Click on the main headings below to learn more about the new federal workplace lactation law and to download resources you can share with employers and nursing mothers in your community.
Workplace Support for Nursing Mothers: Their Legal Right
All employers in the United States are now required by federal law to provide nursing mothers in hourly positions with space and time at work to pump milk for their babies. Employers must now:
- Provide nonexempt nursing mothers reasonable break time to pump milk at work for up to one year.
- Provide a private space that is not a bathroom in which employees can pump milk for their infants.
This section provides tools and resources that health professionals can use to communicate the health and business benefits of breastfeeding.
Workplace Support for Nursing Mothers: Benefits for Working Families
As you know, breastfeeding is good for babies and for workingfamilies. Read and download the materials in this section describingthe benefits of breastfeeding and how employers can establishsuccessful workplace lactation programs. We invite you to distribute these educational materials and resources tohelp new mothers continue to breastfeed when they return to work.
- Read about the Benefits of Breastfeeding for Working Families (English)
- Read about the Benefits of Breastfeeding for Working Families (Spanish)
Resources and Tools
Download and read the guides, practical tips, flyers and templatesin this section to help you advocate for the benefits of breastfeedingin your community, and to access resources to help nursing mothers continue breastfeeding when they return to work.
How Can I Advocate the Legal, Business and Health Benefits of Breastfeeding to Employers?
o Download a template letter to employers
o Access the brochure for this online toolkit that describes the business benefits of breastfeeding
o Access and distribute breastfeeding resources and information for employers
o Read the U.S. Department of Labor's fact sheet explaining the new workplace lactation requirement
o Read the U.S. Office of Personnel Management's official memorandum which expands the lactation law to all federal workers
o Read Corporate Voices' response to the Surgeon General's "Call to Action to Support Breastfeeding" (Released January 2011)
o See an example of a Congressional letter in support of breastfeeding and infant nutrition from the office of Representative Marcia L. Fudge (D-OH)
What Breastfeeding Resources Exist for Health Professionals and Working Mothers?
o Access Breastfeeding Resources for Health Professionals (English)
o Read about the Benefits of Breastfeeding for Working Families (English)
o Read about the Benefits of Breastfeeding for Working Families (Spanish)
o Access Breastfeeding Resources and Support for Mothers (English)
o Access Breastfeeding Resources and Support for Mothers (Spanish)
o Access Tips on Returning to Work (English)
o Access Tips on Returning to Work (Spanish)
o Access Pumping and Storage Information (English)
o Access Pumping and Storage Information (Spanish)
o Learn about and access breastfeeding tips and techniques (available in 21 different languages!) in the "Multimedia" section
o Download and print a Lactation Room Poster to support your nursing mothers. Available in two sizes, in English and Spanish:
Large Poster [PDF], 10.675" X 24"
Small Poster [PDF], 11" X 17"