Keeping a tiny human alive and fed, especially while working, is no easy feat. I’ve experienced it personally, having spent more than 4,000 hours nursing and pumping, struggling to feed my children while simultaneously managing a demanding career.As a professional, I’ve had a front row seat to the struggle as well, both as an employer with pumping parents and as the founder of a baby-feeding company. We’ve spent the last decade learning from parents and HR stakeholders about the gaps in workplace breastfeeding support systems, and how we’re failing to meet the basic needs of parents.
Despite the important role of women in the workforce, effective workplace lactation programs are relatively new. Unfortunately, discrimination against women for milk expression persists. Common examples include a lack of accommodations to pump (space and time), degrading comments from coworkers, and assumptions that pumping parents are less committed to their work. Oftentimes, this results in mothers who feel they must silently and invisibly shoulder the burden of pumping to feed their babies; which is not only as demanding as a full-time job (35 hours per week) but also deeply isolating.
