Question from a Not-Yet-Mom about pumping

Suzi-G-

Hi!  If you pumped at work, where did you pump?  In your office? An empty office? A dedicated room? Somewhere else? 

I am hoping to get a feel for what the "norm" is and what might work before I approach HR asking for anything.  I work in a university library and my office is "shared space" so that is out.  We also have a copy room w/ refrigerator but that is "shared space" as well.  The university does provide a "mother's lactation room" but it is several buildings away and I just don't see collecting my stuff, taking the elevator down, walking outside--in the heat, cold, rain---into another building, upstairs, and back three times a day.   Obviously if that's the only option it's what I will do though. 

I am not sure if there are any empty offices around and it would probably take some major hoop jumping to get permission to use one.  I am considering asking if I can rent a study carrel (the little enclosed kind w/ a door that locks) but I'm not sure if that is enough space, do I need access to a sink?  Does this seem like a feasible idea?  Does anyone have another suggestion?  Thanks!!

madhatter2003

DD = bathroom, not ideal at all

DS = mother's room.

If the carrels are private enough (at our university they are sort of a wire mesh) I'd go for that. You don't need a sink, just buy extra pump parts and wash at night.

gypsywitch

My last daughter, I pumped in the bathroom. It SUCKED. I was too embarassed to request a mroe private clean place from my bosses. ( I'm in the military so, its weird...). Next time, I WILL make sure I am not in the bathroom, the air force has regulations saying your supervision MUST give you time to pump, and a place to do it, and that the bathroom should not be considered appropriate.  You should EXPECT your place of work to give you a clean private place to pump. You will need access to a sink so you can wash your pump parts when you're finished pumping. But you can pack up the pump stop by a bathroom and rinse there on your back to the office. I'm sure HR has been asked this before and can tell you what they have to offer. They may say " use the lactation room a million miles away" And you can choose to use it, or be stuck with the nearest bathroom, unless you can pull some strings and get an empty office. Good luck!

jellybean529

My company gave me access to an empty office when I returned to work. It was in another building so I had to trek through the rain, heat, etc (I returned to work in July, and I live in Florida so that's all we had). It was the only option available other than the bathroom (which I wouldn't pump in...yuck). I was too shy to lug my parts into the kitchen to wash them so I bought the medela pump cleaning wipes and just brought extra bottles, and kept everything in a cooler with ice packs.

MargieMom

bathroom or my boss' office when he wasn't in the office (of course!)... 

You don't need a sick (nice, but not necessary) - you can use the wipes. 

Where ever it is, make sure it's close and fast.  Not sure about your office politics/policies, but it was definitely hard on co-workers for me to leave in the middle of a profect for 20 minutes to pump every 2 hrs.  It can be annoying to others, and so the easier it is, the easier on you it will be. 

GL!

SportsLover

I pumped in a faculty restroom during lunch.  Fortunately, my co-workers (I teach) would use the student bathroom at that time if I was occupying it. 

My school is very large and my student need access to my room between classes.  The bathroom was my only option or the nurse's office.

14years

I pump in an empty office.  The HR folks were more than willing to find one. 

I think a study carrel would also work if there's no empty office -- you don't need a sink or a lot of space at all.  Just enough space for you to sit and for your pump.  Would the carrel have a plug so you could plug up the pump?  If not, you could use batteries, but a plug would be easier.

Suzi-G-

Thanks for the input girls, I think I might ask about a carrel, they all have plugs (college kids ALL have laptops).  They do have a window into the hallway but everyone puts paper or curtains over the window so that's not too much of an issue.   I know the man in charge of office space for this building is a BEAR to deal with whereas the librarians control the carrels.

Maybride2

I pumped in my office, for the most part.  But when I had meetings outside of my department, I had to take whatever was available - public restrooms, someone else's office, a first-aid room once........I just found a private place each time.

You don't necessarily need a sink, you can buy cleansing wipes that you could use to wipe everything down in-between pumpings.  I don't have a sink in my office, I just carried everything down to the bathroom to rinse it out.  I always had a couple of burp clothes in my pump bag, so I'd wrap them up in that to carry them back and forth.