Employers See Mom's Rooms as Bonding for Them, Too

Reuters
12-APR-99

STURGIS, S.D. (Reuters) - After Michelle Sagalyn returned to work following
the birth of her son on July 14, 1997, her employer designated a private
room where she could express her breast milk and take it home at night to
baby Noah.

"It made me feel good about being a mom and it made me feel good about my
company," said Sagalyn, product development director at DCC Inc., in
Westport, Conn.

Since DCC helps employers' create dependent care plans for employees, its
officials thought, "Why not add a corporate breast-feeding plan?" That is
how DCC's Mothers(at)Work was born, one of an estimated 300 breast-feeding
plans that have sprung up nationwide.

The plans are gaining for several reasons. First, word has spread among new
mothers that breast milk is a "better source of nutrition than infant
formula," according to the American Academy of Pediatrics, (AAP) Chicago.

It "can decrease the incidence and severity" of a number of infant
illnesses, including bacterial meningitis, diarrhea and allergies, AAP said.

Second, healthier babies mean nursing mothers lose less time from work and
cut employers' medical bills. The trade-off is that employers need to
provide a place for them to pump and store their milk.

Currently, nearly half of new mothers return to their jobs after childbirth
and typically may breast feed for as long as 18 months, authorities said.

When the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power (LADWP) set up a lactation
program, it slashed absenteeism among nursing mothers 27 percent and infant
health care claims 35 percent, according to Rona Cohen, RN, LADWP's
lactation consultant.

According to the March issue of "HR" magazine, which cited Cohen's work,
LADWP got back $3.50 or more for each dollar of lactation plan expense and
profited from "increased employee loyalty, improved productivity, better
recruitment and an enhanced public image."

The big utility, Cohen said, designated lactation rooms in two buildings and
at various field sites for the use of female meter readers, construction
workers and the like.

"Women can climb down from their poles and use a company van with curtains
or use a trailer at a construction site," said Cohen, who runs MCH Services
Inc.(MCHS), of Beverly Hills, Calif., lactation plan providers for national
corporations.

One of her clients, Karen Mainelli, program coordinator for Aetna Inc., of
Hartford, Conn., said, "We estimate a 2.7-to-1 return on our investment."

Mothers who breast-feed cost Aetna on average $1,500 less on medical claims
a year and took three fewer sick days than mothers who did not breast-feed.

With a work force that is 76 percent female, Mainelli calls its lactation
program "a big return-to-work initiative."

"If a mother knows she can pump or breast feed at the job site, those are
big reasons to stay," said Karen Cavaliero, spokeswoman for La Leche League
International, a Schaumburg, Ill.-based non-profit that promotes
breast-feeding.

M(at)W's Sagalyn said that their client employers typically set aside a
small private room with an electric outlet for the breast pump for nursing
mothers. It is desirable for such rooms to have a sink or to be located near
one, and to have a refrigerator -- although a cooler can suffice. Bulletin
boards for moms to show off new baby pictures are optional.

Since mothers need to be able to relax in order for milk ejection to occur,
privacy is important. Some firms put coded locks on the rooms' doors whose
combinations are known only to the mothers.

Feeling secure enables nursing mothers to pump more quickly and return to
work sooner. Lactation breaks can take up to 30 minutes.

Time spent in a mom's room is not always a total loss to employers. DCC said
some women handle telephone calls and do computer work while expressing
their milk. That way, apparently, some of the "milk of human kindness" flows
to employers, too.

Copyright 1999 Reuters Limited.All rights reserved.

             ***********************************************
The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html