Economic Benefits of
Breastfeeding: A Review and Analysis (Complete Study - PDF)
Economic Benefits
of Breastfeeding: Examining the Well Being of Children
(PDF)
Breastfeeding Support at the Workplace: Best Practices to
Promote Health & Productivity (PDF)
Breastfed
babies are healthy babies and healthy babies are good for
business. Healthy babies mean fewer medical expenses, which
is a tremendous financial incentive for a self-insured
company. Companies that promote and support breastfeeding
for their employees save money and increase productivity!
Both employees and employers benefit from lactation programs
in the workplace.
Benefits to the Employer
- Reduced staff turnover and loss of
skilled workers after the birth of a child
- Reduced sick time/personal leave
for breastfeeding women and their partners because their infants are more
resistant to illness
- Lower health care costs associated
with healthier, breastfed infants
- Higher job productivity, employee
satisfaction and morale
- Added recruitment incentive for
women
- Enhanced reputation as a company
concerned for the welfare of its employees and their
families
An absence of just one day costs the
Los Angeles Department of Water and Power average $360 (for
a $15 per hour employee). And it takes one and one-half days
to have someone else do that employee’s work.
"It works to everyone’s
advantage to show people that we really care about them and
their babies," says Tory Arriaga, a nurse at PanEnergy
Corp, Houston. "The Company wins because we’ve got an
employee who is very happy and who is probably gong to have
less sick time and a healthier baby at home."
"This newfound corporate interest
arises from studies showing breast-fed babies have fewer
minor illnesses. Sick babies pile up medical bills and
frequently keep their mothers and fathers out of work.
Providing new mothers with a private room, breast pumps,
refrigerators and an extra break or two a day becomes a
money-saving proposition."
There are
three essential requirements to ensure that employees can
successfully combine work and breastfeeding:
Time: Allow employees
sufficient break time to pump, or provide flexible work
hours.
Space: Have
available comfortable, clean and private space for
expression and storing breastmilk or provide nearby or
on-site child care so that employees can breastfeed on break
and lunch.
Support:
Develop "mother-friendly" workplace policies,
improve attitudes towards breastfeeding by educating workers
and management about the benefits of breastfeeding.
Benefits to the Employee
- Facilitates the mother’s
postpartum recovery
- Reduces the incidence and severity
of allergies and of ear and respiratory infections in
infants, which translates into less time off and sick
leave taken
- Provides the most complete, easily
digested, convenient and economical source of
nourishment for infants
- Creates a special closeness between
mother and infant
- Enhances the mother’s self-esteem
and confidence
- May lessen the risk of breast
cancer
"Providing
the opportunity and the resources for new mothers to be able
to continue breastfeeding after they return to work enhances
employee morale and productivity".
"I’ve
continued to nurse my daughter because this service is
available," says Kim Trepton,
29, an executive recruiter who uses the lactation room at
First Chicago NBD, Chicago, to provide milk for her
5-month-old daughter.
Benefits
of Breastfeeding
While many people are aware
that breastfeeding provides greater immunity for
children against a variety of illnesses and infections (such
as haemophilus influenzae meningitis, asthma and other
respiratory illnesses, diarrheal disease, ear infections (otitis
media), bacteremia, botulism, urinary tract infections, and
necrotizing enterocolitis), there are numerous other
benefits for children, women, families and society.
Children
benefit from:
- Higher
IQ scores and better school performance from increased
cognitive development
- Decreased
risk of obesity later in life
- Reduced
risk of sudden death syndrome (crib death), childhood
cancers, juvenile onset diabetes, ulcerative colitis,
Hodgkin’s disease and other chronic digestive diseases
- Decreased
incidence and severity of allergies
- Enhanced
visual, motor, and oral development
Women
benefit from:
- Reduced
risk of breast, ovarian and uterine cancer, as well as
osteoporosis
- Faster
recovery after childbirth due to decreased postpartum
bleeding, increased uterine involution, less postpartum
depression, and faster return to pre-pregnancy weight
- Highly effective, free
birth control with exclusive breastfeeding for up to the
first 6 months
Families
enjoy:
- Increased
maternal-child bonding, which can lead to better
parenting and may even decrease the incidence of child
abuse
- Longer
birth spacing
- Economic
benefits due to lower costs of medical care, not
purchasing formula, and decreased absenteeism from work,
can save a family $1,000-3,000 per year
Society
benefits because:
- Breastfed
children are healthier, which makes for a more
productive workplace in the future
- Decreased
tax dollars spent to subsidize dairy farming, free
formula, and health care programs
- Potential
for reduced health insurance premiums
- Decreased
social costs of morbidity and mortality
- Reduced
waste of natural resources and water, and decreased
garbage and pollution
Read
more on Risks
of Infant Formula Feeding, Cost
Effectiveness of Breastfeeding in the United States, The
WHO Code, Worksite
Breastfeeding Connection.
References.
Specific references available upon request. An
excellent source of additional information can be found in Breastfeeding:
A Guide for the Medical Profession, 1999 (5th Ed)
Ruth A. Lawrence and Robert M. Lawrence, MD Mosby Year Book
CIGNA Working
Well (2000) Evaluation Summary
The following information is an
excerpt from http://healthproject.stanford.edu/koop/CIGNA/documentation.html
Working Well Moms
CIGNA's corporate lactation
program was the subject of a study conducted by the UCLA Center
for Healthier Children, Families and Communities. Results of the
study revealed that the program is exceeding its defined goals.
- Breast feeding initiation and
duration rates exceed the Healthy People 2010 Objectives
- Breast feeding duration rates
for participants are 72 percent at 6 months and 36 percent
at 12 months, significantly higher than control groups and
US data
- Decreased pharmacy costs: 62
percent fewer prescriptions for breast fed children
- Decreased medical cost:
program saves company 240K in healthcare expenses
- Reduced absenteeism: program
participants have 74 fewer absences/100 mothers, a savings
of 60K in lost time annually
- Removed socioeconomic
disparities in participants so that job grade and education
were not predicators of breastfeeding at 6 and 12 months
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