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Working Moms
bf'ing moms, pumping @ work?
It is my hope to get a teaching contract for the 09-10 school year. Baby will be about 3 months when I start. I plan on pumping so that DC can still be BF. I stayed home for a year with DD. I pumped just to keep a small supply in the fridge. I've never had to do this before.
So how do you handle it? And did you talk to anyone about it, such as supervisors? I'm a little concerned because while I can lock a classroom door for privacy all the administrators will have a key. Do I make sure everyone knowns what I might be doing during my lunch and prep periods? What if I can't have my own fridge (last year we had to take them out of our rooms after the district decided to try to save power)? How do I handle storing in a fridge used by many people?
I know this is early, but it has been on my mind.
TIA
E
This discussion has been closed.
Re: bf'ing moms, pumping @ work?
I personally did not make a big deal about it... I work in healthcare and just asked the nurses if there was an empty room. So they were cool with it. But I switched jobs and of course trying to discuss bfing with an unfamiliar male supervisor is uncomfortable. I just told him that was setting up shop in the bathroom so that I could take care of mommy business. He insisted that I lock our office whenere I needed to use it.
As for fridge. I have a medella and it has a cooler bag and ice pack and that carries me through the day just fine. Ihave left the ice pak at home but the cooler looks like any other lunch cooler.
Relax if you are a teacher you will not be the 1st woman there return to work nursing. My husband is a teacher and his co-workers are mommies and it is a frequent topic. THe difficult time will be adjusting fedding/pumping times to lunch and planning periods and might take your body a few days to adjust.
SHelby
Well, my situation is a little different from yours since I'm not a teacher and my office has a Mother's Room with a locked door where I pump. Also, my schedule is very flexible and so I didn't really need to let my supervisor know necessarily, but I did let him know that I'm nursing. I guess by deductive reasoning he knows that I'm pumping. I would mention it to my supervisor in your case...just so you know that you have his/her support. As far as privacy, I would be a little nervous if people have a key and can walk in any time. Maybe you can set some parameters so that they know they can't just come into your classroom. Another alternative would be to pump in the car. I have seen several women post here say that they pump in their car if there is no private place where they can pump. I pump in the car more than I pump in the Mother's room because of the nature of my job. I'm out "in the field" more than I'm at the office. I have a Hooter Hider I use and no one ever knows I'm pumping. (You probably missed my previous post a few weeks ago about being pulled over by a cop while I was pumping, but because of the Hooter Hider, he had no idea).
If you can't have your own fridge, you could use a cooler packed with ice or you can get a fridge-to-go bag. I have the Playtex fridge-to-go that I got from Target (also are sold at BRU). It's very small but it works really well keeping milk cold while I'm at client sites. I would google Fridge-to-Go. They have a web site where you can get bigger ones.You could keep the Fridge-to-Go in the big fridge used by other people or you could maybe put in a drawer in your room. It does well at staying cold. Supposed to be ok for breastmilk for up to 12 hours.
Anyway, don't worry too much. You'll figure it all out. That's one of our mommy super powers...we become extremely resourceful when it comes to mothering.
Good Luck!
We have women here with all kinds of different jobs, overcoming all kinds of different challenges, to successfully pump at work. Hopefully some of the teachers will come in here and give you specific advice
To answer your questions:
I did not specifically talk to my boss about it. I worked from home or at customer sites most of the time while I was pumping, so he didn't really need to know. There were a few times when I had to come into the office to meet with him, and I told him when I needed to pump. He's a dad himself (his second baby is about 3 months younger than my DD) and so he "got" it without me needing to say much.
As I said, I had to pump at customer sites quite a bit. At one site, I was able to pump in a spare office that had a non-locking door. I just made sure that my customer knew I was pumping (awkward conversation, but it had to be done) to avoid any mishaps.
No big deal not to have your own fridge. I often didn't. I used the Medela cooler bag and ice pack that came with my Pump in Style. That thing works great! I also have the Fridge to Go bag that the pp mentioned, and it works OK, but not as well as the Medela bag. Not that it really matters for workday use; breastmilk is good at room temperature for up to 10 hours, so any type of cooler bag will easily get you through the workday.
If you do want to store in a fridge used by many people, do it. It's a good idea to use some sort of opaque bag so people don't know what it is (some people would get grossed out by it), but breastmilk is not a hazardous material or anything, so it doesn't require special storage.
Good luck!
Mommy to DD1 (June 2007), DS (January 2010), DD2 (July 2012), and The Next One (EDD 3/31/2015)
Carter James
You don't need a fridge. I use the Medela pump, and it comes with a cooler and ice pack. I leave for work around 7, and when I get home around 5 the milk and ice thing are still cold.
And I did talk to my boss about it, since I take off a couple times a day. He was totally cool with it. It's not an ideal spot to pump (shower stall in our building's gym) but it's private and I don't have to worry about anyone walking in on me.
My co-worker made me a little sign that says "please do not disturb. Motherhood managment in progress." She also added the international symbol for bf'ing.
But even w/out the pic, I think it's a great way for people to get the idea w/out having to use the "B" word.
I am a second grade teacher and I have been pumping for a little over a month at work. I told my principal during the summer because I wanted to have before school yard duty instead of recess time. I also was hoping to get her support since she isn't a mommy herself, I wasn't sure how she was going to react.
I pump before school, at morning recess, lunch, prep (2 days a week), and afternoon recess. I eat in my classroom so I can pump and get work done (my goal is to not bring work home with me). I didn't put a sign on my door during the first week of school, because I didn't want everyone to know what I was doing. BIG mistake. During the first week of school, I had one of the reading coaches walk in on me during lunch recess (she used her master key). I also had the janitor walk in on me to deliver some curriculum before school. I was pretty upset, and went to talk to my principal. She sent out an e-mail to all people with master keys. I also started using a sticky note on my door saying, "please do not disturb, thanks!" However, one day after school I had a substitute janitor use his key. I heard the door knob jiggle, and I yelled "Don't come in!!!" he didn't hear me, and hence walked in on me. So far this year that makes 3 times. I asked him, "didn't you see the sign on the door???" he said, "no." He poked his head out the door, and said, "oh! you mean this one?!?" Hmmmm..... My back was turned to the door, but still!!! Totally frustrating.
It is hard, but doable. You just have to expect that at some point in the year someone will probably walk in on you. =/ Good luck!