Hi,
I'm new to the forums, and I'm not 100% this is the right place for this so please be gentle with me.
I'm having a hard time finding any information about my right to BF at work (in Texas). I'm aware of my rights in re: to pumping, but does that automatically protect nursing as well?
Background:
I SAH with DD until 2 weeks ago; she is 21mos.
I went to work at a daycare so we could be close to each other although I am not in her classroom.
It's been several years since they have had a nursing employee, and I am reasonably certain they've never had an employee nursing a toddler.
DD will not take BM any way but from me. No cup, no sippie, no bottle. She won't drink any other kind of milk either, and believe me we've tried. She is also labeled as "failure to thrive" so continuing nursing is paramount for her health (not that it should matter....). I also no longer respond to the pump unless I am massively engorged.
She normally nurses 7+ times a day, including night wakings (2).
At the daycare they are not very willing to make concessions for me to nurse her. Her teacher is all about it and willing to do whatever it takes, but it's my lead teacher, infant coordinator and director that are giving me a bit of friction. I nurse her at 8:50 when I drop her off in her class, then not again until she wakes up from nap at 1, then again at 6 when I get off (sometimes I can sneak in a 5/5:30 session). They don't like to give set breaks, but I have been able to get a 1pm lunch because I have told them I absolutely CANNOT go any longer w/o nursing her because it is painful. I would like to insert an additional morning and afternoon nursing once she is more settled in her class (this transition is hard for her- after she calms down from me dropping her off she is fine as long as she doesn't see me. Once she see's me it starts the unhappiness all over again so if I were to nurse her 3x/day right now she would spend most of her day crying), but I'm not sure about my rights at work.
Requests have been made for me to pump instead of nurse, to put off nursing for another hour, and the general tone is that they would prefer I not have to take nursing breaks at all. The director herself has no children and I think she is just going along with what the others are saying because she just doesn't know what it means, you know? She's been very open to my "issue" with other conditions so far (I'm an AP mama, and this is a HARD place for me to be because it is very detachment oriented in many ways) so I think she would be open to making concessions if she were aware of the law and my rights.
I don't want or need a private place, I just want/need the time to nurse DD and reconnect with her a few times during the workday. Looking elsewhere is not an option right now- I was lucky to get this job as it is.
Sooo.... Any suggestions on where to find information about BF rights in the workplace? Technically I think of it as no different from pumping, except that my pump is my baby but I don't know what kind of protection I have under the law.
Thanks,
Mar, mama to Hadley
I'm new to the forums, and I'm not 100% this is the right place for this so please be gentle with me.
I'm having a hard time finding any information about my right to BF at work (in Texas). I'm aware of my rights in re: to pumping, but does that automatically protect nursing as well?
Background:
I SAH with DD until 2 weeks ago; she is 21mos.
I went to work at a daycare so we could be close to each other although I am not in her classroom.
It's been several years since they have had a nursing employee, and I am reasonably certain they've never had an employee nursing a toddler.
DD will not take BM any way but from me. No cup, no sippie, no bottle. She won't drink any other kind of milk either, and believe me we've tried. She is also labeled as "failure to thrive" so continuing nursing is paramount for her health (not that it should matter....). I also no longer respond to the pump unless I am massively engorged.
She normally nurses 7+ times a day, including night wakings (2).
At the daycare they are not very willing to make concessions for me to nurse her. Her teacher is all about it and willing to do whatever it takes, but it's my lead teacher, infant coordinator and director that are giving me a bit of friction. I nurse her at 8:50 when I drop her off in her class, then not again until she wakes up from nap at 1, then again at 6 when I get off (sometimes I can sneak in a 5/5:30 session). They don't like to give set breaks, but I have been able to get a 1pm lunch because I have told them I absolutely CANNOT go any longer w/o nursing her because it is painful. I would like to insert an additional morning and afternoon nursing once she is more settled in her class (this transition is hard for her- after she calms down from me dropping her off she is fine as long as she doesn't see me. Once she see's me it starts the unhappiness all over again so if I were to nurse her 3x/day right now she would spend most of her day crying), but I'm not sure about my rights at work.
Requests have been made for me to pump instead of nurse, to put off nursing for another hour, and the general tone is that they would prefer I not have to take nursing breaks at all. The director herself has no children and I think she is just going along with what the others are saying because she just doesn't know what it means, you know? She's been very open to my "issue" with other conditions so far (I'm an AP mama, and this is a HARD place for me to be because it is very detachment oriented in many ways) so I think she would be open to making concessions if she were aware of the law and my rights.
I don't want or need a private place, I just want/need the time to nurse DD and reconnect with her a few times during the workday. Looking elsewhere is not an option right now- I was lucky to get this job as it is.
Sooo.... Any suggestions on where to find information about BF rights in the workplace? Technically I think of it as no different from pumping, except that my pump is my baby but I don't know what kind of protection I have under the law.
Thanks,
Mar, mama to Hadley
