How to Become a Breastfeeding-Friendly Employer

There are many ways in which employers can support breastfeeding women in the workplace to become a Breastfeeding-Friendly Employer.

• Create a workplace environment that supports and respects a woman’s decision to breastfeed. Recognize that breastfeeding is a benefit to the workplace and encourage that recognition in others.

• Develop policy that states your company’s support of a woman’s choice to breastfeed her infant (s) and describes the worksite accommodations available to her.

• Make the policy part of your company’s written policies on parenting and/or maternity benefits. Inform all pregnant employees/parents of this policy as early in their pregnancy as possible.

• Inform new employees of this policy or give them a copy as part of new employee orientation.

• Provide a 20- to 30-minute break, both morning and afternoon, for the woman to (a) nurse her infant or (b) express her milk. If necessary, adjust the beginning and/or ending time of work to accommodate these breaks. For example, if two 15-minute breaks are allowed to all employees, the breastfeeding employee starts work 10 minutes earlier and leaves work 10 minutes later to allow for two 25-minute breaks.

• Make a private area available for nursing or expressing milk. It should be quiet, clean and have enough room for a comfortable chair. Provide a place for storing breast milk. If a refrigerator is not available, a safe place to keep a cooler is sufficient.

• Provide a clean, safe water source and sink somewhere within the worksite for washing hands and rinsing out any breast pump equipment.