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Working Moms
If you BF
Just a few questions. Does your company have a lactation support policy and if so, what is it? How often are you pumping? How are your supervisors and/or coworkers handling your pumping breaks?
As a whole, the company I work with is very supportive of BF'ing mothers, but my supervisor is acting like it is a HUGE inconvenience. She is one of those people who has a bad attitude about everything, but she is really starting to irk me about this. She huffs and puffs and rolls her eyes any time I take a 10 minute break to pump and actually threw a fit yesterday because I told her I couldn't go out to lunch with her (no particular reason, she just wanted to take a few of us out) because I had to run to the daycare on my lunch to nurse. I have been doing that every day, during my unpaid lunch hour and didn't send enough bottles with LO to skip it.
Just wondered what everyone else was experiencing?
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Re: If you BF
Can you talk to HR about your supervisor? That's out of line, especially if your company as a whole is very supportive.
I work for my dad and with my brother, so it freaks my brother out. I asked if it was because I was pumping or if it's because I'm his sister, he said it's because I'm his sister. I pump in the car on the way to work and then twice while I'm here.
TTC#2 October 2011. June 2012 diagnosed with mild PCOS and both tubes blocked.
10/1/12 miracle BFP 11/12/12 missed m/c (9w2d), baby stopped growing at 7 weeks
1/16/13 BFP, EDD 9/27/13, m/c 1/19/13
2/12/13 BFP, EDD 10/25/13 Please stick little one
A stowaway on board!
We don't have a formal policy, but we do have a 'mothering room,' as it is called here. My boss was totally fine with my pumping - I never used company time so of course he should have been. But he and all of my co-workers understood how important it was and that I had to be away to pump a few times each day. My company is very family friendly as a whole so I think that helps. I also would take my work laptop with me and work as I pumped if it was an exceptionally busy day.
Sorry you're having issues - that's very strange that she is bothered about what you do on your lunch break. Would she have had the same reaction if you needed to run an errand?
I'm sorry your supervisor sucks. I would definetly talk to HR about her. Sounds to me like she kind of sucks in general though, and not just about BFing.
FWIW, I didn't have any negative things said to me about pumping, and I pumped for 4 months at work, 3x a day.
Sorry your supervisor is not supportive. That is tough. Don't feel like you need to be apologetic, though! You are doing something for your LO that no one else can do. She will just have to get over it.
We don't have a policy, but we do have a "wellness room" that is used for pumping. It's pretty nice (refrigerator, sink, comfy chair) but is one room for an office of 350+ people (heavily female) so, needless to say, scheduling is complicated. I am pumping 3x/day and just put it on my Outlook calendar like any other appointment.
We have a 'mother's room' as well, and right now there are only 2 of us using it so it's pretty easy to schedule. I also put it on my Outlook calendar.
My company is very supportive. They have nursing mothers rooms and even give a subsidy to help purchase a pump.
Sorry about your boss. Don't let her make you feel bad for doing something that is right for your baby. Remember, thoughout the day, non-nursing mom's and men take breaks for all sorts of different reasons: internet breaks, smoke breaks, etc and I'm pretty sure they don't feel bad for doing so.
As far as my pumping schedule - it was whenever baby would normally eat. So mid-morning (9/9:30ish), noon and mid afternoon. I would nurse both immediately before leaving for work and immediately upon getting home. I too had DD in a daycare on site, so I generally nursed during lunch.
It is ok to adjust occassionally to meet work needs. So on occassion if I had a lunch meeting, I would plan in advance to send an extra bottle and I would pump immediately after lunch (or before depending on the timing). Not sure if you think this would be well received, but you could approach your boss to indicate that if you can have a day of advanced notice, then you could have planned to have an extra bottle thus positioning you to attend lunch.
Oh heeeeeellllllllllll no, I would NOT be ok with that!!!
My bosses were ok with it, but it was my non nursing co workers who kept getting irked. I work in a government office, so we didn't have a nursing/pump room. I used the library outside the directors office. I posted two large peices of poster board saying "do not enter -- under any circumstances, thanks elsie" our secretary made me a sign to hang saying "do not disturb, lactation in progress" apparently one of our county commissioners didn't think the rule applied to him and started to walk in. Luckily my director caught him before he saw anything, lol. That's awesome you can nurse and see your LO on your lunch break. Our library has a futon, so if DH brings the baby up on my weekends to work, I can nurse in that. But I work 12 hour shifts, so I pumped at 4am when I woke up, 8 am, 11am, 1 pm (lunch) and 4pm. I slowly cut out the 4 pm, then the 11am, then the 8 am and lastly the 4am. Now I just pump on my lunch (DS is 9 mo now).
But let her be irked. My co workers used to talk behind my back about how they have to cover my slack and i'm "always on a break". But knowing that I was giving my DS the best I could made me ignore those comments and snippy glaces. So enjoy nursing yours DD on your lunch and just snicker to yourself in knowing she probably missed out in that bonding/experience with her own kids, so she doesn't get it,.