Nursing Breaks or Creche Facilities

Other than the maternity pay and leave, women are entitled to other benefits. These benefits such as nursing breaks and creche facilities allow women to make an easier transition back into work after their maternity leave.

Nursing breaks

If you return to work after your delivery, you can take 2 breaks of 15 minutes each daily ¹. You can nurse your child and take nursing breaks till the child is 15 months old.   ²

Creche Facility

Every establishment having fifty or more employees shall have a creche facility. ³ You can visit the creche 4 times in a day as per the law. ⁴ You can take an extra time of 5-15 minutes. This includes the time to and from the:

• Creche (a nursery where babies and young children are cared for during the working day) or
• Any other place where the children are being taken care of.

The Ministry of Women and Child Development issued guidelines for setting up and running creches, which prescribe standards that creches should adhere to. ⁵ The guidelines state that there should be one crèche for every 30 children, which should be extended to any employee’s child between the age group of 6 months to 6 years. The location of the crèche facility should be at the workplace, or within 500 meters from the workplace.

1. Section 6, The Maternity Benefit Act, 1961.[↩]
2. Section 11, The Maternity Benefit Act, 1961.[↩]
3. Section 11A, The Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act, 2017[↩]
4. Section 6, The Maternity Benefit (Mines and Circus) Rules, 1963.[↩]
5. National Minimum Guidelines for Setting Up and Running Crèches under Maternity Benefit Act 2017, https://wcd.nic.in/sites/default/files/National%20Minimum%20Guidelines.pdf[↩]