Bringing Baby to Work | Video

Retha Coclasure | 1/25/2013

Going back to work can be a challenging time for a new mom. A program through the state government is making that time easier for state employees.

You could say that Lindsey VanderBusch has found a way to have it all.

"The North Dakota Department of Health, our message is to promote healthy mothers and breastfeeding, so they put their money where their mouth is and they allow moms and dads even to bring their children with them to work as long as their work environment allows that," she said.

She`s been bringing her five and a half month old daughter Wren to work with her since Wren was six weeks old. "You sit and think as you`re on a national conference call with your baby sitting on your lap how lucky you are to be the modern mother with your child with you at work."

The State of North Dakota has allowed state employees, in most circumstances, to bring newborns with them to work for up to the first six months. "I think we keep employees because they don`t have to make that decision what to do with baby. I think a lot of people think they`d be distracting. We haven`t found that to be so," said Tracy Miller with the North Dakota Department of Health.

Several employees in the Division of Disease Control have brought their babies with them over the past few years. Co-workers say they don`t mind it one bit.

"It`s hard to have a bad day when you have something really cute coming in. There`s things you have to work around. If I want to meet with Lindsey I have to make sure she`s not eating or sleeping. But they`re easy fixes," Miller said.

VanderBusch says there are a lot of benefits to bringing Wren with her. She`s able to keep breastfeeding, something she says would have been a lot harder to do if Wren wasn`t with her and she didn`t have to worry about leaving her newborn at daycare during the flu season.

"As I enter flu cases I look down and breathe a sigh of relief that I see her here."

She also hasn`t had to miss out on any smiles, coos, or other milestone moments.

Wren turns six months old in February and will be heading off to daycare full time after that.

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