rates and higher levels of exclusive breastfeeding for six months (and continuing to breastfeed for at least a year, as recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics). Breastfeeding in the course of babies-at-work programs will also increase our society's comfort with the concept of breastfeeding in general and minimize the "novelty" aspect of breastfeeding in public, which will also lead to more women choosing to breastfeed their babies.