Babies in the Workplace

a baby's needs at the same time--would help these women learn how to successfully balance work and family life.

One mother explained that to some extent she identified "her sense of self-worth with [her] success at work." She said that after being so focused on her job before she had a child, it was hard finding herself "sitting on the couch breastfeeding the baby for the hundredth hour." She said that she really "missed the interaction with other people and feeling productive" in her job. When she brought her children in to work with her
at a software company, she wore them in a front pack most of the day. She said that she only really had to stop working to nurse her baby, since her babies were so
happy the rest of the time just being close to her. As she described, "They don't need anything except to be with you."

Courtney Layton of Austin, Texas, feels that it is beneficial for moms who bring their babies to work to "have other employees to talk to and have that support network." She said that in her experience, a baby program makes women feel that "it's okay to have kids as a career mom--it makes the women more comfortable and excited to grow their careers."

Successfully taking care of your baby while doing your job requires a certain ability to multitask and a decent energy level. These traits are often found in professional women--making them ideal candidates for bringing their babies to work.

Fathers More
Involved with Babies

Though our society is becoming more encouraging of fathers who want to be