Babies in the Workplace

Babies in the Workplace  32

33  Why it Works

out with these babies--tended to be very enthusiastic about their baby programs.    Babies in the workplace are in an environment in which lots of people care about them and can divide up the tasks of playing with, talking to, holding, and caring for the babies--thus allowing work to get done.  Thus, even though parents still have ultimate responsibility for the babies' care, the frequent (although brief) assistance and social support of their coworkers is invaluable for parents' mental health as well as for the overall contentment of the babies.  Breastfeeding Makes Happier (and Healthier) Babies    Bringing a baby to work makes it much easier for a mother to breastfeed and to continue breastfeeding longer than she otherwise might have.  This is a major

reason that babies in the workplace tend to be so content.     As most breastfeeding mothers can attest, nursing is usually the first resort for comforting a distraught baby--as it was designed to be. Although upset babies can generally, eventually, be comforted by rocking or singing or holding or distracting them in other ways, nursing works a huge proportion of the time.    Mary Admasian of Zutano stated that most of the mothers who brought their babies to work breastfed them, and that "babies who breastfeed don't cry as much (unless they are teething)." Alicia Lionberger at Foris Winery nursed her baby, and she said, "It definitely made it easier. While I was on the phone with customers, nursing kept him happy." Dana Croy, who brought her baby to work at Magical Journey, corroborated this, commenting that: