Considerations for the Professional Breastfeeding Mom
“Is it 6:45 already?! I haven’t even packed my bomb bag yet!” I rush to fill the diaper bag with extra clothes, bottles for my five-month-old, and a box of juice and fruit snacks for my two-year-old, all for the fourteen-minute drive to daycare.
I finally manage to put on boots, coats and hats, and the girls and their fully stocked diaper bag in the car. It’s now 6:55 and I rush back to the kitchen to place the ice packs in the pump cooler pack, fill it with empty pump bottles, and stuff it into the bag with the pump and all the tubing, flanges, and fittings. necessary. There’s no time for breakfast, so I take a quick drink of water to try to settle my growling stomach. I rush to the car, start the engine and the green digital clock on the dashboard confirms; It’s 7:05 and I’m officially twenty minutes late. I curse my pump bag for slowing me down and think how much easier life will be when I no longer have to pump. But that thought also makes me a little melancholy; I don’t want my little boy to grow up so fast! My two-year-old daughter snaps me out of my thoughts as she yells “Mommy! Mwah! Bye!” and I just have to laugh. Well, twenty minutes late is better than thirty minutes late!
I am one of the many working moms who struggle to balance their family life with their work life. I really enjoy my work as a lawyer in the health field. In my current role, I’m lucky to be surrounded by other working moms who understand that most mornings it’s next to impossible to be on time. They also understand (because each one has been there) that there will be times during the day when I need to step away from my desk to pump. I appreciate my current “bomb friendly” work environment all the more because I haven’t always been so lucky.
When I had my first child and returned to work after a nine-week maternity leave, I was working for a small financial organization made up mostly of men in their forties and fifties. Neither of them could relate to having young children at home, nor could they understand what it was like to balance work life with the demands of a family with two working parents. And when it came to the topic of nursing and pumping, there was absolutely no patience for the time I needed to be away from my desk.
Fortunately, federal law has recognized the need to establish minimum standards for employers in this area. My employer was required to provide me with sufficient break time and a private place (not a bathroom) to express milk, up to one year after the birth of my child. Generally speaking, any employer covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) is required to provide this reasonable accommodation to nursing working mothers. If the employer has fewer than fifty employees and is not subject to the FLSA, it would have to show that complying with the nursing break requirement would impose an undue hardship on its business. As with my first employer, who was not subject to the FLSA, I venture to assume that it is easier to simply provide space and time to express milk than to try to argue undue hardship. Compliance with the law, however, does not mean that the professional environment will be favorable for nursing mothers.
When I returned to work after my first child, I would pump three times during the workday, and one of those times was during my lunch hour. I felt incredible pressure to rush through each of those pumping sessions, even though I usually only needed 15 minutes each time. However, when my then-boss would see me grab my pump bag to go into the empty office to pump, I could see the general look of annoyance on his face. It was incredibly frustrating to see my professional work and reputation tarnished (in the eyes of my coworkers) by my decision to breastfeed my baby after I returned to work. I felt guilty for not being home with my son and guilty for being away from my desk to pump!
Rather than just tolerate the stress, I broached the issue with my boss and found that much of it stemmed from the fact that my pumping needs were not understood. I decided not to offer a detailed explanation of the mechanics of breast milk supply (we would both have been uncomfortable with that), but instead went over with him the actual time he was using to express milk, illustrating that in total it was less than an hour per day. . . Also, I pointed out that for me, that hour really was a wash since I had long since stopped taking a proper lunch break. I have found that by setting expectations for my daily time needs (expressing milk) and for the overall nursing schedule (I opted to wean at 6 months, which is another very touchy subject under which I encourage all mothers to right for themselves and their son), we were able to clear up any misconceptions regarding my approach at work.
In light of my experience, I would offer the following recommendations to all working and nursing mothers:
1. Be assertive with your employer about your space and time needs and remember, the law is on your side;
2. Do not compromise your choice to breastfeed, or your choice to do so for any length of time;
3. Take comfort in the fact that taking time during the workday to pump allows you to maintain the breastfeeding bond with your baby while you’re away from home;
4. Whenever possible, pack your diaper bag and pump bag the night before.