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(VANCOUVER) So, what’s a new mother to do when she owns her own business and doesn’t qualify for paid maternity leave?

If the mothers are Suzanne Siemens and Madeleine Shaw, they do what comes naturally—they bring their kids along to work. In 1993, Shaw created the natural menstrual product company Luna Pads—a cottage enterprise that makes stylish, eco-friendly alternatives to disposable pads and tampons.

In 2000, she met Siemens and together they expanded the company to become a thriving wholesale and online business via their website www.lunapads.com.

“As business owners, we aren’t eligible for maternity-leave benefits,” explains Siemens, an accountant by trade contributed to EI prior to becoming a business owner. “So, our only option was to bring our babies with us.”

Lunapads officially has a staff of four, but at times the number of warm bodies increased as each owner returned to work after giving birth. Both Siemens’ sons—Garret, one and Aiden, five—and Shaw’s daughter—
Genevieve, two-and-a-half—are or have been regulars at Lunapads as toddlers.

Sounds convenient, but doesn’t this give new meaning to the term mother lode?’

“You schedule meetings or detailed work during nap time,” offers Siemens. “Once they get mobile, it’s harder to divide attention to the children and attention to work.”

Once the kids reached one-and-a-half or so, their parents made daycare arrangements for part of time. “There’s only so much that we can offer at the office,” Siemens points out.

And yet, the drawbacks are greatly outweighed by the benefits, she adds, including having your baby close when they need you. Besides, she adds: “Babies and children bring a magical energy to the office that everyone here enjoys and contributes to.”

Check out www.lunapads.com to order Luna Pad’s great woman-made merch.