Breastfeeding and the Workplace-A resource for Breastfeeding Families
Breastfeeding and employment are compatible, important, and represent a win-win for everybody. Infants experience fewer illnesses, mothers use less sick days to care for their ill infant, and companies benefit from decreased employee turnover, fewer one day absences, and lower health care costs.
Breastfeeding employees enjoy some legal protections.
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (“Affordable Care Act”) amended section 7 of the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) to require employers to provide reasonable break time for an employee to express breast milk for her nursing child for one year after the child’s birth each time such employee has need to express the milk. Employers are also required to provide a place, other than a bathroom, that is shielded from view and free from intrusion from coworkers and the public, which may be used by an employee to express breast milk. The break time requirement became effective when the Affordable Care Act was signed into law on March 23, 2010. This is a federal law that applies only to non-exempt employees (those who are eligible for over-time pay/hourly workers). For more information, see:
US Department of Labor’s Information Page.
Fact Sheet: Break Time for Nursing Mothers under the FLSA
Massachusetts has a state law regarding protection for breastfeeding employees. The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (“the Act”) amends the current statute prohibiting discrimination in employment, G.L. c. 151B, §4, and is enforced by the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination (MCAD).The Act, went into effect on April 1, 2018, and expressly prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of pregnancy and pregnancy-related conditions, such as lactation or the need to express breast milk for a nursing child. It also describes employers’ obligations to employees that are pregnant or lactating and the protections these employees are entitled to receive. For more information see:
MCAD Guidance on Pregnant Workers Fairness Act
MCAD Questions and Answers on Pregnant Workers Fairness Act
The Business Case for Breastfeeding
The Department of Health and Human Services, Office on Women’s Health has a comprehensive program designed to educate employers about the value of supporting breastfeeding employees in the workplace. Click Here.
For nursing families
Talk with your employer before your baby is born in order to secure the accommodations that you need to continue nursing and expressing milk after your return to work.
Talking with your employer
United States Breastfeeding Committee
From the Office on Women’s Health
Breastfeeding and Going Back to Work
Apps
Pump LogTM tracks milk production and acts as a pumping tracker
Pumping Tracker – Breast Milk Pump Log for Mama
From La Leche League
Books
Working and breastfeeding made simple
Nancy Mohrbacher
Praeclarus Press, 2014
Work. Pump. Repeat. The new mom’s survival guide to breastfeeding and going back to work
Jessica Shortall
Harry N. Abrams, 2015
Non-Traditional Returning to Work Arrangements
Information on companies who offer non-traditional childcare within the workspace and information on if this could work in your place of employment can be found at the Parenting in the Workplace Institute
Childcare and the breastfed baby
Boston Public Health Commission
Boston Healthy Child Care Initiative
United States Department of Agriculture
Breastfed babies welcome here! A mother’s guide
United States Department of Agriculture
Breastfed babies welcome here! A guide for childcare providers
Supporting breastfeeding in child care settings…for parents
Take this checklist with you, and ask the childcare provider:
- Do they support your desire to continue feeding your baby your milk?
- Is there a place where you can comfortably sit and nurse your baby?
- Does the staff feed babies when they are hungry, rather than on a strict schedule?
- Are they willing to hold off feeding right before you pick up your baby?
- Does the center have a refrigerator for storing milk?
- Are you welcome to visit and breastfeed your baby at any time?
- Is the staff educated on the importance of breastfeeding and how to care for a breastfed infant?
