For Working Mothers and Pumpers.......

I'm a firefighter and I'm usually the only female working, period, much less the only one pumping. Not only do they have to deal with the pump, they get to see the bottle brush and the folding bottle rack full of pump parts sitting by the sink. I leave my pump hooked up during the day right next to the drink machine...not only do they get to look at it, so does anyone else who stops by to get a soda! The biggest pain is when I work at a different station for a day and have to explain why I need to use whatever private room is available a few times during the shift. Most of them are pretty good about it - I get the occasional goofy guy comment, but it doesn't bother me. It is a little disconcerting to realize that the whole fire department knows I'm breastfeeding, though! I was talking to some of the guys at another station and mentioned that my son's gotten his first tooth, and one of 'em asked how that was going to work with the breastfeeding

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Ooohhhh, I could never do that! :LOL Kuddos to you!!!

At my workplace the lactation room is on the opposite end of the building from me. Often I'll run into a co-worker at the vending machine who wants to chat about something and they make like they're going to walk with me back to my desk... and I say "no, I'm not going that way, I'm headed this way." Then they give me a look because there is nothing in that direction (and most men don't know the lactation room is even there). If they need further explanation, I give it to them. I'm beyond being modest about it at this point. "My daughter's nursing, so I need to go pump now" is enough.

Everyone has nursing in public war stories.. I have a few pumping war stories. I had to take a business trip about a month ago. We were visiting a customer and I had to pump while we were in a big meeting with them - the only thing that was a bit awkward is that this company requires visitors to be escorted at all times! So they had to walk me to the lobby and then have me call them when I finished pumping so they could come get me again. I also found ways to pump in airport bathrooms and had to get a hotel room with the mini-fridge so I could keep the milk cold. I carried on an extra cooler stocked with ice so I could bring the milk home with me. Pumping 24/7 while on this trip was a monstrous hassle but I made it! And I only fell like 4 ounces short of what DD drank!

I also taught a rock climbing / mountaineering class this spring, so for five Sundays in a row I would bring my rope, lead rack, all my rock climbing gear, and my breastpump into the outdoors. I told my students that I would need to take breaks every few hours to pump, and they were very cool about the whole thing. But DAMN my pack was heavy. The PIS is not light. I got to pump in some prime locations - in the woods, in the mountains, on a glacier. In the snow, wind, sun, and rain. I had to do one long multipitch climb with my students, and after the climb was over, I asked my assistants to please help everyone clean up and find their way down because I was so desperate to pump. I also had one nerve wracking class where I was getting ready to lead a climb and had so much adrenaline flowing that I could not let down. I was totally full and really needed to pump before getting on the rock climb, but no milk would come out. It took a good half hour for me just to relax enough to start the milk flowing. I had never had that happen before. I got "caught" pumping a couple of times too... thinking I'd chosen a discreet location, and then finding out it was right next to a climber's trail I hadn't seen. You'd think the dairy-farm sound would have given me away, lol!

For our final class, which was a map-and-compass workshop, I just brought DD along in the backpack and it was very nice. I just had my students take a snack break when we needed to nurse.

Overall I've been pleasantly surprised by how everyone I encounter is very cool and professional about the matter of my pumping. No one seems embarrassed and no one has seemed like it's a great imposition. There are a lot of attitudes about breastfeeding that need changed but there are also good things happening out there too. People totally understand that I'm just doing what I need to do to feed my baby.

I too pump fulltime, and I have toted my enormous electric-blue Lactina (which DH and I have nicknamed Darth) all over the country with me. Everyone who has even met me once has probably been witness to me pumping, or heard me talk about it, or some way some how knows I'm doing it. I don't necessarily make it a special point to get the fact out there, but it's a very significant part of my life, and so it definitely does come up. Truthfully, I am so used to it that I don't think anything about coming down the stairs while DH is having band practice, and traipsing through the living room into the kitchen, flanges in hand, with two bottles full of EBM dangling below! In our society, with working women, or even situations like mine, bec's, and others, pumping is as much a part of life as nursing, and while it's not as picturesque or romantic, for lack of better words, it's not anything to hide! It's commendable, and I too like for people to know that I'm doing it and why, because I feel that it does speak very strongly about the importance of breastmilk, even if it must be got by "unconventional" means.

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, we've nicknamed my Lactina; Lucy Lactina.

As far as where, and when. I pump whenever I have to, and my main pumping station is in the living room. We have friends come over every other Sunday to play role-playing games (D&D, and that sort of thing), and I am certainly not going to interrupt our game every couple of hours for 30 minutes a shot, nor am I going to put off pumping. So, they get used to it! To their credit (only one of them has a child, and he is 10 and is his wife's son from a previous marriage) not one of them has made a comment.

As far as telling people about pumping, I will say, "Emily has a cleft palate, she can't nurse, so I have to pump." There is no room for the suggestion of anything else.

Bec

I work from home, but have to travel frequently for meetings, etc and I either bring my DD with me or my PIS. I have been very frank and open about the fact that I breastfeed and will be continuing for an undetermined period of time.

When I first met my manager, her asked me to travel overnight on short notice. I told him that I couldn't because my daughter was not taking to the bottle. He asked me how we were feeding her if not from the bottle I used it as an opportunity to explain that my DD has severe reflux and food allergies and that breastmilk was the only thing she could be fed. So no one has ever questioned me when I leave a meeting every 3 hrs for 20 minutes to nurse my DD or pump!

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Me too. Luckily, I know enough people whose wives breastfed/pumped for at least part of the time that they will recognize the bag.

I grew so immune to my pump... I would have my pumpbra on (I cut slits in an old bra to hook the horns through).... finish pumping, walk to the kitchen (with COMPANY OVER) with the horns still hooked up... so I have 6 oz of milk hanging from each boob and huge horns attached....

didn't ever occur to me to unhook them before carrying them to the kitchen :

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Wow. You're a hero...in more ways than one.

1. You save lives.

2. You're being a great role model for girls who want to work in male-dominated careers

3. You manage to work and breastfeed...something that many women aren't able to do.

4. You're being a breastfeeding advocate. Think of the positive effect you're having on all these men. I wonder if it has (and will) influence whether their children are breastfed.

Dina

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LOL - I always get comments when I am leaving work like "that's a lot of work you are carrying home over the weekend." I say, "Yep, it is" BEACUSE it really is hard work...lol.

After I pump, I carry the horns and milk in a gift bag to the 'kitchen' that has a fridge, kitchen and private bathroom. People will say, "Your eating Again?" or "You must have some good food." I just smile or say "I gotta feed the baby." What I say depends on who asks me because some of the men may feel uncomfortable if I told them it was MM. However, all the men and women in my department know I pump.