Breastfeeding moms in the workplace share their horror stories!

Many offices have little or no facilities where moms can express and store breast milk. This is less than ideal for moms who choose to exclusively breastfeed. Still, they do what they can to provide their children with a sufficient supply of milk.

Some find that the situation is easier with the help and understanding of bosses and coworkers. Others take a more drastic approach. From communicating their needs to taking a leap of faith and working from home, moms do find their own ways to accomplish their breastfeeding goals.

6 moms share their workplace breastfeeding horror stories and what they did to cope.

No place to pump but the comfort room

Helene worked in advertising when she first became pregnant. After giving birth, she had to find a way to be able to express milk at the office. Her only option was the restroom. Of the 3 stalls in their comfort room, one was larger and had a bench. She had to wait for that stall to be freed up, and then occupied it for over 20 minutes. It was embarrassing when there were a lot of women queued up. Because of her hectic schedule and erratic pumping, she was only able to breastfeed her child for 5 months.

No space to store milk

Maia worked at a start-up company that had no area where she could express milk. She had to ask for what she needed so that her pumping could be accommodated. Her boss and colleagues did what they could to help, but it was still very stressful. There were even times when the clinic refrigerator, which she was allowed to use, was filled with vaccines, and she had no space to store her expressed milk.

Keeping the expressed milk safe for consumption

The office that Blessie worked had no nursing room. She, however, wasn’t comfortable with the idea of giving her child milk that was expressed in the restroom. She would pump while at work, but only to relieve the pain in her breasts and to keep her milk supply flowing. After pumping, she would throw out the milk. While she was at work, her son drank formula. Lucky for this mom of 4, her milk supply never dwindled despite these hurdles.

Limited time to express milk

When Marie, was an agent at a BPO, she could pump milk in private at the company clinic, but only during her breaks. The lack of time and proper facilities eventually turned her off so she gave up on pumping.

Dwindling milk supply

With the demands of work and her irregular expressing schedule, Mai found her breast milk supply starting to dwindle. At that point, she decided to resign from her job and pursue work-at-home options instead. That leap of faith allowed this mom of 2 to shift back from mixed feeding to exclusive breastfeeding.

Being away for long periods of time

Sally’s office was just a small room inside a warehouse. Their pantry had no refrigerator. Without a private room to pump, she would just do it at her desk using a nursing cover, regardless of male and female colleagues going in and out of the room.

She resigned shortly after coming back from maternity leave. Sally shares, "I'm away for at least 12 hours every day. A big factor was my 3-hour travel time to and from the office, plus worrying about the stored milk in my cooler the whole time I was in the office. There were just a lot of inconveniences for me to stay there.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Patricia de Castro-Cuyugan

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Written by

Patricia de Castro-Cuyugan

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