The Truth Behind the Lactation Curtain
You glance down at the right hand corner of your desktop. You know it’s almost that time. Your Outlook alarm reminded you 13 1/2 minutes ago that you have 15 minutes until your next pumping session.
And you’re dreading it.
You start making compromises with yourself, “Let me just answer back this email and then I’ll start pumping. It’ll only take 5 minutes. Ya, 5 minutes- that’s not too long. And then I’ll go back there and pump.” Never mind that there is an abandoned cubicle with a misshapen chair, a table, and a few free magazines you grabbed to try to give the place a ‘homier’ look.
I am one of the probably thousands of Moms that are pumping at work. And, to put it frankly, it sucks. I know, I know- you may be shocked to hear a Lactation Consultant not sing the praises of doing everything and anything to give breastmilk to their babies. Of course I am a huge advocate for the healthiest start for children. This means that if I work full time, I must also pump full time.
I wish I had one of those images that was popular a while ago for breastfeeding working Moms. You know, the ones that say, “What your husband thinks I do, what your boss thinks I do, what your co-workers think I do…” I imagine these pictures would range from my husband thinking I’m a women in charge, hooked up to one of those fancy bra-pump things and on the laptop at the same time, my boss thinking I’m in there, legs kicked up, relaxing and de-stressing from the work day, and my co-workers imagining me reading a gossip mag and answering posts on Facebook.
I wish.
ALL of these images would be lies. You want to know why? Because what I really do, when it comes down to it, is work my butt off for even the tiniest bit of milk to come out of me without my baby around.
What does real-life pumping look like? It looks like you being interrupted mid-thought at work. It looks like you grabbing your pile of pumping supplies so big it necessitates it’s whole entire bag and trekking it to the pumping room. It looks like you struggling to get out of your clothes and put the pump together. It looks like you “assuming the position” to be able to pump and hold on to the flanges at the same time, which is some weird balancing act between your hands, boobs, thighs, arm rest and elbows. Or, if you’re one of the lucky few that can actually get those dangfangled bra-pump things to work, you magically putting on that brassiere shaped straightjacket. It looks like you counting down the ounces to justify you allowing yourself to go back to your desk. It looks like you noticing that you’re not getting any milk out because pumps SUCK and instead having to hand express. And it ends with you inevitably getting milk everywhere. On yourself. On the desk. On the chair’s arm rest- believe me, you can NOT control that spray.
This is the truth. THIS is the ugly image that should come to mind in regards to pumping at work. Because this is the truth. Not those beautiful stock photos that I googled to put on top of this post. That’s not the truth. That’s the truth that the media is trying to sell.
What adds insult to injury is that corporations actually think that pumping breaks are a party. Business actually thinks that while I’m in there I am taking a “break.” This is my personal message to all corporations that actually think that.
GET REAL.
Pumping is hard work. It sucks. It’s not fun. But us Mothers, we do it because we LOVE OUR CHILDREN AND OUR JOBS. I say we love both because, honestly, some of us could leave. We could quit our jobs and be full time Moms. But we don’t. And you should be supportive. Not because we’re irreplaceable, because we may be, but because by retaining us saves your bottom dollar and makes for a better work culture. Something corporations strive for nowadays, no? In fact, research supports that breastfeeding Moms miss work less often, lowers health care costs, lowers turn-over rate, and provides higher productivity and loyalty. Yes- all of that for just providing a nice place to pump and a supportive breastfeeding culture.
Not paying mind to the business retention side, let’s talk about women as employees. Guess what? We care. We care about our work, our other life purpose, or we wouldn’t be here. Do you not think most of us feel guilty allowing some other person to raise our child 8 to 9 hours a day? Spoiler alert- we do. But we do allow this because we actually believe we’re giving something back to society by being at our jobs. And I’d be willing to wager some of us are probably not only darn good mothers but darn good employees as well.
So, business, this is my bottom line. If this is the real image of what pumping in the work place looks like, why do you make it harder? Why do you make it harder by forcing women to pump bathrooms, by giving them dirty looks on the “Walk of Pump Shame?” By taking away their rights to pump after one year or not even supplying privacy? It’s shameful that the new trend is to spend more on our IT equipment for employees rather than the actual employees themselves. How about, on the cusp of a new year, you take back some of that shame and turn it into pride for the people who keep your business afloat.
This is the real life pumping act. Welcome to the show.
– Petra
*Disclaimer* This story does not necessarily represent my current place of work. It is, instead, an accumulation of past stories experienced, shared, and otherwise researched.
Originally published at mommiesnmunchkins.net.
