Babies in the Workplace

Healthier Americans/Lower Health Care Costs

If baby-to-work programs become widespread in our society, we are likely to see improved health in our nation as a whole. Babies will be healthier as a result of being breastfed longer while going to work with their mothers. Parents will be healthier due to having lower stress levels during those first months of their baby's life. Other employees in workplaces with babies will have lower stress levels due to the calming and enchanting effect of having happy babies around. Seeing a baby induces powerful protective and caring impulses in many adults and children. Just as many grandparents say that their grandchildren keep them young, having babies in workplaces will go a long way toward improving the health of the people with whom these babies come into contact. In a nation with skyrocketing health care

costs, widespread baby-to-work programs could significantly improve the situation.

   Jackie Hockaday said that in her experience:

   Babies have a calming effect on
   everyone--it puts everyone in a different
   mindset. Everyone warms up and plays with
   the baby and then gets going with a meeting
   in a good mood.

   Nica Waters explained that teachers at Tandem Friends School would ask to hold or play with her baby when they were having a bad day, and that they would comment that a "baby is the best de-stresser around."

People Become Better Parents

By being around babies in the workplace on a regular basis prior to having their own children, prospective parents will develop