Parental Leave Benefits

The United States’ current parental leave policy directly causes health issues in mothers, fathers and newborn children. A paid leave policy would assuage this complication and achieve the U.N sustainable goal of good health and well being. The authors of the Maternal and Child Health journal describe the health benefits of a paid leave policy: “[Studies show that paid family leave] gives children a healthy start, lowers infant mortality by more than 20% (Ruhm 1998)” (Rowe-Finkbeiner, Martin, Abrams, Zuccaro, Dardari 3). Writer Sarah Fass adds that “in terms of children’s health, access to paid parental leave has been found to reduce child mortality, particularly when the leave is paid and provides job- protection benefits” (Fass 1). These

Department of Health and Human Services 2011). Allowing women to recuperate from having a child is extremely beneficial to their health. Pregnancy and childbirth are typically a long and painful ordeal. Being able to fully recover from these events allows the mother to be increasingly able to care for their infant. Having the capability of healthy infant care aids the baby since their needs can be tended to quickly. Additionally, mothers are able to return to work when ready. These benefits are especially helpful to those who have received cesarean sections or had any birth complications. Having both parents present also aids the child, since they are able to make crucial bonds with parents at a young age. Bonding with children is also beneficial to the parents since they are able to have a strong relationship with the infant for years to come. With a paid and job-secure leave, parents are also not forced to place their child in daycare and go back to work early. This, in turn, prevents the parents from being unable to form important bonds and recover from having the

However, being incredibly anxious as a mother is more damaging as they are also trying to heal from bearing a child. Thus, reducing this stress is beneficial to the emotional and physical well being of the mother. Having a satisfying life allows the mother to be happy, aiding her well-being. This also benefits the infant as they are raised by a happy individual as opposed to a stressed one. Reducing cesarean sections also aids the health of families, as they are physically and mentally traumatic to the mother. They also cause the father and other families a great deal of stress. It is also better for the infant to be born normally. Breastfeeding infants has also been proven to result in fewer infant infections and hospitalizations. Unfortunately, many others are unable to experience the health benefits of a paid and job-secure leave policy. A single mother describes her experiences without paid leave: “Because I didn’t have paid leave after the birth of my first child, I had to go back to work within 2 weeks—using all the vacation I had to take the time off. It was a horrible experience. My son was too young for daycare, so I had to find an individual to watch him. That was not easy and very expensive. My health declined because I wasn’t getting enough sleep—or enough to eat—because I was too tired working all day and staying up all night with my son. I eventually ended up in a hospital for a week because I got so sick. My son