The Australian Breastfeeding Association has launched a Friendly Workplace Program in a bid to increase national breastfeeding rates.

The program intends to encourage employers to create an environment where employees can express or breastfeed at work.

In Australia, 96 per cent of women initiate exclusive breastfeeding, a figure that drops to 15 per cent after five months.

With as many as one-in-four Australian women returning to work within six months of giving birth, the Australian Breastfeeding Association chief executive Rebecca Naylor said the program encouraged workplaces to recognise their role in supporting breastfeeding mothers.

"We know that if 90 per cent of babies were exclusively breastfed to six months, then we could save the health system around $120 million," Ms Naylor told 666 ABC Canberra.

The National Health and Medical Research Council and the World Health Organisation both recommend that infants be exclusively breast-fed for six months until solid foods are introduced.

Ms Naylor said there were simple things that could be done to assist breastfeeding mothers in the workplace.

"If [working] women want to continue breastfeeding, then they need a clean and private place to express or in some cases feed their child," Ms Naylor said.

"They need policies that support that so that they can have lactation breaks.

"They need a culture at work that says 'we want to support you'.

"Some women need to return to work, and many women want to return to work. And we need to create a community in which it's possible for them to do that."

Workplaces can register to become an accredited breastfeeding friendly workplace with the Australian Breastfeeding Association. 

This information was originally sourced from ABC News here.