Judy P. Masucci, Ph.D. founder of A Mother’s Boutique joins us to give us some great tips on breastfeeding and the workplace.
It’s important to know your rights and what facilities are already available to you at your workplace. Should a lactation program not already be set up- be a leader and get one going!
Links Mentioned & Other Breastfeeding Resources:
Breastfeeding Tips From Judy Masucci, Ph.D.
The best place to start is with Human Resources. They should be able to get the ball rolling for you and they should know who “up the chain of command” is the correct person to contact. At my last job, I had an office with a door, so I was lucky, but I had two employees who were pregnant at the same time as me and they were in cubicles.
I knew they were planning to breastfeed, so I went to HR and asked them to create a “lactation room”. They set aside a small office, put blinds on the windows, set it up with an internet connection and a telephone and put a small dorm-sized refrigerator in it. The door was then locked and only myself, the HR person and the two pumping moms had keys to the office. It was a great set-up. The moms could bring their laptops in and still work or take conference calls while pumping, and the refrigerator gave them a place to store their milk and pump parts that would be separate from the rest of the office’s lunches. Also, many companies get tax breaks for having “lactation” facilities – so there is more incentive for them to come up with a solution for you. My biggest piece of advice is: Don’t expect them to know what your needs are – you need to tell them.
What are your top three pumping tips in regards to getting the flow going?
- Pump at the same time every day. Consistency is key to getting good output – that way your body will “treat” the pumping session like another feeding and will gear up to make more milk at that time every day.
- Pump for 10 minutes, turn the pump off for 1-2 mins and then pump again for another 5 mins. This ALWAYS gave me a second let-down.
- Don’t compare how much your are pumping to how much your baby is drinking – your baby will always be more efficient at getting the milk out than your pump is.
These are great tips! I’m very pro breastfeeding now and while I’m not a mother/baby nurse, I do work in a hospital that’s very pro breastfeeding. Sadly, not all hospitals are. My own oldest son was born at one that wasn’t and I didn’t even give breastfeeding a try because I was young, scared, uneducated and unsupported by my medical caregivers! With my second son (born at another hospital that was very pro-breastfeeding), I breastfed, worked, cloth diapered, pumped x2 years and became a member of La Leche League. I was a little older then and had learned more. Unfortunately, my job was not very pro breastfeeding at the time (wasn’t a nurse then), and I had to pump in the women’s bathroom! Yuck!
I don’t know of any places that provide a lactation room, I dont think its something that employers have to do here in the U.K.