Babies in the Workplace

Babies in the Workplace   2

3  Benefits for Families

Lower Stress for Parents    By having their baby with them all the time, parents do not endure the stress of separation from their infants and wondering if they are safe and happy at day care.  Lower stress means better health for parents.  Even if a mother's company does not have a baby program or the mother's work environment is unsuitable for a baby, if a father can take his child to work, this alleviates stress for the mother since she knows the baby is safe, content, and bonding with his father.    Jeff Miller said that he was grateful to The Booksource for giving him    the opportunity to [bring his baby to work]    instead of sticking a child into daycare at    that age.  It's scary to me that he would have    been in that environment without me there     at all at such a young age.

Jackie Hockaday of Austin, Texas, brought her baby to work. She said that:    I can't say enough from a mother's point of    view to be able to do this.  It means the    world to me--and to my husband.  He is    pleased that our baby gets to be with me.    Kim Martin, also of Austin, explained that, "one of the things mothers worry about most when they are pregnant is what they will do when they have to go back to work."  She said that, "knowing [my babies] could come with me took stress off--there wasn't a fear of the unknown."  She added that she was "still trying to learn how to be a mom anyway, so it was nice not to have to break from them so soon."