Yahoo Lifestyle Expressing at Work
Are you looking to join the ranks of the many women around Australia who are successfully combining working and breastfeeding? If so, you may be wondering what rights breastfeeding mums have when it comes to the workforce, and how best to go about things when you’re back in paid employment.
The Australian National Health and Medical Research Council recommends bubs be exclusively breastfed for the first six months of life, with breastfeeding continuing until at least 12 months of age.
The World Health Organization recommends breastfeeding until two years of age or beyond. This can seem like a big ask when many mums need to return work to cope with financial pressures. According to a 2008 Australian Institute of Family Studies report, 11 per cent of mums are back at work before bub is three months old and twice that number return within six months of giving birth.
Maybe this is one reason why breastfeeding retention rates in Australia aren’t too high. While the majority of mums leave the hospital breastfeeding, by four months of age only 46 per cent of babies are fully breastfed, and by five months of age, this slumps to 28 per cent.
By the time they are six months, only 14 per cent of bubs are fully breastfed, although 56 per cent are still getting some amount of breastmilk. Also, back in 2005, a UK study found an interesting link between work pressures and initiation and duration of breastfeeding.
It showed that the earlier a mother planned to return to work, the less likely she was to start and continue breastfeeding.
Working it out
The Australian Breastfeeding Association (ABA) is so committed to helping women keep breastfeeding after returning to paid employment that it’s set up the Breastfeeding Friendly Workplace Accreditation program to encourage employers to support breastfeeding women in the workplace.
“With women’s workforce participation continuing to increase, workplace support for breastfeeding plays a vital role in improving breastfeeding rates,” the ABA says. “Many workplaces now have an increased awareness of the importance of an individual’s family responsibilities like breastfeeding, and include this in workplace policies.”
The fact mums with young bubs are heading back to work more than ever also means that “employers need to build their capacity to meet the needs of a changing labour market and part of this is creating family-friendly workplaces for breastfeeding employees,” it says.
It’s your right
It’s against the law to discriminate on the basis of sex and when it comes to women, this includes discrimination related to breastfeeding and expressing. Employers are also legally obliged to consider any requests to provide family-friendly working arrangements as well as to reasonably accommodate breastfeeding employees.
While breastfeeding mums are protected by federal and state anti-discrimination legislation, even the ABA admits the laws can sometimes be open to interpretation by employers. But what the legislation should mean is that breastfeeding mums cannot be treated differently than other employees because they need to breastfeed or express milk.
“Unfortunately, it seems that the issue of breastfeeding is still left up to the woman to discuss with her employer on an individual basis,” the ABA says.
If your employer is not an accredited ‘breastfeeding-friendly workplace’, have a chat with your boss before returning to work. Discuss the fact that you intend to continue breastfeeding and may need to take feeding or expressing breaks in a suitable area and have somewhere to store your expressed breastmilk.
TIPS FROM MUMS WHO EXPRESS AT WORK'
Expressing advice from working mums who’ve been there, pumped that
Talk to your employer
The best tip is to be confident when you’re negotiating with your workplace about what you would like to do. While it can be very easy for
women to feel bad for ‘inconveniencing’ others in the workplace by having to take breaks and/or work from home, it’s important that a nursing mother gets the support she needs to continue to nurse.
It’s important for women to remember that they’re doing a great thing by expressing while working and that they’re not being a nuisance.
Robyn, Gungahlin ACT
Stock up on expressed milk
It helped me to have a stock of expressed milk in the freezer at home before I started back at work so there was less pressure to express
enough milk for my son each day.
Melanie, Kenmore QLD
Invest in a good pump
You need to arm yourself with a good breast pump and knowledge of how to use it – and fast! Expressing takes a good 20 minutes, but you do get faster at understanding how to position the pump and mimic your baby’s feeding to get a let-down and a good supply of milk into the bottle.
Janine, Shepparton VIC
Pump often
Attia is now seven months old and I’ve been back at work since she was one month old. I pump three times a day and I have a double electric pump. The first pumping session I do is for 15 minutes, then it’s 10 minutes for the second and five minutes for the third, because milk supplies always reduce throughout the day. I’ve found that as hard as I try, pumping just never produces as much as if you feed normally.
Jacqueline, Melbourne VIC
Find the right space
We have a room set aside at work for expressing, but it’s not the most inspiring space. At times I have had to assert myself to get
into the room, too, as although it’s set aside for expressing, people tend to make phone calls in there. I also negotiate with a Muslim colleague who prays in there – we make sure that we work around one another’s times.
Rebecca, Footscray VIC
Sound out
We have a change room at work where I go to express. My electric pump is a little loud, and on one of my first days back, I returned
to my desk to hear two young colleagues laughing about the odd buzzing they’d heard. This was my chance to explain expressing, and. getting them to understand the importance of breastmilk helped alleviate the initial guilt I felt about taking so many breaks. So don’t be afraid to speak up!
Lauren, Canberra ACT
Storage hint
To keep it cold, I hid my milk in a lunch box in the boss’s fridge. Then I’d take it home to go to childcare with bub the next day.
Janine, Shepparton VIC
The Australian Breastfeeding Association has these tips on how best to express:
Try to relax, using whatever method you find works for you.
If possible, find a quiet, warm, relaxing space, away from distractions.
While expressing, try to breathe slowly and deeply.
Some mums find having a warm drink first or listening to soft music helps.
Gently massage your breasts by stroking down towards the nipple, and roll the nipples between your fingers. This can help trigger a let-down.
Thinking about your baby and how much your breastmilk is helping him will encourage your let-down reflex.
The ABA has also put out a booklet called Expressing and Storing Breastmilk, $5 at Mothers Direct.
What mums say:
“I sometimes look at pictures of my daughter while I’m expressing because this makes it feel less robotic and more natural.”
Robyn, Gungahlin ACT
“If I was having trouble getting a let-down, I found that calling the childcare centre and hearing my daughter’s babble often worked for me.”
Bree, Mornington Peninsula VIC
“I take my music player, a crossword or something to read – I find this helps me relax, which helps with expressing.”
Rebecca, Melbourne VIC
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