Working with baby at workplace

[family01]

Hi everyone, I just wanted some thoughts on what would it be like if a women gave birth and could take her baby to work with her? for example what if there was a place/area at the workplace where the babies were kept whilst the mum went off to work a couple of rooms down. What if her employer let her breastfeed whenever the baby needed feeding? what if the baby was looked after by professional carers whilst the mum worked?
I know there are childcare services e.g. nurseries etc but I was wondering if care/service was available in the workplace of the working mother?
Are there any benefits for the mother and child?
Are there any benefits for the employer?

What are your thoughts?
Please do share as I am really curious.
Thanks a lot for your love and support

I would want care for DS until he was school age, 5.

I think it would only work if it was very structured and monitored, to make sure parents did not nip in to check their children every 10min and so their performance stays the same.
As for age, I'd say 6months-3years old. I believe the first few months are crucial, and at 6 months the baby could be weaned if the mother so wishes. At 3, the free hours would kick in.

Why are you asking family01? It’s just that you don’t seem to have a basic understanding of how childcare, maternity leave abc employment work, so it’s odd.,,

I'm just trying to see/understand all the options that are available out there Nosquirrels

For me it I prefer childcare near home 1) I wouldn’t want to take the DC on my commute, 2) I don’t want to curtail my working day around the kids nursery time each day (one pick / one drop enables each to have early / late meetings) as needed and 3) I travel for work and 4) often work from home 1 day a week

In my previous job, there was an on-site crèche, with 2 areas - babies and pre-schoolers.

It was lovely to know my 2 DS’s were close by; drop off and pick up were easy and I was able to get there quickly on the (very rare) occasion one of them was ill.

I was also able to take them for lunch, in my own lunch hour, as they had a separate room for parents.

OK - are you asking from a device users point of view (as the parent if a child) or as a service provider (as someone setting up this business)?

Onsite childcare exists in some places. It is expensive to run, and there are plenty of downsides from a service provider’s point of view.

So I wonder why you’re asking?

I think some really big employers eg nhs do have them.
I can see the advantage if you live locally to your work.
Much less so if you’re commuting.

I think there are tax advantages too.

What / why are you asking? I'm in London and lots of city firms have this provision.

Im not sure I really like people joining the site to do research

I would have loved this, but think it would only work in certain professions.

For example I am a teacher, it obvs wouldn't work for me. ( although my class at the time I was pregnant did say they expected me to return the next day with the baby and park the pram at the back of the room and carry on teaching!!)

My solution was to become a childminder, so I effectively have your solution already! I work, but my baby is playing in the next room and I feed her as and when she needs.

If I worked in an office, I would probably have returned to work far sooner and happier, if this was an option.
I think though there would need to be some sort of way to make sure parents weren't taking the mick though and spending 80% of the time in the room with the child, under the guise of 'feeding' etc when actually they are having a skive.
I think they should be allowed a reasonable amount of a break from work, the same as any other colleagues ( lunch/ coffee break times) and any time above and beyond that would either be added on to the end of the day or docked from pay somehow. So the parent would spend their lunch/ coffee break time in the baby room and then if they needed an extra 20 mins then they work that back at the end of the day to make up for this. If not possible then 20 mins comes off pay. Maybe some sort of clock in/out system to see people weren't being silly with it.

Love this idea though.

That's interesting 30somethingbirthday that you say it obviously wouldn't work for you. I work in a large school that has a daycare nursery onsite.

It works great, many teachers use it. Staff get a slight discount and priority for places.
It's technically term time only, though actually only closes for 2 weeks at Easter, 2 weeks at Christmas and the 6 week summer holiday. 4 of those summer weeks are covered by the same staff running a 'holiday club' which you pay extra for if you want it. It's also only open 8 - 5 so is cheaper than other nurserys because the staff costs are less.

Obviously people don't 'pop back' to see their child as OP is suggesting, they are busy teaching or working. It is also open to non staff, though the shorter hours and holidays make it not an option for some.

Oh wow I didn't know schools had this!

Ok, so I'm just wondering do they just pop along in their break times/free class times?

The way I read the original post was that parents could be called upon at any time by the nursery staff, saying that their child needed a feed. Parent would then drop all, go along, feed and return to work. This would be repeated several times throughout the day.

That's why I said this wouldn't work for me as I couldn't just drop all and go when I would be teaching, likely,

But if I was popping along in break times this would be doable.

Tbh I have no idea if people pop to the nursery at break/lunch times. I always left mine all day so never saw during the day.

I think it would be disruptive for the children those whose parents did pop in, wouldn't understand if mum/dad was there just for a few mins or to take them home, might be difficult for nursery staff to settle them again after a visit.

I also think it would be disruptive for those whose parents didn't pop in because they wouldn't understand why some parents came to see them but their parent didn't.

So I guess my opinion is nursery onsite, great. Nursery where parents are popping in and out all the time, not great.