Pumping at Work Question

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Get a cover and pump during meetings

Ok no. I have a pretty supportive team but this is so awkward to picture doing. Also OP will likely need her hands free.

Lol I’m thinking the same. The person who suggested this is definitely a dude trying to be “supportive”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You need to talk to the people you are working with and they need to accomodate you. The partner can survive for 20 minutes while you are gone or can take a longer break.

For days at other firms' offices, either get a really good cooler/ice packs or ask to use their fridge. You can ask reception if you aren't comfortable asking opposing counsel.

But really you just need to get comfortable letting people know that you are pumping and need accomodations. I found colleagues (and opposing counsel and witnesses) very understanding. Many of them are parents too.

This. At the end of the day while you’re very conscientious to try to solve this problem, it is your employers problem to solve— you have a legal right to reasonable breaks to express milk for your infant. I think dialing in is a good option, and I think if you can do a hands-free pump while you drive to a site and then make it to lunch, one pumping session break of 25 minutes in the afternoon is extremely reasonable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Get a cover and pump during meetings

Ok no. I have a pretty supportive team but this is so awkward to picture doing. Also OP will likely need her hands free.

Lol I’m thinking the same. The person who suggested this is definitely a dude trying to be “supportive”

NP here to say There is an entire movement much like normalizing breast-feeding, to normalize pumping. I see nothing wrong with it and would totally pump in a meeting if I did not have other options, unapologetically.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Get a cover and pump during meetings

Ok no. I have a pretty supportive team but this is so awkward to picture doing. Also OP will likely need her hands free.

Lol I’m thinking the same. The person who suggested this is definitely a dude trying to be “supportive”

there is also the willow or elvie, etc. i might have been able to keep pumping if i had gotten one sooner.

[Anonymous]

Get a sense of the times you'll need to pump and work around them. It's frustrating and uncomfortable AND you will miss meetings or portions of meetings, but there is no other way to do it. Sometimes I will call in and mute myself from the pump room so I don't miss out.

[Anonymous]

I’ve worked in homeschool groups where the nursing mothers would be teaching, sometimes breast exposed, sometimes covered. I certainly don’t see anything wrong with pumping or nursing covered or not in a room full of adults.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’ve worked in homeschool groups where the nursing mothers would be teaching, sometimes breast exposed, sometimes covered. I certainly don’t see anything wrong with pumping or nursing covered or not in a room full of adults.

Homeschool groups are so different than what OP has to do. Not even comparable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m a FTM about to return to work from maternity leave, and I plan to pump at work. It isn’t uncommon for me to need to attend all-day meetings, and I’m wondering how to fit pumping in on those days. I’m not sure that I’ll be able to excuse myself from these meetings when I need to pump since I’m usually responsible for taking detailed notes, being “on call” to quickly find a document we need, etc. As a result, stepping away from the conference room for 20 minutes at a time would not fly.

We typically take a couple of 10 minute bathroom breaks and a lunch break during these full day meetings. I think I could probably pump during lunch, but I probably would not have enough time to pump during the bathroom breaks, which also may not align with my pumping schedule. Bathroom breaks are typically taken when we get to a good place in the workflow (a natural stopping place) and not on any set schedule.

I’m curious how others handle pumping during long days of meetings like this. For context, I’m a junior litigation associate at a big law firm, so the types of meetings I’m talking about are witness prep, depositions, witness testimony, etc. Sometimes they are at my office and sometimes not. The logistics seem even more complicated when I’m stuck in a conference room at another firm or at a regulator’s office all day.

pump with willow or something along those lines. you are a lawyer yes? then you know the law.

[Anonymous]

This is a tough situation! I am also an attorney and had a bunch of hearings, on-site investigations, and long travel days while pumping.

When possible, I would just be really direct with whoever was running the show about needing pump breaks, for how long, and for how often. I work with a ton of men, and while initially, this made this more embarrassing, I quickly learned that most were so uncomfortable with the subject that they were very very accommodating.

There were a few times when we were off site. Most of my practice deals with federal agencies so if we were at an agency, I would contact to someone I knew via email ahead of time and ask them who to speak to about access to their nursing mother's room. They were also so happy to accommodate me. I pumped in some strange places (Amtrak bathroom, anyone?) but the meetings at federal agencies were actually pretty easy!

I also didn't worry about saving my milk in certain really tough situations, like the Amtrak example. It was about keeping up my supply and avoiding discomfort or mastitis.

Best of luck, OP! Sending you support as you try to navigate this. And if gets to be too much, I hope you can be gentle with yourself!!! Being a working mom is hard enough - no need to make yourself jump through extra hoops if you decide that's not what is best for you.

[Anonymous]

OP I don't work in a law firm so ignore if this does not sound relevant. But if we are talking about being committed to a meeting occurring from 9am-5pm or similar hours, you may be okay just pumping once during lunch. It's not ideal but that is what I did when I had an all day training. My breasts did not explode.

To those insisting OP should just pump in the meeting, I have no problem with her doing that but I also think it's totally okay for her NOT to be okay doing that. I feel like sometimes the pro-breastfeeding movement can be a little overbearing in insisting women should be totally fine with exposing their breasts to everyone. I hated nursing in public and would never ever have felt comfortable pumping in front of coworkers. My body, my choice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You need to talk to the people you are working with and they need to accomodate you. The partner can survive for 20 minutes while you are gone or can take a longer break.

For days at other firms' offices, either get a really good cooler/ice packs or ask to use their fridge. You can ask reception if you aren't comfortable asking opposing counsel.

But really you just need to get comfortable letting people know that you are pumping and need accomodations. I found colleagues (and opposing counsel and witnesses) very understanding. Many of them are parents too.

+1

I told my work I needed to pump and they were all understanding and accommodating.

[Anonymous]

If you don’t pump when you need to, you will find yourself leaking through your blouse even with nursing pads. That was pretty embarrassing for me and from that point, I made sure to include pumping breaks but my job was not as demanding as yours. I’m sure it makes the men more uncomfortable and hopefully will be able to accommodate you.

[Anonymous]

There is a difference between what we are told we are supposed to do as pumping moms, and what pumping moms actually do.

If it is only possible to pump once during the work day that is fine. Your supply will adjust down and you can make up the difference with formula. Pumping three times a day during work hours is really hard for most people. Pumping twice is hard but doable for many. Pumping once is great, and if that is what works for you, then do it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is a difference between what we are told we are supposed to do as pumping moms, and what pumping moms actually do.

If it is only possible to pump once during the work day that is fine. Your supply will adjust down and you can make up the difference with formula. Pumping three times a day during work hours is really hard for most people. Pumping twice is hard but doable for many. Pumping once is great, and if that is what works for you, then do it.

+1.
I have a more accommodating workplace and find it very difficult to pump more than once during the work day. It's just so draining physically, and difficult to take the break when I'm concentrating on something. I've started supplementing with formula. Baby gets 1 bottle of pumped milk at daycare plus formula bottles, and I nurse him in the morning and evening. I wish I just started with that in the beginning instead of pumping 3x a day at work and 2x a day at home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is a difference between what we are told we are supposed to do as pumping moms, and what pumping moms actually do.

If it is only possible to pump once during the work day that is fine. Your supply will adjust down and you can make up the difference with formula. Pumping three times a day during work hours is really hard for most people. Pumping twice is hard but doable for many. Pumping once is great, and if that is what works for you, then do it.

+1.
I have a more accommodating workplace and find it very difficult to pump more than once during the work day. It's just so draining physically, and difficult to take the break when I'm concentrating on something. I've started supplementing with formula. Baby gets 1 bottle of pumped milk at daycare plus formula bottles, and I nurse him in the morning and evening. I wish I just started with that in the beginning instead of pumping 3x a day at work and 2x a day at home.

I am the Amtrak pumping PP from above and want to echo this. I actually exclusively pumped so I was never nursing and got to a point where I could pump 3 times on a super busy day and still keep up with my baby, with my first. With my second, I didn't and added formula until he was exclusively on that pretty soon after I went back to work. To be honest, I wish I had stopped pumping sooner. It was freeing and he thrived on formula.