Breastfeeding bill in the works
Categories: Pregnancy & birth, Money & work
According to a recent article in the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) newsletter, a new bill is being considered in the New York State Assembly that would allow breastfeeding mothers paid or unpaid time during the workday to pump.
If passed, women would have the opportunity to pump for up to two years after the birth of the child. As a new mommy who is breastfeeding and planning on returning to work full-time in the near future, this sounds like a great idea. I'll be pumping several times a day, and while my new employer is very family friendly, it would be nice to know that specific time could be carved out of the day for pumping without having to haggle about it or duck away.
People take cigarette breaks that last anywhere from seven to ten minutes, right, and that is allowable, so why not for pumping? I would imagine most employers have no issue whatsoever with a woman taking a few minutes here and there to pump, but this bill would make it a law and a right.
And as another article points out, women may be more inclined to return to work for an employer who considers their needs by providing rooms and privacy for pumping. And I have news for employers, or anyone, who would nay say such a law: women are not going to stop having babies. As long as there are babies and mothers in the workforce there will be a need to pump, and a place and time to do it.
I have to admit, I took a new job because the company was more family-friendly than my last employer. That made all the difference in the world to me.
As we all know, breastfeeding, doing it in public, doing it at work, are hot topics. They always have been, always will be. Part of me feels like if there are laws governing such things, making it "OK" to do so, then people--employers, those we see at the mall when we stop to feed our screaming four month old--will hopefully stop freaking out about it.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
caitlin 7-31-2007 @ 3:07PM
I think this will definitely help working class women, who might not be able to afford maternity leave. I used to work in fast food in college, and most of the girls I knew who had babies were buying formula because the only place to pump at work was the break room. It didn't have a door, so pumping meant you got gawked at by at teenage boys. Our restrooms only had one stall, so it was against policy to tie up the bathroom so you could pump.
And sadly, while we weren't allowed to deny a smoker an on the clock break, we had to tell new moms that they only had 30 minutes to pump and eat. And we weren't allowed to let them bring in a cooler for them to store their milk. It's a shame, because formula is expensive, especially for that income level, and I'm sure those moms could use money spent on formula to improve their family's situation.
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Mammacheryl 7-31-2007 @ 4:57PM
My employer is quite new-mother friendly, and most of the women returning from maternity leave pump for several months. Each new mom is issued a key to the lactation room, and we're able to pick slots from the schedule. The room isn't very glamorous, but it has a glider rocker, a washer and dryer, a big sink and a radio. Us girls would bring in our parenting magazines to share with each other. Now if only they would keep a small fridge in there... Then it would be better. The time is paid... we just get up and go at our scheduled times.
I've realized lately, though, that my employer is not as pregnant-mother friendly as I once thought. I'm having a difficult pregnancy, and I'm having a very hard time getting HR to agree to let me leave as needed to go home on bedrest, even with setting up intermittent family medical leave. Now they want a doctor's note for each time I go home to lie down. But anyway. Just felt like venting about that.
Yay breastfeeding!
Cheryl at http://redpens-diapers.blogspot.com
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hp 8-01-2007 @ 4:58PM
While the legal ability to pump for two years is great: my daycare just told us that we can't send breast milk once le babe leaves the infant room at 15 months. I feel grumpy, because I am one of those women who was pumping as well at 12 months as at 3 months--20oz/daily.
Now, I have a freezer stash I'm not even going to get through before I can't send him EBM any more.
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