a new focus for my lactivism October 9, 2007
I’ve been supporting and promoting breastfeeding on both personal and public levels for years. But now that I am - for the first time - attempting to work outside the home full time and breastfeed a baby, my energy in breastfeeding promotion is going to take a new, more specific direction.
Working mamas need more support.
You see, I knew before I returned to my full time job 8 weeks after my daughter’s birth that American culture and our economy make it DAMN NEAR IMPOSSIBLE TO CONTINUE BREASTFEEDING after returning to work. I knew this on an intellectual, a factual level. I’d heard the stories. I knew the statistics about how many women are unable to keep nursing after they return from their criminally short maternity leaves.
But now, for the first time I know how hard it is. And it is really, really, really challenging.
I have every advantage.
-I am an experienced breastfeeding mother, having nursed two babies before this one (While working from home. They never had to take a bottle. I never had to pump.). And this time, I was able to get breastfeeding successfully established with my now 10 week old daughter before returning to my job.
-I have a professional job, where I can slip away to pump several times a day without serious recriminations.
-I own not one, but two high-quality, expensive breastpumps (well, they were loaned to me, but they are mine to use).
-My daughter is cared for by her father and grandmother during the day while I am at work, and they are both super supportive of breastfeeding.
-I even lucked out that she takes a bottle just fine (Many breastfed babies do not move easily between breast and bottle. My baby doesn’t care, so long as it’s food).
-We’ve had no problem with NIPPLE CONFUSION.
-During the hours I am with my baby, breastfeeding is going great. I have a great milk supply and she is growing like a weed.
So really, I have a best case scenario for making this working-and-breastfeeding thing work.
But it’s still hard.
First of all, there is no good time to pump at work. I am always busy, and things often come up at the last minute that make it hard for me to get away from my desk for 10-15 miinutes, even as my breasts have become uncomfortably full and leaky. If I am in a meeting and my breasts start to leak, well, that’s no good. And there is really no place for me to pump at my place of employment. The spot I’ve found is freezing cold and has no comfortable place for me to sit. The door doesn’t lock. I sit on the floor, facing the wall, so no one will wander in and get an eyeful. The other option involves me asking someone to leave her office three times a day so I can use it. While I know she would be happy to do this, I am not comfortable asking.
Then there is the pumping itself. I try to pump 3x per 9 hour workday. I am currently getting only about 80% of what my baby needs to eat while I am away from her, since my workday also includes significant commuting time. So as of two days ago, she is also getting one bottle of INFANT FORMULA each day, something about which her father and I are not thrilled. She seems to really dislike the taste, too. But mama’s got to work and baby’s got to eat, and unless a human milk bank opens up in town, offering me the option of buying that extra bottle a day from them, infant formula remains my only option for filling that gap.
I hope my pumping output will increase, and I plan to try to build up my stash of frozen breastmilk by pumping extra on weekends and at night (not easy while also actually nursing the baby, and caring for three other kids), and it may, but if not, she may have to have the occasional stopgap bottle of artificial breastmilk. I feel like trying to pump enough milk has become my defining life mission.
There is also the issue of clothing. As a stay at home/work at home breastfeeding mother, modifying my daily wardrobe to accomodate nursing was no biggie. As a working person, however, choosing clothing each morning that is both okay for my job and will also allow me to bare my chest three times a day to pump is not easy. It’s a real pain, actually.
I believe breastfeeding is CRITICALLY IMPORTANT FOR MY BABY’S HEALTH, and really good for me too (lowers my risk for several cancers). I love nursing her, and knowing that this is a special bond that we share. I am willing to go to great lengths to make it work, even as I am away from her 50 hours each week, but there is no denying that it’s a challenge. And as I’ve said, I have it waaaaay wasier than most women who try to pull it all off.
Breastfeeding is not just a personal choice, but a MAJOR PUBLIC HEALTH ISSUE. The societal cost savings WITH INCREASED BREASTFEEDING RATES are huge.
But women need to work. Mothers have jobs.
We need:
-Longer, paid maternity leaves
-Publicly funded lactation consultant services, so women can get the help and support they need to successfully initiate and maintain breastfeeding (WIC is supposed to provide this, but you have to be very low-income and know the service is even available.)
-Low-cost pump options for women who cannot afford to buy the $350 pump you really have to have to make working/breastfeeding happen (Again, WIC is supposed to offer this, but the services are not widely known or available to women above very low income levels).
-Federal job protections for breastfeeding women, similar to (or an extension of)
the protections in place FOR PREGNANT WORKING WOMEN
-Better workplace support. I’d like to see comfortable (don’t have to be fancy - just comfortable and semi-private) lactation rooms, so women can pump on the job. Heck, a closet with a chair, ventilation, an outlet and a light would work. Some larger employees have this available, but smaller and medium sized ones do not.
-Tax credits for companies that actively work to promote and support breastfeeding on the job.
One of the most active and vocal proponents of government protections for working, breastfeeding mothers is Representative Carolyn Maloney. You can read about her efforts, and see a good round-up of current and past breastfeeding legislation RIGHT HERE.
And if there are any women in your workplace who are currently juggling a job and a nursing baby, offer them your kudos, or even better, your private office with a locking door in which to pump.
Those are all excellent points. I am the lone LLL leader for a night group in VA that is 90% working moms. I absolutely feel they need a lot of support and I am sad that there are so few night LLL meetings for them.
One tip which helps a lot of moms in my group is reverse cycling. Charlotte could be a little young for this to really work, but it involves a lot of offering the breast in the evening, sleeping close and nursing often through the night. Another option, is: on the weekends, I know you are busy, but half a day (or more if you can) of back in bed and skin to skin can help a lot with building supply. There’s also power pumping, where you set up the pump on a day you are off in a central location. Every time you walk past, you pump just for five minutes. Basically you pump a little, all day, and b/c milk can be at room temp for a day–you store at the end, all that you’ve gotten. Also, its not about how much–its about constantly sending the signal to make more milk. A day later there should be a good increase.
http://www.mother-2-mother.com/reversecycling.htm
First I wanted offer a little hug for returning to work. It IS hard. Second…If C. is only nursing a few times a night…you might try pumping first thing in the morning. That seemed to be when I was the fullest. Third even if there is a dedicated place to pump (which is so nice about where I work) I’ts still hard no matter what and I wish te maternity leave was longer. At least 6 mo.
Good Luck. You’re doing great!
There also has to be comparable time off and benefits for those women who have chosen not to have children, or cannot have children for whatever the reason. A little parity this way would go a long way for the breastfeeding cause, which I wholeheartedly support.
The longer I live, the more that I am convinced that the problems in this world do not stem from government, but from corporations. We are a corporate-owned society. Every time I see those baby formula commercials on television, with the tiny itty bitty line at the bottom of the screen saying “breast milk is best” or whatever, my blood boils. Yes, breast milk IS best, but that doesn’t stop your gazillion-dollar marketing machine at the expense of kids’ health, does it?
My husband’s mother did not breast feed, and he has had lifelong issues with allergies and asthma. Coincidence?
I think it’s great that you write so honestly about this topic. I can’t imagine pumping for a 2 month old while working a full-time job. I didn’t start to pump until my DD was 6 months old, plus I worked PT. I didn’t have to, because I lived in Scotland, where I had a SIX month maternity leave, and with some added vacation time, I was off seven months. And that’s not even that great compared to most western nations. If American women had decent paid maternity leave, that would make a world of difference. Are you familiar with the site http://www.momsrising.org?
That’s interesting Laura, I’d never thought of that. While I do believe supporting mothers so they can better raise their children is good for society-not just the individual parents-not everyone sees this. Time off for non-parents might make the concept easier for people to swallow. How would it be handled? As an extended version of the Family Medical Leave? Submit paperwork stating you have a family situation to take care of? (There are plenty of situations where protected time off from work would be beneficial. Not just caring for an elderly parent……what about time off to monitor a child or relative or friend going down the wrong path, helping someone who has no family, etc.).
Can you add this to your list:
Delaying juror duty for two years after birth of a child for breastfeeding mothers.
There may be a lactating mother close by who will donate her extra milk. It has happened in Knoxville before. Some mothers just have extra milk. Contact La Leche League.
Pumping is absolutely the most challenging part of being a working breastfeeding mama. My son does the “reverse cycling” mentioned above and nurses a LOT (more than he did as a newborn) at home after work/daycare and at night. Co-sleeping has saved us, even though in an ideal world I would love him to sleep in his crib (quietly without waking up until 7am - ha, in my dreams!). As it is, I miss stretching out in bed w/only my husband (and being able to roll on whatever side I want whenever I want) but the tradeoff for being able to offer him the breast whenever he wants/needs it is fine for now.
Katie,
There is help on the way for you!
First you need to call Jim Hughes at Medela he is in charge of setting up corporate lactation Programs; he will show and convince your company with hard numbers and facts of the benefits to the company in setting a program (plus they get big tax breaks for doing it).
1800-435-8316 X 583
Did you know?
New Mothers’ Breastfeeding Promotion and Protection Act of 1998 - Amends the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to include breastfeeding or expression of milk from the breast to feed a child among those activities for which a woman may not be discriminated against in employment.
(Sec. 4) Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow a tax credit for 50 percent of employer expenses for providing an appropriate environment on business premises for employed mothers to breastfeed or express milk for their children.
Do not give up; if anyone can change the corporate environment to make it easier to pump you can do it for yourself and other mothers at your workplace.
Have you read the whole book “Milk Memos”? If not reread the whole book and the resources in the back.
Make a place for yourself in that dressing room or closet and pull in a chair and small table (buy it for yourself if you have to, and bring magazines or ipod and relax and take your break. All those people smoking cigarettes in front of the building make sure to fulfill their daily quota of allowable addiction breaks.
Read the proposal on Pro Mom to bolster your case for your employer to create a lactation room for pumping mom.
I believe that if you build it moms will pump when they come back from maternity leave!
http://www.promom.org/3min/lactprop.htm
http://milkshare.birthingforlife.com/
Milk Share is mother-to-mother milk sharing (tests are required), maybe you can find someone in your community who will pump some extra milk for C.
As a mom who pumped everyday for 18 months 3 times a day at work BRAVO.
I got very little support from LLL to downright hostile treatment since I was a working mom. This is one place where LLL needs to do some serious training with their leaders and offer night meetings. If we are serious about changing rates in this country than all women need to be able to breastfeed not just the women who fit into a nice little category.
My best friend across the country got the same treatment from when she went for support for pumping and working from LLL and sadly I’ve heard the same story from other working moms.
I ended up finding access to an online support group of working nursing moms and it was so helpful on the bad days. I had a supportive workplace and an office space with no lock and it was still DAMN hard.. The president of my company did walk in on me one day and it was awful. The one thing that kept me going is when another new mom came up and said she was pumping and doing it because I had shown her it could be done. You never know who is watching and deciding that they can do it too.
Thanks for speaking up.
PS hands-free pumping bras are wonderful for the multi-tasking working mom!
Did HR 3531 (105th Congress) actually pass? I cannot find anything that the New Mothers’ Breastfeeding Promotion and Protection Act of 1998 was signed into law. The last motion I can find is that it was on the floor.
I also read just today that this legislation is not yet passed; it would be wonderful if it did!
My baby also nursed more at night to make up for when I was gone during the day; she positively refused to ever take even one sip from a bottle. Strong-willed little gal!
Good luck Katie, it is not easy!
Pump while you drive - assuming no kids in the car!- seriouslly I pump one side with the moter next to me using the hairbands to make it hand free - you could squeeze in 2 extra sessions there and back. Also I will say again that pumping one side while you nurse the othere in the am is a great way to get an extra session in.
I’m very fortunate. The company I work for in Knoxville has a wonderful lactation room. It has its own fridge, water heater, multiple pumping stations with dimmers on the lights and individual thermostat just for the room. It’s even sound-proof! Hopefully its availability to our working mothers has encouraged other women to make the decision to continue breastfeeding. When it was set up, we couldn’t find any other companies in Knoxville who had a room we could model. I hope that’s changed in the past 5 years.
Hang in there! You know it’s worth the hassle!
http://www.ny.gov/governor/press/0822072.html
I don’t know why I thought it was nation wide.
I’m sorry it is only my state New York that has signed into law in August the new legislation protecting the rights of nursing mothers in the workplace.
Time off?
This is how non-mothers view caring for an infant?
People who are raising children are creating a future for our society. It’s not a vacation. I’m all for time off for non-parents doing other civic work. But for vacation? Geez. It just shows how little some people understand about the work of family life.
Sugarlips, you’re right that taking care of a baby is not a vacation, and that children are necessary to ensure that our society continues. But I agree with Laura and others that work accomodations for those with children should be matched by similar accomodations for those whose time off isn’t related to children (or even to taking care of someone else, I say).
I’d support policies that protected almost any job if the employee wanted to take six months (or longer!) off, for any reason. For one thing, I think that parents would experience less resentment and discrimination if even the “child-free” had the opportuntity to experience a benefit now restricted to mothers. For another, I think that some of the non-caretaking projects people might choose to do during their time away from work could enrich our society too. (Even something as seemingly self-indulgent as travel gives everyone else stories to enjoy.)
–Katie, I also share an office, and I actually pump in the office while my (female) office-mate is around. What I do is this: I have a loose maternity poncho that I put over my head. With the poncho on, I put on my breast pump (I use a bustier that allows me to pump hands-free–couldn’t do this without that tool), and pump away. I’m entirely covered (albeit strange-looking, with the bottles jutting from my chest under the poncho, and the tubes running out) and can work at my computer while I pump. On the few times someone has walked in on me, I’ve felt only a bit embaressed–after all, no part of my body is exposed. My officemate has gotten used to the arrangement, and these days we often hold gossip sessions while I’m pumping.
Katie, check out http://www.workandpump.com for good support. It’s another lactnut site!
[...] by Rachel on October 11th, 2007 Katie Allison Granju had returned to work following the recent birth of her baby, and writes about both the privileges [...]
You do realize that it is the small mom and pop businesses that will probably get screwed by this, don’t you? I read the article you linked to and it sounds like women such as yourself have little to worry about. It is the women who get pregnant before getting educated and are stuck working as baristas while raising a kid. Starbucks is hardly a small company, but can you imagine the expense of retrofitting existing starbucks with “Lactation rooms”? Cost that no doubt, will be passed along to the consumer. Service jobs are notorious for not having breaks even when you need to, say, like go to the bathroom. I cannot imagine, if I had a little restaurant, having to staff enough people to allow a lactating waitress the time to pump her milk. And, as Laura pointed out above, allowing the nursing woman this time will then result in cries of “unfairness” from the child free. Who you will have to give a comparable benefit to. What will happen? These little business’s will probably close for fear of a lawsuit from a “lactivist” or another employee who feels it is unfair that the nursing mom gets to take multiple breaks and they now expect something comparable. You have to weigh these things out. The good you do in one area can cause unintended harm in another. further, I am betting this insistance will breed more resentment against nursing mothers. Yes, these people may have to comply because you have bullied them into it(or go out of business), but there WILL be resentment. I would also not be surprised if small businesses find ways to get around the laws and not hire women who will probably hit them up with a lawsuit if their “lactation needs” are not met. when you force people like this, at possible great economic harm to their business, you put them in a position of finding ways to legally discriminate against women who are mothers or likely to be mothers. Nah, they can’t say that is what they are doing but if you have two qualified candidates, one that appears very reasonable and one who you can just bet is going to be demanding that you totally modify your business to meet their needs, guess who will get hired? You are shooting yourselves in the foot.
Second that, Leigh. But those in this mindset don’t, or can’t, see consequences past getting something (convenience, money, benefits). It’s just wanting more, more, more. More for someone else to pay.
I thought Laura and I were going to agree on something . . . but then I realized she *wasn’t* being sarcastic.
Leigh, you are being myopic. Starbucks is an excellent example to use because they offer health insurance to their employees (and their children). Babies who are breastfed are sick
okay, maybe starbucks is a BAD example. I just used it because the article mentioned Starbucks specifically to show the difference between their management staff and the service employees. Actually before we leave starbucks let me point out that if they are bullied into this by “lactivists” and have to retrofit all these stores, there will be stores that have a “lactation room” that is never used or perhaps used by one person. But it won’t matter. They will have to do it no matter how few, if any, people benefit. So now let’s talk about a privately owned coffee house. Not a big corporation. But they will have to provide a “lactation room”. And presumably a break room that is used for other purposes as well won’t do the trick because then these women might be “humiliated”. Incidentally, I googled this whole thing and found mention of one of these “public humiliation for pumping” litigants was (are you ready for this????)a waitress at Hooters. I mean can you imagine waiting tables at Hooters and having the capacity to be humiliated by ANYTHING involving mammary glands?
There is a real culture of entitlement going on here in the US. No matter how many people get screwed by your actions, YOU are entitled. Clearly women in white collar jobs are not having these issues. Perhaps this could be yet another incentive to not have sex until you are prepared to raise a baby? So you don’t get stuck at a service sector job that by the very nature of said job makes it very difficult to meet your babies needs? It is one thing to schedule meetings around pumping. However, you cannot very well excuse yourself for twenty minutes during the lunch rush to go pump because you are leaking. Of course lactivists will make it so that employers have to put up with ANYTHING just so long as they are not trampling on these womens “right to lactate”. Have you heard the expression “only the educated are free”? Well here it is ladies. Get an education so that you have the flexibility to earn money and raise your kid the way you want to. If this matters to you, it is on YOUR shoulders to find a field of work that will accomodate it or start your own business or telecommute or whatever. You should not be making your employer bend to the point he/she has to go out of business. Of course if that happens, you have just screwed yourself too, because no workplace equals no job.
[...] a new focus for my lactivism-Publicly funded lactation consultant services, so women can get the help and support they need to successfully initiate and maintain breastfeeding (WIC is supposed to provide this, but you have to be very low-income and know the … [...]
I’m with Jenny and Leigh. I especially appreciate the comment that Jenny made about how some people just want more and more with no foresight.Everything is all about them and what suits them at the time.
[...] a new focus for my lactivism-Publicly funded lactation consultant services, so women can get the help and support they need to successfully initiate and maintain breastfeeding (WIC is supposed to provide this, but you have to be very low-income and know the … [...]
yeah Eilat, you are assuming that those studies really are accurate. Since there is no way to divvy up people like lab rats into two genetically identical groups with everything exactly the same environmentally other than the breastmilk, at best you have a possibility. Personally I have seen so many “exceptions” to the health business with infant feeding that I do have to wonder just what, if any difference, breastfeeding alone makes. and if it is questionable what the results are, why the hell would the companies go to this trouble? I would not be AT ALL surprised to find out that “lactivists” have been padding their data so they can use it to get what they want
[...] Allison Granju (author of Attachment Parenting: Instinctive Care for Your Baby and Young Child) was lamenting how difficult it is to be a breastfeeding and working mother. That got me thinking about the challenges working mothers face. So when I was looking for [...]
Leigh,
The women pushing for fair treatment of breastfeeding mothers *have* thought it through. Maybe you should research more? Tennessee law protects nursing mothers. Also, we only ask for the time smokers are allowed for smoke breaks ..no more, no less. As far as lactation rooms, ANY private room (that is not a bathroom) will do …even a room as small as a closet. Shoot, Mom and Pop shops could set up a screen in the breakroom even …anything to keep it private.
Furthermore, people keep talking about “special treatment.” Has no one done their research? Everyone, even men, are protected under FMLA. Yes, there has to be a family or medical reason, but EVERYONE can take that time off.
Do some research before casting judgement. Start supporting each other to make the workplace better for us all.