working from home and nursing advice needed

DAuger

I work from home and I nurse DS every 2-3 hours. He is a fast nurser and it literally take 5-7 mins. I take him in my office, nurse him, and then send him back out with the sitter. If I'm busy, the sitter will give DS a bottle so that I'm not interupted. Well today, my boss asked me if I was still nursing DS. I told her that I was. She then asked if I ever gave him a bottle, and I told her that if I needed to I did. Then she said "but you'll be giving him a bottle from now on right?" It sounds liek she doesn't want me nursing DS during my work day. Has this happened to anyone that is working from home? It isn't like my work is suffering..the only reason she even knows is because I mentioned it to her the other day that I was nursing DS blah blah blah. If I was a smoker, I'd be taking longer breaks to go outside and have a cigarette. Do you feel it is wrong of my to be nursing DS while I work if I don't let it interfere with what I'm doing? I need advice on what I should do.

northhillsbride

I can't personally relate...but it sounds like you're not doing anything wrong if it doesn't interrupt your work. And, if you weren't nursing, you'd be pumping right? If so, you'd be doing that if you were working in an office.

If she ever mentions it again, just let her think the baby is getting a bottle. She doesn't need to know the truth.

 

DAuger

northhillsbride:

I can't personally relate...but it sounds like you're not doing anything wrong if it doesn't interrupt your work. And, if you weren't nursing, you'd be pumping right? If so, you'd be doing that if you were working in an office.

If she ever mentions it again, just let her think the baby is getting a bottle. She doesn't need to know the truth.

 

exactly...pumping takes 3 times as long too!

crysas81

I don't think she should have asked that. Yes, pumping takes MUCH longer...trust me, I know. I just got back and it took 20 minutes from the time I went up until when I got back to my desk so she has two options, either you nurse for 5 minutes or you pump for 20 minutes, 3 times a day. I wouldn't tell her anything, honestly.

flyer23

I don't think what you're doing is wrong at all. I spent upwards of 2 hours a day hooked up to the pump when working from home, and I didn't feel guilty about that at all.

I think it was highly inappropriate of your boss to ask about it, too. As long as you're getting your work done and you're available when she needs you, who cares what you do?

That said, I would try to minimize any talk of nursing your son. Not because you're doing something wrong, but it sounds like your boss isn't very understanding, and why make an issue out of it if you don't have to? My discussions with my boss around nursing/pumping were extremely, extremely limited -- it maybe came up once or twice in over 6 months of working and pumping, usually on the rare day when I had to come into the office. When I was working from home, my boss could care less what I did.

RoxyLynn

As long as it's not impacting your work - you're not nursing while on a conference call, you're returning e-mails and phone calls promptly - I don't see a problem.