Pumping at Work?

Katie - posted on 05/11/2010

I work in an office and fortunately have a boss who breast fed all of her daughters. I went into a spare office for my lunch each day (for an entire year). My boyfriend works retail, and now that he's a father, his coworkers have spoken openly with him about their experiences expressing at work. Their managers have been very helpful in ensuring an open and secure office every day.

Heidi - posted on 04/14/2010

That is great that you were able to make pumping work for you. I am lucky to be able to only pump once a day at work. My kids actually all started to wait for me to get home as they got older and I did not need to pump at all. Way to go, it is hard and a big time commitment to breastfeed your child, but I love it still.

Stephanie - posted on 04/14/2010

When I returned to work 2 weeks ago I decided I just did not want to have that discussion with my boss. I work with all men and I just knew that it would be an uncomfortable conversation for all of us. Now I just pump once a day. I started pumping morning and night when my daughter was 3 days old so now I have nearly 250 bottles froze for her so I am lucky enough to be able to just pump once a day. I have a very high milk supply also and when I do pump I fill both bottles to over flowing.

This probably does not help you much but if the off chance you have an excellent milk supply maybe you can also just pump once a day or even in the morning and the evening. It was painful the first week but this week is not as bad.

Laura - posted on 04/05/2010

I actually just heard back from a La Leche League member and MN is actually pretty cool. They have a statute that states:

"STATUTE 181.939 NURSING MOTHERS.
An employer must provide reasonable unpaid break time each day to an employee who needs to express breast milk for her infant child. The break time must, if possible, run concurrently with any break time already provided to the employee. An employer is not required to provide break time under this section if to do so would unduly disrupt the operations of the employer.
The employer must make reasonable efforts to provide a room or other location, in close proximity to the work area, other than a toilet stall, where the employee can express her milk in privacy. The employer would be held harmless if reasonable effort has been made."

Heidi - posted on 03/22/2010

Hello, I work part time and breast feed exclusively. I use a breastpump at work(a grocery store) and when I asked the manager about policy regarding this he told me that as long as I am on my break Im fine. There are no accomadations made for nursing mothers as it is my choice to do so(very lame). So basically I go to my car and use a car adapter on my electric pump. I was kinda slow at first but with practice I can get everything done in under 10 minutes. I would just ask your manager if there is a place available for you to use as you are only feeding your child breastmilk. It is only a little embarrassing but oh well. Good luck, it really is worth it.