E135: Pumping At Work

If you’re heading back to work and trying to keep breastfeeding going, you already know the truth nobody puts on the checklist: pumping can feel like a whole second shift. We sit down and get specific about how to make pumping at work doable, including what to plan before your first day back, how to protect your milk supply during long separations, and how to handle the emotional mix of relief, grief, excitement, and guilt that can all show up at once.

We walk through what the law actually supports for many nursing parents, including protections tied to the Fair Labor Standards Act and the Pump Act (PUMP for Nursing Mothers Act). We talk about what a real lactation space should include (and why being told to pump in a bathroom is not okay), plus how to communicate early with a supervisor or HR so you’re not quietly suffering while your supply takes the hit.

Then we get practical: building a pumping schedule that matches your shift, using wearable pumps when breaks are hard to come by, and troubleshooting low output without obsessing over ounces. We cover milk storage with a fridge or a cooler, labeling, cleaning pump parts with limited time, and the kind of backup plan that saves your day when a part goes missing or a pump quits.

If you want a sustainable system that fits your job, your baby, and your goals (even if those goals change), hit play. Subscribe, share with a friend who’s returning to work, and leave a review so more parents can find this support.

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Show Credits

Host: Angie Rosier 
Music: Michael Hicks 
Photographer: Toni Walker
Episode Artwork: Nick Greenwood 
Producer: Gillian Rosier Frampton
Voiceover: Ryan Parker

Transcript

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Welcome And What We Cover

SPEAKER_00 0:09

Welcome to the Ordinary Doula Podcast with Angie Roger, hosted by Hatchedon Last. Here, we explore the many layers of pregnancy, labor, birth, breastfeeding, and postpartum life through the lens of more than 20 years in a busy doula practice, supporting thousands of families. Whether you are preparing for birth, navigating feeding, or adjusting to life with a new baby, this podcast is designed to offer practical knowledge, thoughtful conversation, and empowering support for the real experiences of parentheses.

SPEAKER_01 1:07

Um company. And something I like to dive into, and I would just want to share some of that with you. So

Why Returning To Work Feels Hard

SPEAKER_01 1:28

our topic that we're going to work on today is pumping at work. So when you go back to work, kind of what that could look like, should look like, might look like for you, and how you can approach that in ways that would be best for you. So while being a breastfeeding parent, going back to work can feel like you're adding a job to a job sometimes. Like what you have a full-time, part-time job, your actual job, and then you have pumping and all the different components that come with pumping. So we're gonna kind of chat about that and what you have the rights to and some tips and tricks that you can use in making that easier. So breastfeeding rates in the United States, um they where they have some kind of common dip times. Um, an interesting common dip time when like rates start out pretty high in the hospital and they dip pretty soon after going home for some, right? For that's like one um decrease in breastfeeding rates, is not having support and when things are challenging. Another one is at six weeks, and another one is when people go back to work, which might be six weeks, 12 weeks. You know, we're seeing some 16-week um maternity leaves now, but that's a big um hit to breast milk supply and breastfeeding success, is just simply being separated from your baby. So as people return to work, again, I hope, hope, hope they have a good maternity leave. In our country, unfortunately, like good maternity leave is 12 weeks. We see 16 weeks. I've seen as many as 20, 24 in a couple of cases. Sometimes it's three, sometimes it's six weeks, which is really tough depending on the job that you have and your employer. So, as people anticipate going back to work, that has a lot of feelings with it, right? Some people are so excited to get back to work, other people are incredibly sad to leave their baby and go back to work. Some people feel guilty about going back to work, some people feel anxious about leaving their baby or going back to work, some people are incredibly relieved to go back to work, some are frustrated that they have to go to work or the way they have to go back to work. So, and you can feel all these things in the same day. So I just want to like acknowledge that that's okay. However, you feel about it is normal. Um, however, you feel about it is okay for you and your situation. You might miss your baby. You might be excited to talk to adults again, you might feel guilty for leaving, you might be thrilled to get five minutes of uninterrupted time to go to the bathroom. Um, all of these feelings are valid and they can coexist with each other, which is kind of a conflicting thing for us as humans, is to feel these conflicting emotions. Um and then we add breastfeeding on top of that or pumping. So continuing to breastfeed doesn't require like a perfect plan, but somewhat of a plan. So that's what we kind of want to talk about and think about. Um, I met with a lactation mom just this week of twins. So she is breastfeeding her twins, doing a great job. Um and shortly after I went to her house today, sorry, shortly before I got to her house today, um I just said, Hey, how you doing? How's your day? And she's like, you know what? I just learned that I'm not gonna be going back to work. And I'm really sad about that. Like I was really looking forward. I love my job, it's the best job I've ever had. Um, but as we were kind of looking at costs of things of childcare with twins, it just wasn't it wasn't gonna work. And she tried to work with her employers to get something else. Um, hopefully, she's still kind of working on things, get things worked out. Um, but she was having all the fills that day, right? She's like, and and it doesn't make sense to pay so much of that money to um have somebody else raise my babies at this point. So so she's feeling all the fills. I definitely got to see that with her this week. Um, but let's talk about those going back to work and are still breastfeeding and want to continue lactating, continue, whether that's latching baby, pumping, however, however it is you choose to do that. So it's good not to wait till your first day back or the day before your first day back to get this figured out. Start planning a few weeks ahead of time. Usually you'll have a start day coming up and kind of make a plan. Um,

Your Pumping Rights At Work

SPEAKER_01 5:28

a kind of an interesting thing to note is that by federal law, there's something called the um Fair Labor Standards Act, so F L S A. Um, and it is also joined by some legislation called the Pump Act or Pump for Nursing Mothers Act. Both of those allow for some pretty awesome um guidelines and standards for those who are planning to pump at work. And almost all employers are required by law, by federal law, to provide a time, place, space to work. So you know your work, you know your employees, you know your coworkers as you plan to go back, um, kind of have a plan of where to pump. And sometimes that's done before you even go on maternity leave, right? Like if you have seen other coworkers, what have they done? Maybe your the culture of your work is really friendly to this. Maybe the culture of your work has never heard of this, they've never had an employee ask to pump. Um, maybe it's a very male-dominated place of work. Um, so kind of, you know, do some, if you if you can, do some thinking and discussing about that long before you even go into maternity leave. Um,

Finding A Real Pumping Space

SPEAKER_01 6:42

there should be a private room. It should have a locked door. Um, it should have an outlet in it. It should have a comfortable place to sit. It should also ideally have a place to wash your hands and have a refrigerator. So that's asking a lot of some workplaces. Um, but you don't want your first pumping sessions to be where you, you know, at work on your first day back. You're nervous your first day back anyway. Um, and you don't want to, you know, find out you have to pump in a closet or a bathroom. And that actually is really not great. Um, and kind of against the law. It has to get it cannot be a bathroom. Um, if they tell you just go pump in the bathroom, so many people have gone in and just pumped on a toilet. Like they're sitting in a stall, um, sitting on the toilet to pump. That's that's not okay. There's no outlet there. Anyway, that gets kind of awkward and challenging. So um know your rights. The United States federal law does provide many nursing, almost all nursing employees with rights to a reasonable break time, a private non-batroom space to pump at work. Um, so the pump act has helped with that, but coverage and requirements do depend on the employee, the employer, different circumstances, um, and state laws do provide additional protections depending on what state you live live in. Um, so understand that this is a federally protective right. Um, and you do not have to feel bad about pumping at work. Don't apologize about that. Feeding your baby is not an inconvenience, it is a normal biological need. I mean, we do coffee breaks for folks, we do smoke breaks, we do lunch breaks. Um, we can definitely do pumping breaks too.

Building A Pumping Schedule

SPEAKER_01 8:12

So knowing how often you should pump is kind of very situation specific. Um, and a lot of people will pump right before they go to work, or maybe they feed their baby right before they go to work. Um, that's awesome. And you kind of want to just keep to your pumping schedule that your baby would normally be eating if you're with them, and or the caregiver that your baby's with is feeding your baby. Now that's kind of tricky, you know, like depending on your job and your work, that's gonna be a little tricky. I also had another lactation visit with someone this week who um, as we were talking about her going back to work, and she's still got um several weeks ahead of her, um, she's like, I don't know where I'm gonna pump. Like the only private place, and she's kind of in a warehouse setting, the only private place to pump is in my boss's office that has a locked door. And that's weird. I feel, you know, weird asking my boss if he could leave, vacate his office for me to um have a time and place to pump. But um, that employer needs to kind of look at things and see what uh is available. Um, okay, so timing to pump. So you might pump mid-morning lunchtime. Lunchtime usually people have a lunch break at work. It's not always a lunchtime break, um, mid-afternoon. It depends on your shift. So you're working a 12-hour shift, a six-hour shift, an eight, ten, whatever your shift looks like. That is, of course, going to um determine how often you pump. Some people pump on the way to work, on the way home from work. And but some people want to be right ready to feed their baby too when they get home if they're still breastfeeding or chest feeding. Um, some people shift to all pumping once they go back to work, but some people will still keep breastfeeding at home, pumping while they're at work, and a lot of times they'll keep right ahead of that supply. Like on Tuesday, they pump what the baby needs on Wednesday, you know, goes throughout the week, and they can keep a pretty fresh supply of milk handy. But that's not a universal schedule, like it can be very different. It depends on the baby's age, depends on the baby's feeding patterns, your milk supply, um, depends on again how long your shift is, um, your storage capacity. What if at work you do not have place to store more than eight ounces of milk? Um, you know, ideally there would be a fridge available. A lot of people take a cooler, they have awesome little coolers with just bottle-shaped ice packs that can go in it. So you might be having to keep your own milk cold rather than putting it in a refrigerator, um, just depending on where you work. So, what how much can you store, right? Um, are you trying to maintain supply? Are you trying to increase supply? Um, sometimes that separation of baby and stress, right? We're adding another layer of what you've got to do in a day, which is your full-time job or part-time job or whatever you've got going, that might work, you know, work some issues on your supply as well. Um, so sometimes work does make it challenging to pump.

Tough Jobs And Wearable Pumps

SPEAKER_01 10:49

I had a client earlier this year and she was a kindergarten teacher. Um, I will say some of the job common jobs that people have that make it challenging to pump, I mean, there's so many jobs that make it challenging to pump. Um, teachers, like it is super hard. If you think of a classroom, uh elementary, high school, whatever that is, like it's really hard, close to impossible to say, okay, kindergartners, I'm gonna leave for 20 minutes. Um, you know, who's to come into that classroom if you, you know, have a teacher's aid or something. High school teachers, uh, you know, middle school teachers, like super difficult to get those regular breaks. Lunch might be one. Um, but this particular kindergarten teacher was my client. This year, she um had wearable pumps that she got pretty good output from. And she would wear them during classes because she was not getting breaks as a kindergarten teacher. Um, not a quiet place, not a private place to go pump. Um, I mean, it was probably provided, but the nature of the job made it difficult. Um, so she wore wearable pumps and they had a little bit of a sound to them, like a little, you know, whatever the pump sounded like, a whirring motor, light motor. Um, and her little kindergarten kids were so funny. She's like, she would just laugh, she's like, what's that noise? What is that noise? And she'd tell them, oh, we're just, you know, my doctor gave me something where to get food for my baby, and I'm just getting food for my baby. So kind of a cute situation there. But very difficult for her to find time and place to pump. Um we also have it amounts. People a lot of times are going to be looking at the amounts that they're pumping at work. Um, they might be less than at home, they might be more than at home. So sometimes people get nervous watching the bottles and they're like, oh man, I pumped three ounces today, or I did only five in this session. Um, my coworkers pumping eight, I'm only getting four. Um kind of stop watching the amounts. Just the what's important there is regular breast stimulation to increase and keep up milk supply. Um, a lot of times when people have gone back to work, babies will make up for a lot of volume time when the mom gets home in the evening, the late bedtime, things like that. So output of pump can be to put of what you're pumping could depend on so many things. The hydration you have that day, the sleep you had the night before, um, how the pump is actually put onto you, the pump fit, um, the settings. Did you recently eat? Um, do you have an abnormal amount of stress, like how long have you been separated from your baby? There's a lot of things that matter. And the type of pump you are using matters as well. Is it a double electric pump? Is it a wearable pump? Is it a manual pump? Um, like what kind of pump are you wearing? And hopefully you've been practicing a lot with your pump before you go back to work. Um, but kind of watch and see what your pattern becomes, but don't watch obsessively. And then

Storage, Cleaning, And Backup Plans

SPEAKER_01 13:30

what do we do with the milk when we pump? Um, there are bags, containers, there's labels, coolers, ice packs, all those things are available. Uh refrigerator is ideal with an appropriate storage plan. Some can I I have heard you've probably heard too, stories of other coworkers complaining about that. Super immature, not cool, but a reality of where we the society that we live in. Um so some people will put their milk in the fridge in a in a like a covered container or something, something that doesn't bother people if people are bothered by that. Um, we also have pump parts. We have cleaning supplies. There's our there are pump sprays. If you don't have access to full cleaning supplies, you can spray your pump parts, you can rinse them. Um you can rinse them and keep them in a bag, wash them later when you get home. Um labeling the milk can be helpful. Sometimes there's stickers, sometimes there's just right, you can write right on things with certain markers. Um, but keep it simple. I think my biggest takeaway is to just keep things simple and have a little bit of a backup plan. So I work at a couple of hospitals and at one of them, our lactation office for one half of the hospital is the pumping room. Um so we have a pump set in there, we do have a locked door, we have a comfortable chair, we have an outlet, we have a um sink where you know, we're with running water, soap and and towels. Um and so we have we have several different workers from around the hospital come in and pump in that space. But sometimes they forget a part or they forget their pump, and so we have a backup plan for them. Um if you're in a hospital, you know, depending on what they have at the hospital, they might have some a good setup for you, but it's surprising how many medical um jobs don't have a good setup for um this this part of life. But what happens if you spill something? Um, what happens if your pump stops working? I always love to have my clients carry around a hand pump with them. Now, a hand pump is super simple, um, super inexpensive, and just have it tucked away in a diaper bag or a pump bag so that you have a backup just in case you need a backup. Um, and then dealing with the pump parts that you wash. Again, we talked about rinsing them. You can also just put them in a bag like a Ziploc, take them home. Um, some people will have a couple of sets of pump parts. They might have one at work, they might have one at home, they might have one in the car. But multiple sets will help you not constantly wash or like keep things straight. Um follow the cleaning recommendations specific to your pump, um, knowing that sometimes we can, if you're keeping them in a refrigerator, if you're able to do that, you can wash your pump parts just once or twice a day rather rather than after every single pump. So what if you're not able to pump enough? Um maybe the milk you're pumping at work isn't enough, you don't get enough brakes or enough time to pump. Um you can adjust your the strength of your pump. You can um check the flange size, work with the lactation consultant to kind of get you getting maximum output. You may need to change pumps, evaluate your settings on the pump, add a pumping session here or there. Um maybe you can use milk that's pumped at a different time, use previously frozen milk if you have a little dip. So it's nice to have a little backup plan for that too, a little feeding stash at home that might be needed if things aren't going well. So what I want you to um think about ahead of time is your particular work situation. Um, and talk to somebody, talk to a manager, talk to a supervisor, talk to your boss, and see, hey, I'm gonna apply to pump when I come back from work in X amount of weeks. Um, what's what's the plan for that? Maybe it's HR you're talking about, maybe you know there's a supervisor over that certain area that you can talk to. But I want you to know that you have the right to do that. You absolutely have the right to do that. And ask for it. Sometimes you have to push for it and be your own advocate as you're finding, probably as a parent, you have to be an advocate in so um so many things. Um so make sure that you that right is um being respected and that your workplace, um, I think the as I was looking it up, if they have more than two employees, they need to provide a place to pump. Um, but if you think of all the different types of jobs there are, um, which can make pumping challenging, but still a right. Healthcare workers, teachers, retail employees, um, restaurant workers, first responders. We have people in manufacturing plants or warehouses, um, people who are in meetings all day. Um, I have had several clients, some work home from home or hybrid, um have learned to pump while they are on meetings, while they're on Zoom meetings, um, carefully being careful with camera angles and things like that. Um, people who travel. I've worked a lot with people who travel and how we can set up for the best case of travel to keep up the supply, keep the pumps, store the milk. Um, working with TSA on that as well. That could be a whole other episode in and of itself. I'm working with a mom who's long into a really great breastfeeding journey, but she has her baby'll be about nine months old, and she's doing a week-long trip to Europe, and so we're talking about how to keep up her supply during that time. Um, but the the point is to make a plan before you return, maybe even before you leave. Don't assume your employer understands what you need. Maybe you're super lucky and they do, um, but let them know approximately how often you plan to pump, um, how long a pumping session will be. And this varies based on all kinds of different um components of you and your situation. Um, where will you be able to pump? Um, what will you do with milk storage as that? Something you have to take care of yourself. Um, so kind of check on what the arrangement will be. If it's not working, communicate early on that you need a little adjustment to that plan, or rather than quietly suffering, because that can be so frustrating for your whole situation. Because it's this can be very emotional, right? This is an emotional journey. Um, there can be some strange emotional experiences when you're pumping at work. Um, sometimes it's a nice little break, sometimes it's a stressful break. You might be sitting in a little room attached to a machine, everyone else is in a meeting that you feel like you're missing out on, or um, you're wondering, like, is this worth it? Uh maybe you're really dedicated to it, maybe you're, you know, you're like, I wish I liked this, I wish I was pumping more. Um, but it's kind of a strange intersection of motherhood and work. A lot of people get into a good groove. Um, some people, you know, have really incredible days and weeks and can feel really proud of what they're doing, and other days you might have an off day or an off week. Um you might have a freezer stash at home that you're really proud of. You might just be barely skimping by and the baby's getting less milk than you want them to. So there's a lot of different ways it could

Goals, Flexibility, And The Checklist

SPEAKER_01 19:56

go. So kind of evaluate if pumping at work is still working for you. Breastfeeding goals can shift and change. Um, I had one mom who recently helped her with weaning, and she had a goal to breastfeed her baby for three months, and she crushed it. All of a sudden she was at six months. And this was a mom who ended up having a pretty decent oversupply. Um, and at about seven months, she just said, I'm done. I'm so done with this. She's back at work now, had a good pumping plan and program going, but she just wanted to be done with the extra project that that made for her. And she was started traveling for work. So we met and worked on a weaning plan. She still had a couple months' worth of milk, however, for her baby, which is pretty awesome. Um, so we kind of did a reevaluation, she did a re-evaluation, and we came off of that. And she was really relieved to be able to stop pumping and felt really proud of herself for going for seven months of breastfeeding and pumping with a bonus two months of milk after that, um, because her original goal was three. So you can kind of adjust goals as works for you. Um, and that will be different for everyone. And it is an emotional journey and an emotional decision. So talking with your support people, um, hopefully you have supportive people at work, talking with other moms, seeing what they have done, the tricks that they've tried. Some people are commute pumpers, like when they're commuting, that's when they pump. Um, commuting to work, lunch, and commuting home, that might be all they need to do. Other people are able to take those breaks. Um, so kind of determine with your situation. You do not need a huge freezer stash before before returning to work. If you have a day or two, that's awesome. The reality is a lot of people don't have a freezer stash. Some people are lucky enough to have a few extra hundred ounces that are stored away before they go back to work, but not many people have that. So just have a manageable supply plan. That can be a lot less stressful. Um, you don't have to be exact on your pumping. Um, if you're pumping only, you know, every three hours, great. If you have a four-hour stint in there, that could be fine too. Um, yes, following your baby's feeding pattern is great, but there's lots of different ways to work with that. Another thing to consider is the type of pump that you're working with. Maybe your wearable pump, which is really convenient, isn't working, and you need to do a more traditional pump or a little bit of hand pumping or adding some hand expression or breast gymnastics, uh, breast massage can help with that. Um if you supplement with formula or anything else, you may feel like you're no longer breastfeeding, but you know what? You still are. If you're providing breast milk to your baby, that's breastfeeding. Um, breastfeeding and supplementation can still totally exist. So to wrap this up, I kind of want to walk back through a back to work and pumping rights checklist. Talk with your employer. Know that you have rights. Know that there should be a time and a place and a space for you to pump. Identify what that space is, kind of determine your initial pumping schedule, check your pump and flanges, work with an IBCLC if you need to. Um, get storage containers, be prepared for that. Some people take a little cooler, um, be prepared for extra extra pump parts or an easy hand pump if you need it. Um, and then practice this, maybe practice it at home, see what it's like a few days before you go back to work. Create a realistic milk storage plan and pumping plan so that you can feel successful with what what your situation is, and you can kind of ebb and morph as the situation does. So the big takeaway here is we don't want this to look effortless. I admire those who pump through work. That is tough. Um, your goal is to create a system that is sustainable for you and your baby in your particular situation. Doesn't have to be perfect. Um, it probably won't be perfect. It'll have some off days, no days, totally perfect. Um, but I champion you at this and support you in this. Again, this is something I feel pretty passionate about that people have the right um to be able to pump at work. So chase that down if you need to chase it down and see um what's available to you at your workspace.

Encouragement And Closing Requests

SPEAKER_01 23:30

Hopefully, this has been helpful for you as you are in your journey of pregnancy, um, birth, postpartum, breastfeeding. It's a it's an awesome chapter of life with its own um plot twists and challenges. Feels like villains in it sometimes. Um but hopefully you're enjoying this little chapter of life. It's remarkably short in the gram scheme of things, um, but it's important. It's a very important chapter. So thanks for being with us here today. And I want to just end, as we always do, by please asking you to reach out and make a human connection with someone. Please connect with someone you maybe haven't seen or heard from for a while. Um, that'll be important in your life and in theirs. Hope you have a great day. Thanks for being with us here on the Ordinary Doula Podcast, and we will see you next time.

SPEAKER_00 24:15

Thank you for listening to the Ordinary Doula Podcast with Angie Roger, hosted by HatchdenLatch. You can find episode credits in the show notes and more information by visiting HatchdenLatch.com. If this podcast has been helpful to you, please leave a rating wherever you listen to your podcast. Your support helps us to continue having thoughtful conversations about birth, breastfeeding, and postpartum life.