Shared pumping space

Karla CS · October 2013

I work in a decent sized company, about 200 people at our location, and there is one 'quiet room' for pumping. We have four floors of people, and this room is on the 1st floor. It's more than served my needs, but I've been the only one using it - in the last 12 years, they've never had two nursing mothers at once. I've had to put a schedule on the door, but since I'm the only one who can legally use it right now, if I need to rework my schedule for the day, I can just kick anyone who might be using it out. (Because for some reason, people bring pillows and blankets and plan on taking naps at work. I work in a bank, no one is pulling all nighters, I'm really not sure why this happening, but I digress...)

I have a coworker on leave right now who's due back either at the end of this month or sometime in the next. How do you work out the logistics of that? And the scheduling? She's in a different department, so I doubt she'd need to change her schedule frequently, whereas I have client calls come up all the time and need readjust. I'm hoping I'm just overthinking things, but how have others managed?

daisy662 · October 2013

I don't have any advice, I just felt the need to express my amazement that people at a bank would bring pillows and blankets to take naps. That is very odd to me...

Karla CS · October 2013

It's beyond me too @daisy662!

cookie21880 · October 2013

Similar setup as milkergirl our room has a whiteboard so you can write your name and times. Everyone is pretty flexible to new moms and as I weaned and needed to decrease sessions everyone was flexible too. It will all work out!

TheBorg7of9 · October 2013

I just pumped at the same time as the other girls. Nobody minded. I did ask ahead of time though

RachieTK · October 2013

Is it not possible for two people to pump in the room at once, especially if it isn't the norm and is due to a change in schedule? If there are modesty concerns, perhaps a nursing cover or some type of partition could make the room work for two?

ss+el · October 2013

If it's just one other person, I'd just approach her and hope she's flexible. I shared a room the entire time I was pumping, and the other mom would tell me every day what her plans were and I'd go from there. (Retail - she had a set schedule, I did not)

CarrieB. · October 2013

Our pumping room is booked like any of the conference rooms through our calendar system.

Karla CS · October 2013

These are all really good suggestions. Pumping at the same time won't work though as there is only one outlet in the room and we'd literally be sitting on top of each other. I'm an open person, but I don't like her that much!

Red_Dahlia · October 2013

We post a calendar, and then IM or email each other if we need to make adjustments. When 2-3 people are sharing the room, it isn't an issue. But at some of our facilities, there are 7-8 women trying to schedule times all day and it gets really crazy.

Karla CS · October 2013

She pumped with her first, so I'm assuming she will with this one.

I was all set to nail down a schedule with the other mom who returned to work, but it worked out for me as she was doing formula.

We're in the process of acquiring another floor in our building, I'm considering suggesting they include an additional room. While it isn't a requirement, they'll have more space than necessary, and it can double as another nap room.

aglenn · October 2013

We had an Excel spreadsheet we circulated where people could sign up for regular times. If we needed to switch for a one-off situation we'd just contact the person and ask if it was OK. At times when there were a lot of people using the room it could be a real pain and I would just use whatever random empty office I could find, but with only one other person you shouldn't have too many issues.

peekaboo716 · October 2013

milkergirl1 said:

My first 3 months back to work, I had the pumping room all to myself, and then one of my coworkers came back from ML. I already had a schedule of around 9:30, 12:30, and 3:30, so I told her that was my usual times, but I would be flexible if she needed me to be. She didn't even know how many times she was going to pump a day when she came back to work. So a month in, we each have our set times and there is a sign on the door that we flip that says in use or not in use. There is also an interior lock on the door.

But I do have things that mess up my schedule, so if I'm late, I'll just give her a call and ask what her schedule has been for the day. She also will get busy and her schedule gets off. So it's just about communication.

This is what we did. We had one room for three of us (one ended up not pumping afterall). We just talked to each other. I had my set times of 10:00 and 2:00, and she went in 30 mn after me, since she started her workday a little later than I did. I did miss a time here or there, and we just talked about it. It's super easy when there are just two of you.

At my current company, we have 3 "spaces" for pumping that are just separated by partitions. The spaces are reserved in our calendar system, like a conference room would be. Not as nice, since people would not take off their reservations if they didn't need them.

mom2be614 · October 2013

Let me just say that it is pretty darned amazing that you can schedule time in dedicated pumping spaces. I travel to clients, so I spent a lot of time pumping in my car and trying to find public restrooms with outlets and lockable doors.

whynotwhynot · October 2013

Shared outlook calendar for the room. Nursing mothers can block off set times for a month or two. If something comes up and your scheduled time does not work take a block that is not taken. Still ended up having to kick out people trying to take naps no occasion, but saying I had the room reserved made it less awkward.

PseudoMama · October 2013

We had a sign that said "Occupied" or "Unoccupied" and key card entry, so you had to get security access. This barred non-pumping employees from using the rooms. But, it was First come first serve. I worked in a building with 3,000 people and two pumping rooms. Almost no one had offices. I only had one time in an entire year of pumping 2x a day that I had a conflict and had to wait. I never went at the same time because I was usually bouncing between meetings. Hopefully you have as good as luck! If you know the woman is planning to BF and pump, you might suggest a schedule. You might be able to set the room up in outlook? Or, if you are more established waiting 20 or 30 minutes might not be as big of a deal.

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