Breastfeeding at Work
Women with infants and children represent the fastest-growing segment of United States labor workforce. While the return to work has little effect on breastfeeding initiation, it has a significant impact on duration. Breastfeeding support in the workplace is an essential component of the goal of increasing breastfeeding duration rates in Pennsylvania.
Breastfeeding has both immediate and long-term health benefits for mother and child. Though most women initiate breastfeeding, many do not continue to breastfeed upon returning to work.
There are numerous mother, child and family benefits in continuing to provide mother’s milk after returning to work. Women who go back to work after the birth of their baby and want to continue to provide their child with their own milk face challenges such as a place to pump and store milk, privacy and lack of support.
The workplace environment should enable mothers to continue breastfeeding as long as the mother and baby desires. Breastfeeding-friendly workplace programs are relatively easy and inexpensive to implement and provide cost savings due to a reduction in health care claims and employee absenteeism.
Women can successfully combine breastfeeding and working. Select from the links below for workplace support information.
Break Time for Nursing Mothers under the FLSA