Pumping at work is a joke.

tetchy · March 2016

And where do I work? I work at a hospital. I thought they would have the upper hand on health and nutrition, the benefits of breast feeding and the desire to support their employees in their attempts to work and nourish and whatever. No. Not at all.

I have been offered a room in the emergency department. A normal emergency room. Glass sliding door with curtain. That they would also use for patients when it was busy. They would, take the chair out of the room. Put equipment in the room. Leave wheelchairs in the room and just generally not turn over the room properly when the patient was out because that room rarely was supposed to be used. Except by me...and I need it clean. No mrsa milk for my baby.

So I asked for a clean dedicated space. With a dedicated chair, even. I was gladly given use of an office space. An office with a desk and rolling desk chair. And that is fine. If I worked in any other profession fine would be just fine for me. But, I expected more from a big giant name in health care.

How does your workplace accommodate you? Do you have a lovely room with soft music and mood lighting and diffused with lavender????!!

ksrkim · March 2016

Far from it! With my first, I had to pump in a men's bathroom, sitting on a bench across from a urinal. They technically "closed" the bathroom while it was a pump room but still.

This time there is a supply room for the nurse's office with a bed in it. No diffused lavendar but better than a men's bathroom!

I cant ant believe that a hospital isn't more accommodating!

Court11152325 · March 2016

I have my own office that I pump in. Technically we're not allowed mini fridges in our offices, but I'm allowed to have one. That's probably the only real accommodation they've made since no one controls what I'm doing in my office and when. I'm lucky to have a profession where as long as I'm not in the classroom, I can shut the door to my office and no one will bother me.

I would expect more from a hospital, but at the same time given the state of family leave in the US it doesn't surprise me. I'd expect hospitals to understand that 12 weeks unpaid is shit, but it's companies like Netflix and Google doing that.

breezypip · March 2016

My company has a new dedicated Mother's Room for pumping. It's not exactly serene, but there's a "comfy" chair and two side tables and a sink in the room. It's pretty cold and sterile, but clean. There's a spot for a mini fridge but they won't put one there because they are worried about "mixing bodily fluids"?? I don't get it. A refrigerator sure would make life easier if you're going to have a room dedicated.

blended10 · March 2016

When I worked after ds was born I pumped in the back of an atm- private from the public but show time to security cameras! I was told it was that or a break room or a public bathroom. So sad I left that job after 6 shifts

christiel14 · March 2016

I work in a rehab hospital and our pump room is an old hairdressing room. There are three of us at work that pump and we have to schedule our time in the room. And as a nurse, it's really hard to know how you day is going to go and if I'll be able to leave the floor at any particular time. Plus the room is super tiny with just a chair, bedside table and hair washing sink.

taysun · March 2016

I use a meeting room where I'm not allowed to eat or drink. Before I was given that room I was told to use the family restroom.

Gingermom15 · March 2016

See about getting the word out for a lactation station. Most hospitals have them now and yours might be willing to accommodate if you push for it.

I work for a hospital as well and we are provided with two location rooms, each with a Symphony and an Ameda Elite. If those are full we can borrow a pump from the PP ward and use either a recovery room or a pediatric room.

jennsulz · March 2016

I work at a children's hospital and there are pump rooms on every floor with 2 or 3 medical grade pumps and comfy chairs all separated by curtains. It's for patients mothers and employees to all use. It's nice that I don't have to haul my own pump in, the only problem I have is finding coverage from someone I'm working with so I can go pump. We are really busy and it's not always easy finding someone to cover my work for me even though it only takes 20 minutes or so to pump.

ATolentino89 · March 2016

I pump in a break room kitchen. I pump sitting in front of a kitchen sink with a microwave next to me so there's no counter space. I have spilled my freshly pumped milk twice.

luckily there is a fridge/freezer to put my milk in though.

Kaysquared2 · March 2016

I work at a hospital that provides a room for us to pump in that is in the mother baby unit. There are only 2 chairs to accommodate all the moms that work at the hospital. They used to provide hospital pumps but stopped doing that since they got broken too often. Someone stole everyone's pump parts a few months ago so I'm scared to leave my stuff in that room so I lug all my stuff up and down 4 flights of stairs.

MaMinette13 · March 2016

I'm a teacher and was told I can pump in the daycare room attached to the cafeteria. No thank you, because kids would be in the cafeteria every time I needed to pump! And a daycare room just feels like it would be full of germs!

I can't use my own classroom...it has 7 doors! So I use my friends room with only one door, but she has a mini fridge and stays with my in case someone decides to ignore the giant neon do not enter sign.

NellieHarringtonCarter · March 2016

I haven't asked yet, since I've been working from home, but just thinking about my office, I'm not really sure. I have a cubicle, and there might be an empty office for me to use, but since we are consolidating two floors into one, I imagine all of the private offices will be in use. That leaves a large meeting room that is used fairly often and our library/meeting room, which I imagine would be hard to keep private.

I'll probably just go and pump in the car...

lcorey · March 2016

I use an office with a hard chair and a desk. They mainly use it for storage now, but hey at least they put a lock on the door!

redfallon · March 2016

I didn't return to work after having my first baby, and I hated pumping. All of this is so sad that a proper space can't be made available to do this for you all

Pumping sucks in itself (at least that's how I felt about it) and to not even have a good space to do it in is worse. I'm sorry, you guys

oregonmommy-2 · March 2016

I work at a hospital.. We also don't have a pumping room. I go to OB and use a supply closet to pump in. I don't care where I pump as long as it's private and quiet. One of the nurses walked in on me yesterday! It's a good thing I'm not shy about anything!

steffnstuff · March 2016

At my job we have a "quiet room." It only has a reclining chair and a mini fridge in it-no other furniture. It's supposed to be available for anyone to use (to nap at break time or debrief or whatever), but it's mostly just used by those who need to pump . When I return to work, there will be about 5 of us vying for time to pump so I imagine there won't be much room in the fridge for everyone's milk. Thankfully, the break room isn't very far and it has 4 refrigerators in it. We also have a large conference room that has a refrigerator if needed.

Mags128 · March 2016

I am using a small conference room. It just has a table and 4 chairs. Right now I am the only one pumping but in a few months there will be someone else. It's annoying having to set up and break down the pump every time. Last time I had my own office so I could just shut the door.

Bubbz · March 2016

I am using a "library" at work. It has two chairs, a couch, a couple of tables, and a lock. And old sales/marketing books no one reads! They're talking about building a "real" nursing room--that would be nice.

pupsicle23 · March 2016

I'll be using a supply closet. But it's fairly large and has a light. It beats a bathroom or the teacher office that houses any 12 of us. My principal is also on maternity leave and mentioned getting a mini fridge for us when she returns.

Edited bc squirming baby

mscicluna979 · March 2016

I work at a restaurant the only place I can pump is in an office that had video cameras and a window on the door(that I can cover with paper) or in my car. I rarely even get to pump we are just to busy for me to step away.

Peanut1128 · March 2016

I pump in my office mostly and I ordered a mini fridge and use that to store milk. I also travel to meet clients all over the state so on those days, I pump in my car (sometimes while driving!) and store my milk in a cooler. It's weird but it works for me.

chimirossi · March 2016

I'm a teacher. I put up a shower curtain that blocks off the little nook where my desk is. I lock my classroom door but sometimes people still come in. Far from glamorous!

LandOfNope · March 2016

I can't really pump at work unless I'm working alone. We usually work short shifts (<6hrs) with no breaks. =(

mistycray · March 2016

I work in a small, 60 bed hospital in radiology. My schedule is S/S/M. I use the mammography suite since it's already set up to be nice and comfy for thre patients. On the weekends, there are no scheded mammo patients and we are normally slow in xray/ct. On Monday, I do the mammogram patients so I just pump in between and during no-shows. I can pretty much always pump 20 mins, 4x on each shift. However, the e.r. nurses at the same hospital pretty much have the same problem as you

angelicac06 · March 2016

Yikes. No dedicated pumping station but there's private unused office on every floor with a door that locks and blinds on the glass pane next to the door. There's also a mini fridge in one that I can think of. My only issue is the glass facing out! I work in a high rise and if someone has binoculars, they can see LOL!

ssn109 · March 2016

Peanut1128 said:

I pump in my office mostly and I ordered a mini fridge and use that to store milk. I also travel to meet clients all over the state so on those days, I pump in my car (sometimes while driving!) and store my milk in a cooler. It's weird but it works for me.

I pump while driving a lot. I will hook myself up before I start driving, and just turn the machine on when it's time. It's a lifesaver, since I travel a lot for work and if I couldn't pump in the car I could go entire days without pumping. And that would not only be painful, but kill my meager supply. I have gotten strange looks, mostly from men, at red lights. I guess they can't figure out if my boobs really are that large under the xl tshirt I wear to cover up.

tetchy · March 2016

Cyber group hug to all of you ladies (hugs)!! It sounds like none of us pumping mommies are 100% taken care of by a society that is pushing more and more for the benefits of breast feeding.

High five for sticking it out and pumping in whatever nook or cranny or glass house that you have been giving and for trying to do what you think is best for your baby

tetchy · March 2016

tfrangul · March 2016

Lurker from Jan 16 board. Had my baby in December though. I got lucky this time around with my job and them meeting pumping needs. I work at a large telephone sales company and they have a nice lactation station. It's 1 room with 2 stations in it. Both with shelves and curtains and gliders with stools. There is also a sink and mini fridge. It gets cleaned everyday too. I also like that the door is locked at all times. With my daughter 7 years ago I had to pump in a warehouse bathroom. It was terrible!

KRH6829 · March 2016

I have to formula feed due to medication, but I do feel like a lot of workplaces do as much as they can to accommodate. I'm a teacher, and we don't have nearly enough room in our school for all of the students. Teachers have to share rooms and this summer lockers were removed to make a semi-room for teachers to use. The district that I work for is amazing. Another teacher last year had a baby and threw a fit that there wasn't a specific lactation room for her. The administration offered her many offices that were available for certain times that locked and even purchased a small fridge for her to store her milk in. While I guess maybe not ideal, they were really trying...we don't even have enough room for the students. She still filed a complaint, which I felt was unnecessary. Some of these situations that I read about are ridiculous and need to be fixed ASAP, but some places are really doing the best that they can with what they have.

pupsicle23 · March 2016

KRH6829 said:

I have to formula feed due to medication, but I do feel like a lot of workplaces do as much as they can to accommodate. I'm a teacher, and we don't have nearly enough room in our school for all of the students. Teachers have to share rooms and this summer lockers were removed to make a semi-room for teachers to use. The district that I work for is amazing. Another teacher last year had a baby and threw a fit that there wasn't a specific lactation room for her. The administration offered her many offices that were available for certain times that locked and even purchased a small fridge for her to store her milk in. While I guess maybe not ideal, they were really trying...we don't even have enough room for the students. She still filed a complaint, which I felt was unnecessary. Some of these situations that I read about are ridiculous and need to be fixed ASAP, but some places are really doing the best that they can with what they have.

Stuck in box

I agree with this, at least for my school! I'm only returning for the last couple of months of the school year, but I just found out that my big storage closet is being cleared out so that I'm more comfortable, and they're purchasing a mini fridge. I'll only share it my principal, who returns a few weeks after me. The administrators at my school don't even have their own offices, so this is really nice.

Edited to try and fix the box.

amye02 · March 2016

Thank goodness for state laws, my company had to provide a dedicated nursing room and during renovations they converted a lounge off the ladies room with a locking door, comfy chair and sink. It's REALLY cold in there but private and clean.

mperotti220 · March 2016

I put my milk in a paper bag in the main fridge...what people don't know doesn't hurt them! I also keep my pump parts in a wet/dry bag in the same fridge

NellieHarringtonCarter · March 2016

First day back to work yesterday, and they give me the vacant corner office to pump in. Not too bad! Today, however, I have a computer issue that IT is working on. They couldn't fix it initially, so I have to let the program run for a while until they figure it out. So... I haven't pumped yet this morning and my boobs hurt!

abteamb · March 2016

I'm also a teacher and I made a little station behind my desk that I cover with a curtain. I had to buy a little table to put back there and I cover it when the students are there. I lock my door and have a sign which some people apparently can't read bc they still try to go in!!!! Also, one of mh students saw the little table with the blanket over the pump and he told my students that I keep the baby back there lol I teach first grade. It made me laugh and now all my students try to sneak a peak when they walk by my desk. LOL

momotheflyinglemur · March 2016

I am SOOOOO thankful to be where I am while breastfeeding. When I had found out I was pregnant I was in the middle of create the "Serenity Room" for another new mom in our office who needed a space to pump. The space is comfortable and secluded. There is a minifridge, soundmachine, ambient lighting, AND a space heater! I feel that pumping there is part of the reason why I am able to consistently pump 6 oz a sitting. :-)

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5020794/uploads/editor/i2/dfgns9v2svfo.jpg

pupsicle23 · March 2016

My closet didn't lock correctly and someone intercepted a rogue student just in time.

Knottie65841689 · March 2016

mhuber223 said:

My closet didn't lock correctly and someone intercepted a rogue student just in time.

Thats awful! It better be working right now

thatgirlree24 · March 2016

Some of you ladies should check with your state's laws and see what they are mandated to provide you. In NYS for employers that have 50+ employees, they have to allow a private room for you and as many breaks as needed to pump, although the breaks may not all be paid. I don't like my job all that much but I'm thankful for a clean and private room to pump in.

chewie5990 · March 2016

I'm a teacher and I've been at work for 3 days and pumping has been harder than I thought. I have a closed classroom with a hallway door that locks BUT another door that attaches to my MALE coworkers classroom which does not lock so Monday I'm going to move a shelf in front of the door since the administration is unwilling to add a lock. In the 9 hours I'm at work each day I'm only able to pump 2x so hopefully it will be enough to keep my supply okay and enough to satisfy LOs needs...

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Pumping at work is a joke.

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