Breastfeeding in the Workplace

This will all change very soon.

On March 30, 2010, President Barack Obama signed into law under the long debated health care reform bill, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The Act includes a section that mandates an employer with more than 50 workers (or companies who make more than $500,000/year) to provide a room, not a bathroom, in which the female employee can express breast milk for her child as needed. The employer is also required to give the employee the time she needs to pump her breast milk. The employer does not have to pay for the extra breaks, but the employee cannot be fired or counseled for the needed breaks to pump. These provisions must be provided until the child is one year of age.

This legislation is a huge encouragement for working moms. No longer will they be forced to pump in disgusting bathrooms or much worse be inclined to wean early due to lack of time to pump or fear of being fired.

Trying to decide if you want to pump after going back to work?Read this article on the cost benefits of breastfeeding. Providing breastmilk over formula will save you an average of $1000/year. So when you look at breast milk vs formula from a financial standpoint you are looking at LEAST $1000 bucks in annual savings!

Also, did you know that babies who are breastfed, are sick less often than formula fed babies, so that means less missed work.This is what an average work day for a breastfeeding mom might look like:
6am: nurse baby
0845: pump before clocking in at work
Noon (lunchbreak): pump
3pm: pump
5:30 : clock out and pump before you leave to go home
7pm on : nurse baby on demand

As you can see, a pumping schedule like this is very manageable. BUT, what if you do not feel you can pump every 3 hours at work? No problem, read my article called “all or nothing” to see how you can make it work for you.

A common challenge when pumping full time at work, is low milk supply. Read this article on how to maintain your supply.Need to figure out which pump to buy? Read this article on choosing a breastpump.

Lastly, here is another article on Pumping Tips. I hope this article on breastfeeding in the workplace was helpful to you.

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