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October 2011 Moms
weddingbells2010
member
Pumping Room at Work
weddingbells2010
member
In all of the craziness at work today that I posted about earlier (see "Beat THIS Insane Day" a little further down), I forgot to mention the thing that irked me the most.
Today, the social worker comes into the library and very matter of factly tells the few of us who were in there (taking a breather from the craziness) that she is being assigned to one of the two back workspace rooms in the library as her office this year. This particular room is the current "pumping room".
I mention to her that, being literally the tenth of ten pregnant women at the school in the past year, I happen to know that this space has been assigned as the "pumping room", complete with privacy curtain on the door and a "pumping in progress" sign. She turns around and says, "Well, I'm here Tuesdays and Thursdays. They can pump Monday, Wednesday and Friday."
I don't know- maybe it was pregnancy hormones, or the insanity from the rest of the day, but I got my back up over the way she said it. I responded, "You know, legally the school has to provide postpartum women with a place to pump and it can't be a bathroom. There are a LOT of postpartum women here this year. They can't pump every other day. You can't use the room when they need to pump, and there are so many of them that I bet the room will constantly be in private use. You can't have kids meeting you back there either, obviously."
After several ignorant questions about why they even NEEDED to pump if so many of them gave birth months and months ago (she clearly doesn't get it), her solution was to meet with each pumping mother to find out when they pump and set up a schedule. I tried to explain to her that she can't hold them to a timed schedule, and she just seemed so insistant that she wasn't giving up the space.
I gave up and wished her good luck on solving the problem and said I hope you don't have to move all of your stuff again once the first pumping mom complains to the union that she's not getting her pumping location.
So annoying and rude!
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Pumping Room at Work
I don't think we have a designated pumping room at school. I'm sure I'd be offered a chair in a private bathroom or something. Most of the teachers I know do it on their lunch hour in their classrooms. I'm not sure what I'll do. I teach straight through from 8:00 to 11:45 without a break. It'll be an adjustment for sure! I may see about switching my study hall 10:45 with my lunch? Oh wait, can't do that I have a CLASS at that time next semester.
GRRR!
Spedi, here's a brief explanation of the law- they can't offer you a chair in a bathroom.
https://www.ncsl.org/default.aspx?tabid=14389
agreed!! stick it to her and get your principal involved if you need to. the law is the law for a reason!!
Hold your ground - let the principal know as well, get your union rep. involved---whatever you need to do cuz this lady is nuts and wrong.
Also, it's weird that she's so insensitive and she's the social worker!?! God help those kids who need her help!!
I would speak to an administrator or a union rep about this because it sounds an awful lot like a bathroom to me. If it's not private, what's the point? My fear about using a classroom is that, at least in my building, we all have room keys- anyone can come in without realizing why the door was locked.
It stinks that she was not sympathetic, but she was probably the wrong person to confront regarding this issue. Try bringing it up to your principal or someone with real authority. It's not her fault she was assigned to the room you were planning on using.
FWIW, at my work, we have to be on a schedule for pumping since there are so many women. Doesn't seem like a big deal to be set to a schedule (women rave about our nursing mothers program), although ideally, we could pump whenever needed.
Her ignorance on the topic wouoldn't be as irking to me if she weren't a freaking social worker. I mean, lots of women don't understand BFing or pumping, but I would think a social worker should have at least *some* understanding about this. I mean, isn't the profession dedicated to helping families? Wow.
Hopefully there is already a plan in place whhen she was assigned the office.
DMoney will be a kickass big sister
I'm thinking she's not been a parent of BF'd and that she works with high school students not families. My cousins wife is a social worker at a school but I can assure you she knows nothing nor would have to deal with BFing issues unless a student suddenly decided they were going to pump at school and wanted a private room, and she would probably just let them use her office.