NYT article on breastfeeding/pumping at work

Artslvr

One of my MILs sent me this:  https://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/01/19/090119fa_fact_lepore

 

It?s five pages.  If you want to skip the history lesson, go right to page four and read pgs. 4-5. 

 

I think the best line in there is:  ??It appears no longer within the realm of the imaginable that, instead of running water and a stack of magazines, ?breastfeeding-friendly? could mean making it possible for women and their babies to be together.?

 

Someday maybe maternity leave policies will be more generous, so we wouldn?t have to pump!

 

Amy&Steve0421

:Coming out of my lurking shadow:

Work is slow so I decided to read the article - very intersting - and I really hope the last part is true:)

Hey Jellisy

I read this when it first came out while I was pregnant with DD.  I had mixed feelings on the article.  The history was fascinating but I wasn't sure that she drew any good conclusions.  She let the article go in a variety of different directions without drawing it all together.  Now that I am living the working/ pumping mom life, I don't know if there are good conclusions to be drawn and I resonate more with her views. 

We need my salary if we want to buy a house, I like being with adults and getting things done at work - ares that made em feel impotent while I was home with DD.  But pumping at work is perhaps the strangest experience of my life.  I don't like how this wonderful, intimate nurturing experience has become so public, sterile, and  mechanized.  We don't have a pumping room and I work in a cube, so everyday is stressful figuring out which of the 8 offices without windows to the hall are available or asking someone to borrow their office for 15 minutes. 

I think giving my daughter expressed milk is the right thing for me to do, but it's not easy, fun or a desirable way to spend my time.  And it's not a substitute for nursing - nursing isn't food - it's a full body, emotional, intimate experience that builds love, relationship and trust while feeding (bottle or breast).  It's telling that when I pick up my DD from daycare, even if she ate moments before, the first thing she wants to do is nurse.  It provides much more than food to her. 

 The US's maternity leave laws (or perhaps more accurately the lack of laws) are anti-feminist in my mind.  In reflection, I think that is the heart of the New Yorker article.  Feminism is about the ability to make choices, only a non-parent (and perhaps even non-mom) would argue that giving someone the right to express milk while working is providing an equal choice to nursing.  It only looks at one benefit, not all.

 I'll get off my soapbox.  It's a fascinating read.            

Artslvr

Hey Jellisy:

I think giving my daughter expressed milk is the right thing for me to do, but it's not easy, fun or a desirable way to spend my time.  

YES...

Hey Jellisy:

 

 only a non-parent (and perhaps even non-mom) would argue that giving someone the right to express milk while working is providing an equal choice to nursing.  It only looks at one benefit, not all.

     

... and YES. 

BabyHatch

Artslvr:

I think the best line in there is:  ??It appears no longer within the realm of the imaginable that, instead of running water and a stack of magazines, ?breastfeeding-friendly? could mean making it possible for women and their babies to be together.?

 

 

Agree. So sad. :-(