Babies in the Workplace

They were passed around at staff meetings.
They're all bright, happy kids who got to be
   with their moms for the first six months.

   One mother at The Booksource agreed that having a lot going on helped to keep her baby content. As she explained:

   So many people loved to spend time with
   her during the day. They'd come in and take
   walks with her, and she'd go visit other
   offices. I think it was really good for her
   social acclimitization and was very
   stimulating for her.

    Eileen Hammond noted that the babies who came to work at Logan Simpson:

   all became very sociable--they would smile
   at most people in the office [over 60
   people]. By coming to work, they were
   exposed to a lot of people at a very young
   age and had a ton of people holding them.
   They spent more awake time at the office

   than at home, so interacting with a lot of
   people became their frame of reference.

   By having lots of people to interact with and learn from, babies become more socially sensitive and aware and fulfill their stimulation needs at the same time.

Parents Learn From Coworkers

Most new parents have almost no experience with children before they have their own, and the majority of their knowledge about babies comes from books and magazines. Taking their babies to work--instead of primarily being at home alone with them--allows these new parents to benefit from the knowledge and experience of their coworkers. The mother at The Booksource explained that when she brought her baby to work, a woman she worked with "adores babies and has a magic touch with getting them to sleep.