Paternity leave can make a big difference in a dad's long-term engagement with the child, doctors find. Paid family leave also fosters breastfeeding and reduces the incidence of maternal depression.
As part of All Things Considered's series Stretched: Working Parents' Juggling Act, NPR talked with Dr. Benard Dreyer, a developmental and behavioral pediatrician at the New York University School of Medicine and president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, to get a better sense of what the scientific evidence says about the health benefits of paid family leave.
The AAP is the leading U.S. pediatricians' organization, with approximately 66,000 members, including pediatricians and other pediatric care providers. It's one of several medical groups calling on Congress to pass the Family and Medical Leave Insurance Act, which would create a nationwide social insurance program that enables eligible workers to take up to 12 weeks of paid leave to care for themselves or a family member.
[For more of this story go to http://www.npr.org/sections/he...-paid-parental-leave]
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