Work Places - Halton Baby Friendly Initiative

Women with young children are a large part of the labour force. Among employed women with children under three years of age, approximately 70 percent work fulltime.¹

Employers can support their breastfeeding employees for minimal investment and benefit from employees who have healthier children.

Benefits include:

Less absenteeism-breastfeeding women are less likely to be absent from work to attend to an ill baby or child
Improved worker productivity, morale and loyalty-women whose employers have recognized and assisted them in their goal for continued breastfeeding have improved job satisfaction
Less staff turnover- Breastfeeding women are more likely to return to work, resulting in less staff turnover. This allows employers to keep trained, experienced and motivated staff

In addition to these financial benefits, employers who establish Baby Friendly Workplaces will be viewed as progressive employers who are supportive of families. ² Breastfeeding is a right supported by law.

Pregnancy & Breastfeeding: Your Rights & Responsibilities
Policy on Discrimination Because of Pregnancy and Breastfeeding

References
1. Fein SB, Roe, B. The effect of work status on initiation and duration of breast-feeding. AMJ Public Health 1998;88 (7):1042-1046

2. Ontario Public Health Association 2007 Creating a Breastfeeding Friendly Workplace

What is a Baby Friendly Workplace

A Baby Friendly workplace provides a welcome place for feeding babies and /or pumping breastmilk.

Is it expensive? No

All you need:

Quiet space
Chair

For employers, what is the law?

According to the Ontario Human Rights Commission:
In Ontario, women are legally protected from discrimination and harassment because of sex. The protection includes pregnancy and breastfeeding. Nursing mothers have the right to breastfeed a child in a public area. No one should prevent a woman from nursing simply because they are in a public area. No one should ask a woman to “cover up”, disturb them or ask them to move to another area that is more discreet.

According to recommendation 7.59 of the Federal Labour Standards Review:

“Employers should provide for short breaks during working hours to afford nursing employees reasonable time off, without pay, to breastfeed a child and /or to express milk on the work site. Similar breaks should also be available to employees who need them to inject medications or for similar medical purposes. Such breaks should be subject to operational considerations, but should not be unreasonably denied.

The Halton Baby Friendly Initiative Workplace Toolkit has been developed to assist you in developing a baby friendly environment for staff and the public.

Additional information can be found in "How to Be a Family Friendly Workplace".

Please contact the Halton BFI at 905-825-6000 or haltonbfi@halton.ca if you would like assistance in becoming a baby friendly workplace.

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Workplace Toolkit

The Halton Baby Friendly Workplace Toolkit has been developed to assist you in developing a baby friendly environment for staff and the public.

The tool kit consists of:

Contact the Halton BFI at 905-825-6000 or at haltonbfi@halton.ca to order copies of the Workplace toolkit. Let us know if you would like to be recognized on this website as a baby friendly business. We look forward to assisting you to become baby friendly.

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Breastfeeding Welcome Here Decal Order form
Please download form (Word, 2 pages, 56 KB).

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