CEO Denise Iacona Stern was selected to attend the elite White House Summit on Working Families on June 23, 2014.  Key issues discussed at the summit were workplace flexibility, equal pay, childcare, leave and early childhood education. In a nutshell solutions to help families meet their work and home obligations. This blog, Let Mommy Sleep Attends The White House Summit on Working Families explains.

Here at Let Mommy Sleep, we were honored to represent the challenges of new working families and working mothers.

“It is important for new parents’ voices to be heard,” says Denise Iacona Stern, “Since beginning Let Mommy Sleep, I have worked with nearly a thousand postpartum families and common concerns continue to be that parents in this generation do not have family support because Grandma and Grandpa are still in the workforce themselves, and these same parents are often up against the clock of little or no maternity/paternity leave. Adding to these worries, we currently have the shortest postpartum hospital stays in history.”

Let Mommy Sleep Attends The White House Summit on Working Families – Key Points

The summit featured a keynote from President Barack Obama, who cited that some women in this country can’t even get a paid day off to give birth, calling it “a pretty low bar.”  He mentioned that these issues, affecting the amount of time parents can spend with their children, shouldn’t be characterized primarily as women’s issues but rather family issues.  In fact, 60 percent of working families in the U.S. today have both parents in the household working, and the United States is among only three countries in the world reporting that they don’t offer paid maternity leave.

One of our favorite quotes from the summit was by Labor Secretary, Tom Perez who said, “The most important family value is time with your family.”

We continue to be committed to following best postpartum care practices for newborns and their parents. Our team of certified newborn care providers, nurses and postpartum doulas also provide evidence-based education for families.  A healthy, rested family is never a partisan issue. It was a privilege for Let Mommy Sleep to be in the company many distinguished national business leaders.  We enjoyed engaging in dialogues about policies affecting working families in our nation and feel truly blessed to have been selected to attend this event.