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Wellness Activities: 6. Improve Support for Breastfeeding Mothers
Employers who provide a supportive environment to help women continue breastfeeding after childbirth enjoy many proven benefits that directly impact their bottom line, including:
  • lower health care costs
  • decreased absenteeism
  • lower employee turnover
  • improved productivity and staff loyalty
  • enhanced public image of the employer


    • These benefits are supported by program impact assessments conducted by businesses with lactation support programs. For example, Mutual of Omaha found that newborn health care costs were three times less for program participants, for an annual cost savings of $2,146 per program participant (Mutual of Omaha, 2001). And a recent study of nine different companies providing lactation programs found that the average return to work rate was 94.2 percent compared with the national retention rate of 59 percent after maternity leave absence (Ortiz, 2006).

    The more comprehensive an agency's lactation support program, the better the chance that it will positively impact a new mother's decision to breastfeed and to continue breastfeeding after returning to work. A great place to begin is to have a written policy to support breastfeeding mothers in your worksite. This policy support will go a long way in helping working mothers continue to breastfeed, but don't stop there. Expand your program by implementing the strategies below as you are able and work towards a comprehensive lactation support program.
    Evidence-Based Strategies and Activities
      6.1 Provide a Private, Comfortable Room for Breastfeeding Women to Express Milk During the Work Day (Low Resource Demand)
    6.2 Develop a Worksite Breastfeeding Support Policy that Meets or Exceeds the DSHS Texas Mother-Friendly Worksite Program Minimum Criteria (Low Resource Demand)
    6.3 Allow Alternative Work Schedules or Telecommuting for New Mothers During Their Return to Work (Low Resource Demand)
    6.4 Provide Prenatal Education Including Breastfeeding Education to Women Who Work (Low – Moderate Resource Demand)
    • Texas WIC Nutrition Breastfeeding Trainings Low-cost trainings to become a breastfeeding educator are available through DSHS and the Texas Association of Local WIC Directors
    • Lesson plans, publications, videos, and other resources and materials are available at little or no cost through the Texas WIC Nutrition Breastfeeding Website.
    • The Texas Breastfeeding Coalition, a consortium of breastfeeding promotion groups, organizations, and individuals, is a reliable source of information about breastfeeding resources in your area, including referrals to breastfeeding educators. The Coalition can also provide sample lesson plans and other materials from the Business Case for Breastfeeding Toolkit.
    Other Promising and Innovative Activities to Consider
      6.5 Allow Flexible Scheduling to Better Accommodate Milk Expression During the Work Day (Low Resource Demand)

    6.6 Provide Educational Sessions, Messages, and Resources Addressing Benefits of Breastfeeding and Available Lactation Support (Low Resource Demand)
    • The DSHS Texas Lacation Support Directory includes information about lactation support helplines and a referral list for lactation specialists across the state.
    • Breastfeeding lesson plans, publications, videos, and other resources and materials are available at no to low cost through the Texas DSHS breastfeeding website
    • The Texas Breastfeeding Coalition, a consortium of breastfeeding promotion groups, organizations, and individuals, is a reliable source of information about breastfeeding resources in your area, including referrals to lactation consultants and breastfeeding educators. The Coalition can also provide targeted trainings and information about the Business Case for Breastfeeding
    • The Business Case for Breastfeeding. Steps to Creating a Breastfeeding Friendly Worksite: Employees' Guide to Breastfeeding and Working. This employee’s booklet is part of a series of materials designed to create breastfeeding friendly worksites.
    • Downloadable sample flyers for lactation rooms and sample pay stub messages
    6.7 Provide Child Care on or Near the Worksite (Moderate - High Resource Demand)
    • Free download of the report, Child Care & Parent Productivity: Making the Business Case. Report provides a plan for the measurement of the Return on Investment for the assessment of feasibility of implementing on-site child care or other work/life initiatives.
    • Cornell University's Linking Economic Development and Child Care Technical Assistance Project. Provides links to articles related to child care and the workplace from a special issue of Community Development: Journal of the Community Development Society.
    • Make High Quality Breast Pumps Available to Mothers at the Worksite (Low Resource Demand) Hospital-grade double electric pumps facilitate more effective, efficient pumping and are approved for multi-user use. Each user should purchase her own pump kit. Major manufacturers who produce hospital-grade double electric breast pumps include:
      Ameda
      Medela
    Lactation Support Resources Developed by Other States and Federal Agencies
     
    1. Preventive Health Screenings and Services
    2. Tobacco Prevention and Cessation
    3. Physical Activity
    4. Healthy Eating
    5. Stress Management (includes EAP)
    6. Improve Support for Breastfeeding Mothers
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