Bad Pumping Advice in Dear Abby

[aylaanne]

Dear Abby's column today featured a letter by a woman in California who is only allowed to pump in a stall in the women's room where she works.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ucda/2009031...pumpingstation

I have already written to her to correct her well-meaning, but unnecessary advice. I quoted the CA law as stated on the LLL website. Hopefully, enough people will write in, echoing my statements, so that Abby will highlight the fact that breastfeeding mothers in many states have the Legal Right to pump in a room that is not a bathroom.

I've pumped in a bathroom before, when I didn't have time to go elsewhere, but thankfully my workplace both provided and encouraged me to use a mother's room, and I live in MA, where until recently, there were no laws protecting breastfeeding mothers at all. This poor woman, I hope she sees the support she deserves.

[HarperRose]

I saw that this morning. I'm sure Abby will run a follow-up column to this in a few weeks or months.

I hope that mom find mothering!

[luv-my-boys]

Im not sure I saw the same thing from the article. The mother never stating that she was "forced" to use the bathroom merely that there was no designated "mother's room" to do so it seemed to me the question was regarding how to address the curiosity of the other women in the bathroom to the breast pump noise. That may (unfortunately) have been the only place were she felt she could pump, be it privacy or shared office space with other co-workers. Yes she does have the right to pump anywhere but maybe she felt comfortable doing so in the bathroom, I know other nursing mothers who have felt that way. personally I whipped them out where ever I was

[aylaanne]

She said that it wasn't an ideal place to pump, but that she didn't have any other choice, as she planned to breastfeed her child for as long as possible. That sounds like "every accomodation" wasn't made to get her a room that isn't a toilet, as outlined by CA law.

It's not about having the right to pump anywhere, she has the right to a private space to pump at work that is not a bathroom. I outlined that in my response to Abby.

[PGTlatte]

I didn't read anything I felt was bad advice. Perhaps not complete.....I would urge this mother to fight for a better place to pump, for sure. But her question was about how to handle the curiosity of others using the restroom. As long as that is where she is pumping, a sign on the stall door and having an attitude of no shame and openly discussing pumping with other women there are all good ideas. In some companies, raising awareness among female employees is what it takes to get a designated lactation space.

[cristeen]

As a couple people have said already, CA state law, and the person asking for advice is in CA, requires employers to make available a room for pumping that is NOT a bathroom stall. CA Labor Code Chapter 3.8 Sections 1030-1033. There is even an article for fining the company for lack of compliance (which I understand is rare in other states). So it is in the companies best interests to work with her, since it's $100 fine PER instance, and pumping 3 times a day, 5 days a week, that's $1500/wk in fines for a single mama. I wrote her this morning and told her she missed the boat as well, before coming on here to see if anyone else had read that.

I did thank Abby for encouraging the mother not to be embarrassed, since she is doing what is best for her child, but that mother still needs to talk to HR about pumping accommodations, because her rights are protected under state law.

[Bluegoat]

I thought Abby was implying that the pumping mom should make some connections with the other women so they could get a better place to pump. More complete info would have been great, but she does run a very short column.

[junipermuse]

It seemed like the comment about bringing this to the employee's supervisor was implying she should work toward a better solution than pumping in the bathroom. I suppose it would have helped if Abby had stated the law, but she's not a lawyer giving legal advice and she's not an expert in lactation either, she probably doesn't even know where one would look for info on different laws regarding breastfeeding. Her advice usually just pertains to human interactions, and as far as that goes her advice was great. Don't be ashamed, be proactive in creating change for you and for those who will follow, if you don't mind pumping in the bathroom, but don't want to answer ten million questions, just post a note so others will leave you alone. I think those are all helpful pieces of advice. I suppose if I was going to write a note to dear Abby about this, it would probably be of the "great advice, however I thought it might be helpful for your readers to know that many states have laws guaranteeing them a private non-bathroom area in which to pump" variety. I suppose its always good to get the message out there that there are laws to protect women when it comes to breastfeeding/pumping, but I think Abby was on the right track in her response.

[phreedom]

I don't really think it was "bad" advice. She could have included more in there about getting access to better pumping facilities though.