Ever since Priti Rane started wearing her baby, Shubh, to work, it’s taken longer for her to do interviews with clients at the Ashtabula County Women, Infants, Children (WIC) program.

Ditto for those quick visits to the store. That shock of black hair and pair of dark eyes peeping contentedly above the blue sling on Rane’s chest elicits predictable comments and questions that cause her to pause, listen and respond.

“’You’re so lucky.’ ‘Your baby is good.’ ” says Rane, sharing the most common comments she hears.

As a practitioner and evangelist for baby wearing and breast-feeding, Rane welcomes the questions. And as lead Dietitian for the Ashtabula WIC program, Rane practices what she preaches by wearing her 5 1/2-month-old baby in a sling as she goes about her duties at the WIC office. Lunch and snacks are always on mom.

Since most of her work is done at a desk, the snoozing bundle rarely interferes with work. Every couple of hours Shubh gets to stretch and play on a blanket Rane spreads on the floor near her desk.

“It’s modeling for other moms who come through the door,” says Diana Brook, health services director for the program.

The arrangement is facilitated by a very mom-friendly breast-feeding policy adopted by the local program. Brook says the Ohio Department of Health has, since 2003, promoted breast-feeding friendly workplace policies. In developing a policy for their office, Brook and the staff worked together to establish one that allowed mothers to bring their breast-fed babies to the job.

The policy is open-ended. “We decided not to set a definite time frame because each baby and mom are different,” Brook says.

In sync with Mom

Laurie DeVivo, a breast-feeding peer helper, was the first employee to both use the provision and adopt baby wearing as a component. Several months after her fourth child, Ellie, was born two years ago, DeVivo attended a breast-feeding conference where a vendor was selling baby slings. She purchased one and started wearing Ellie, 3 months old, to work.

Although DeVivo stopped bringing Ellie to work at 10 months, she continues to wear the baby around the house, on shopping trips and during many other activities.

“It’s wonderful,” she says. “It’s the most comfortable thing, even at this age, it’s very comfortable.”

DeVivo says the sling is primarily about bonding, although it has many other benefits to both baby and mother.

“The baby becomes part of our world,” DeVivo says. “They share our communication; that baby is not set off to the side.”

She dreads the day when the sling will eventually have to be retired.