Soumission

Breastfeeding and the Workplace:
Supporting Breastfeeding through the Federal Labour Standards

Executive Summary

Currently in Canada, 85% of women initiate breastfeeding. Health recommendations call for exclusive breastfeeding for 6 months (no other liquids or foods) and continued breastfeeding for 2 years or longer, with the addition of complementary foods.

Maternity and parental leaves release mothers from the workplace for up to 52 weeks. However, for a variety of reasons, many women return to the workplace prior to 52 weeks. Also, many women wish to breastfeed beyond the first year, even if they took the full leave. There are many situations where women need to balance their breastfeeding with workplace obligations.

Testimonials from a number of women are provided to illustrate the experience of breastfeeding and returning to work. These stories show the number of challenges faced by women, including:

• access to reliable breaks, and sufficient break time to allow for pumping or breastfeeding.
• access to private, clean and appropriate areas for pumping at work.
• Flexible work arrangements that accommodate the dual roles of mother and worker.
• Ignorance or even harassment by co-workers or employers when the mother advocates for her breastfeeding needs.
• Lack of role models or peer support in balancing breastfeeding with work.
• Lack of policies or guidelines for employees and employers to use to negotiate arrangements.

The Federal Labour Standards has the opportunity to improve circumstances for breastfeeding women in the workplace by making these changes:

1. Incorporate the ILO Convention 183 and Recommendation 191 into the Federal Labour Standards.
2. Improve access to maternity and parental leaves and benefits for mothers who may otherwise not be eligible.
3. Implement non-legislative initiatives such as programs to educate employers about breastfeeding. These would provide examples of breastfeeding supportive policies and programs, and education about breastfeeding rights.
4. Introduce flexible working opportunity legislation.

According to UNICEF, breastfeeding is recognized in Article 24 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child as "an essential component in assuring the child's right to the highest attainable standard of health.... This means that governments are under an obligation to ensure an environment that empowers women to breastfeed their children if they choose to do so. Working women do not lose the right to this enabling environment because they are in paid employment."

CONCERNS & ISSUES

SITUATION

Breastfeeding has been established in Canada and worldwide as a public health priority. Most nations have a goal of increasing breastfeeding as a means of improving public health and reducing rates of disease and death in children under five.

As a society, we have generally accepted that breastfeeding is "ideal" for infant feeding. This is evidenced by a Canadian average breastfeeding initiation rates of 85% in the 5 years prior to 2003.¹ Women want to breastfeed their infants, and they start out to "try" to breastfeed.

Health recommendations such as that of the Canadian Pediatrics Society², Health Canada³ and the World Health Organization's Global Strategy on Infant and Young Child Feeding⁴ all recommend six months exclusive breastfeeding⁵ and continued breastfeeding, supplemented with other foods, to age 2 years and beyond. However, despite these recommendations, duration rates in Canada suffer. By 4 months of age, less than 50% of Canadian infants are breastfed at all, and less than 40% were exclusively breastfeed. Only 38% of infants were breastfed at all at 6 months, and less than 20%, exclusively. I could not find statistics for breastfeeding beyond six months, presumably they are too insignificant to be worth collecting.

In "Improving the Health of Canadians" the first in a biennial report series produced by the Canadian Population Health Initiative, encouraging breastfeeding is listed is as the first strategy in preventing obesity of Canadians.⁶ There is increasing evidence that the longer the time spent in "exclusive" breastfeeding (the baby is nourished only by breast milk), the lower the risk of developing obesity in later childhood. While 78% of Canadian women reported starting to breastfeed in 1996-1997, other studies showed that about 40% of those who breastfed did so for less than three months. In contrast, 1993 Sweden reported an exclusive breastfeeding rate of 61% up to four months of age. This report noted that breastfeeding can be promoted through one-to-one counselling, education and community and workplace support.

Putting aside the many health reasons to breastfeed, breastfeeding, in and of itself, is protected under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, under gender equality.⁷ In addition, provincial Human Rights Codes protect women from discrimination on the basis of sex, and several provinces (Ontario⁸, British Columbia⁹) specifically detail the rights of breastfeeding mothers, including breastfeeding and work.

Women have a right to breastfeed their children, and that breastfeeding is an essential component in assuring the child's right to the highest attainable standard of health. This latter aspect is enshrined in Article 24 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which is binding on all governments in the world with the exception of the USA and Somalia. This means that governments are under an obligation to ensure an environment that empowers women to breastfeed their children if they choose to do so. Working women do not lose the right to this enabling environment because they are in paid employment.

PROBLEM

Current Labour Standards impacts breastfeeding mothers through Division VII - Reassignment, Maternal and Parental Leaves.

At the optimum, a mother that is eligible for leave and that is able to access the full maternal and parental combined leave, could be shielded from the impact of work on her breastfeeding relationship for the length of the entire leave of 52 weeks. Some women gain a few additional weeks by adding on their accumulated holidays.

Many women will not access the entire leave of 52 weeks. Some may choose to have the father take part or all of the parental leave, and the mom may return to work any time after 17 weeks. Five times more fathers are accessing parental leave in 2003 than in 2001.

Many women do not qualify for maternal and parental benefits. About 40% of women have non-standard work arrangements (seasonal, part-time, temporary, or contract jobs). Women who are self-employed or own their own businesses do not qualify either. Vulnerable women, such as teen-aged mothers, Aboriginal women, low income women and single mothers, qualify for these benefits even less frequently than other women. The lack of financial resources drives these women back into the workforce. Their babies have the same needs, regardless of what mom's employment situation and her ability to qualify for leave or benefits is.

Regardless of the length of leave, some women feel that their work obligations will not accommodate breastfeeding at all, and will wean even before they return to work, shortening the protection of breastfeeding that the leave might have otherwise provided.

So despite maternal and parental leaves in place that have the potential to be supportive of breastfeeding by releasing the breastfeeding mother from the workplace, the reality is that, in practice, the return to work for many breastfeeding moms begins much sooner than Labour Standards would require them to. And since currently in our society, breastfeeding is considered "optimum", rather than "normal and required for children's and women's health", when there is a conflict between breastfeeding and work, it is often the breastfeeding that suffers. But the workplace suffers as well, when a mother is stressed while trying to manage breastfeeding without workplace support, or if she decides to opt out of the workplace partially or entirely.

There is a problem when one government policy (Health Canada recommendations for breastfeeding) is not supported by other government policy (lack of specific breastfeeding support legislation in Federal Labour Standards).

IMPLICATIONS

In numerous studies, the return to work is listed among the reasons for premature weaning. In a survey of 350 breastfeeding mothers in Sudbury, Ontario, to determine why they weaned prior to the six month recommendation, reasons for weaning included perceived insufficient milk supply, fatigue, breast problems and return to work.¹⁰

In preparation for this submission, a request was made to the Moms For Milk Breastfeeding Network members, and requests were posted on various breastfeeding and parenting message boards on the Internet, calling for stories from Canadian women about their experience in combining breastfeeding and work. In less than two weeks, many unique stories were submitted, each highlighting the variety of challenges faced, and the ways that women deal with them.

Women returning to work, deal with breastfeeding in many ways:

• complete weaning prior to returning to work.
• introduce bottle prior to return to work, in order to combine breast and bottle feeding.
• Pump and/or breastfeed during the workday - try to add pumping into regular break/work schedule, and may or may not try to hide this activity from co-workers and employers.
• Pump and/or breastfeed during the workday - approach employer for assistance with location and schedule accommodation
• Reduce/change work schedule to accommodate breastfeeding.
• Change employer for a job that would better accommodate breastfeeding, or withdraw from the workplace entirely.

Due to the general lack of understanding in society of the importance of breastfeeding, women feel unsupported and experience considerable stress in making the above arrangements. Employers themselves are inexperienced and uncomfortable in discussing requirements of lactating employees. Labour Standards can make considerable contributions in easing these discussions, by providing a guideline.

Specific challenges that mothers face in combining breastfeeding and work are (in no particular order)

• Finding time to pump. Half hour lunch breaks were not sufficient and missing lunch in order to pump is not ideal. Breaks need to be available at regular intervals and not forfeited when too busy.
• Finding a comfortable place to pump. Privacy, quiet, cleanly, with access to electricity and wash facilities, and a place to sit, read and eat while pumping, is ideal. The area should be relatively near the work area, in order to reduce wasted time travelling to pump area. Cold storage for the pumped milk is helpful.
• Lack of supportive environment. At the minimum, the workplace should be free of harrassment from co-workers. Several mothers reported derisive comments from co-workers the denigrated pumping and breastfeeding in general.
• Need for peer support and role models to learn about pumping and combining breastfeeding with work.
• Need for flexible return to work arrangements, work at home opportunities, shortened work days.

Specific challenges that employers face when a mother needs to combine breastfeeding and work are (in no particular order)

• lack of information about the needs of breastfeeding employee.
• Lack of models, policies or standards for dealing with breastfeeding in the workplace, to guide discussions with breastfeeding employees.
• Due to social stigma and lack of precedence for combining breastfeeding and the workplace, the breastfeeding employee may not request accommodation. Instead she may hide her breastfeeding needs, reduce hours or voluntarily leave employment, thus denying the employee the opportunity to accommodate, and results in the loss of a valued employee to the employer.
• Without industry-wide standards, the employer may have the perception that they will experience a competitive disadvantage (costs) if they make workplace changes that accommodate breastfeeding.

When there are difficulties in combining breastfeeding and work:

1. the baby suffers through decreased access to breastfeeding, and possible complete premature weaning. Increased illness due to being denied breastmilk and breastfeeding, both in the short and long term.
2. The mother suffers through increased stress. She is conflicted between being the mother she wants to be, and being a "good" worker. The mother can also feel a great loss, if weaning occurs before she wanted it to, due to the return to work. Breastfeeding is a unique aspect of parenting that only the mother can provide. Despite any concerns she may have about returning to work, she can still be the only one to breastfeed the child. Loss of this relationship can be a very large loss to the breastfeeding mother, who is also grieving the loss of time spent with her child due to returning to work.
This mother also suffers increased health risks through premature weaning, such as increased risk of breast cancer.
3. The household may suffer a financial loss if the challenges to combining breastfeeding and work are insurmountable, and the woman leaves employment, either partially or fully in order to accommodate breastfeeding.
4. Conflict about breastfeeding and work arrangements between the mother and the employer can seriously deteriorate employee/employer relations.
5. If the mother decides to not return to work, or to leave the work force, this is a loss of a skilled, experienced worker to the employer, and to the economy.

Needs (Recommendations)

The Federal Labour Standards has the opportunity to support breastfeeding in the workplace by putting into place the following changes:

1. Incorporate the ILO Convention 183 and Recommendation 191 into the Federal Labour Standards.

Convention 183 Article 10 reads:

1. A woman shall be provided with the right to one or more daily breaks or a daily reduction of hours of work to breastfeed her child.
2. The period during which nursing breaks or the reduction of daily hours of work are allowed, their number, the duration of nursing breaks and the procedures for the reduction of daily hours of work shall be determined by national law and practice. These breaks or the reduction of daily hours of work shall be counted as working time and remunerated accordingly.

Recommendation 191 reads:

On production of a medical certificate or other appropriate certification as determined by national law and practice, the frequency and length of nursing breaks should be adapted to particular needs. Where practicable and with the agreement of the employer and the woman concerned, it should be possible to combine the time allotted for daily nursing breaks to allow a reduction of hours of work at the beginning or at the end of the working day.

Where practicable, provision should be made for the establishment of facilities for nursing under adequate hygienic conditions at or near the workplace.

The position which ratifying countries like Ireland have taken is, as everyone benefits when babies are breastfed, the costs should be shared among workers, employers, and governments. The new measure has been identified as benefiting employers because research shows women who continue to breastfeed after returning to work are three times less likely to be absent from work to care for their sick child.

The new ILO standards support women's entitlement to paid breastfeeding breaks or a shorter workday.

The new Convention gives crucial support for sustaining exclusive breastfeeding when mothers go to work and to supporting sustained breastfeeding to two years.

2. Changes to eligibility requirements for maternity and parental leaves and benefits, in order to provide all babies the right to be breastfed, and to lessen the potential impact of separation from their mothers due to work or retraining, regardless of the employment status of their mothers.

3. Non-legislative initiatives such as programs to educate employers about breastfeeding, such as examples of breastfeeding supportive policies and programs, education about breastfeeding rights. Programs to educate women about their breastfeeding rights are needed, and how to combine breastfeeding and work. Peer support programs to help mentor and support women who are combining breastfeeding and work.

4. Introduction flexible working opportunities legislation, such as the UK's "right to request and the duty to consider"¹¹, whereby parents of children aged under six or disabled children aged under 18 have the right to apply to work flexibly and their employers will have a duty to consider these requests seriously.

IMPACT OF RECOMMENDATIONS

The impacts of supporting breastfeeding and work include:

1. Breastfeeding rates will improve, leading to a more healthy society.
2. Women will be empowered. Breastfeeding itself is empowering. Women will see themselves valued in their role as producers of an important good and service (breastfeeding) AND in their role as an employee. Society will recognize the importance of both of these roles.
3. A more equal division of household labour may be realized. With the need to stay home to do breastfeeding removed from the equation, fathers can more easily share the parental leave. Studies show that the more men are involved with parenting, family violence decreases.
4. Employment security for women improves, as she won't feel that she must leave the workforce to accommodate breastfeeding, and her risk of being dismissed due to breastfeeding is eliminated.
5. Financial security for families improves, as women can stay in the workplace if needed, and there will be more freedom for either parent to access the parental leave.
6. Labour supply will be more stable and reliable for employers. Employers have access to more skilled and experienced employees. Increased employee loyalty.
7. Less sick time for women due to reduced stress from balancing work and breastfeeding, and less absenteeism due to sick babies. Employer benefits through more reliable workforce.
8. As women have reduced stress, and are more supported in whatever decision they make in regards to working or not working, mental illness such as post-partum depressions should reduce. As breastfeeding is recognized as important through being addressed in Labour Standards, women who decide to take time from work to breastfeed, will feel more supported that they are doing an important thing. On the other hand, women who feel strongly that they wish to return to their career, can do so without being forced to access all their maternity and parental leaves in order to breastfeed. These women may have more satisfaction and better mental health to be out of the house and back at work.

Conclusion:

In order to support women in their breastfeeding decision, society has the obligation to not only implement breastfeeding recommendations, but support women in word and deed. Women need to be supported to reach their own breastfeeding goals, and to also have a positive breastfeeding experience while doing so (so as to not deter others from breastfeeding, through bad word of mouth).

Women do not breastfeed in a vacuum. As more women choose to breastfeed, and for longer, this is more likely to impact their roles in all aspects of society, family obligations, volunteer work and paid work. Through the Federal Labour Standards, we can set the standard and example for how breastfeeding women can be supported to continue to participate in public life, and society will be improved through the return to normal human health that breastfeeding facilitates.

ENDNOTES:

Background of Presenter:

Janice Reynolds is the founder of Moms For Milk Breastfeeding Network. The network consists of over 500 members across Canada, and is a grass-roots organization to share information about breastfeeding issues, research and advocacy issues in Canada and abroad. It has existed for over 5 years.

Janice also is the first Consumer Representative on the Breastfeeding Committee for Canada, and sits on provincial and local breastfeeding committees.

The Network represents breastfeeding mothers. As an advocate with an active presence on the internet (on mothering and breastfeeding lists and forums) and by frequently representing breastfeeding issues in the media, Janice is often the first point of contact for mothers who are facing issues of discrimination due to breastfeeding. As such she is very familiar with challenges they face in protecting their breastfeeding relationships when they return to work. Janice's involvement in advocacy was motivated by her own challenges in continuing to breastfeed when she returned to work in her position as a full-time sales representative and territory manager, in 1997.

See appendix for full story of Janice's experience in returning to work and breastfeeding.

¹ Statistics Canada Health Indicators. vol. 2005, no. 1

Breastfeeding practices, females aged 15 to 55 who had a baby in the previous five years, Canada, provinces, territories and peer groups, 2003

http://www.statcan.ca/english/freepub
/82-221-XIE/2004002/tables/html/2178_03.htm

² Canadian Pediatrics Society Position Statement

Exclusive breastfeeding should continue to six months

Paediatrics & Child Health 2005;10(3):148 http://www.cps.ca/english/statements/N/BreastfeedingMar05.htm

The Canadian Paediatric Society recommends exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of life for healthy, term infants. Breast milk is the optimal food for infants, and breastfeeding may continue for up to two years and beyond.

³ Exclusive Breastfeeding Duration - 2004 Health Canada Recommendation
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fn-an/nutrition/child-enfant/ infant-nourisson/excl_bf_dur-dur_am_excl_e.html
Exclusive breastfeeding1 is recommended for the first six months of life for healthy term infants, as breast milk is the best food for optimal growth. Infants should be introduced to nutrient-rich, solid foods with particular attention to iron [3] at six months with continued breastfeeding for up to two years and beyond [4].

⁴ As stated in the Global Strategy on Infant and Young Child Feeding (paragraph 10): http://www.who.int/nut/inf.htm

Breastfeeding is an unequalled way of providing ideal food for the healthy growth and development of infants; it is also an integral part of the reproductive process with important implications for the health of mothers. As a global public health recommendation, infants should be exclusively breastfed1 for the first six months of life to achieve optimal growth, development and health.2 Thereafter, to meet their evolving nutritional requirements, infants should receive nutritionally adequate and safe complementary foods while breastfeeding continues for up to two years of age or beyond. Exclusive breastfeeding from birth is possible except for a few medical conditions, and unrestricted exclusive breastfeeding results in ample milk production.

⁵ Exclusive breastfeeding, based on the WHO definition [5], refers to the practice of feeding only breast milk (including expressed breast milk) and allows the baby to receive vitamins, minerals or medicine. Water, breast milk substitutes, other liquids and solid foods are excluded.http://www.who.int/nut/inf.htm

⁶ http://www.cihi.com/cihiweb
/dispPage.jsp?cw_page=PG_39_E&cw_topic=39&cw_rel=AR_322_E Improving the Health of Canadians

Date Published: Feb 25, 2004
Pages: 173
ISBN: 1-55392-325-1 (Paper)
ISBN: 1-55392-363-4 (PDF)

See Summary Report, or Chapter 5: Obesity.
Breastfeeding is listed first among 5 strategies to reduce obesity.
FROM SUMMARY REPORT:

"Based on a synthesis of evidence from various sources, five strategies appear to be effective in preventing obesity, either by increasing physical activity or by improving diet or both.
1. Encouraging breastfeeding
There is increasing evidence that the longer the time spent in "exclusive" breastfeeding (the baby is nourished only by breast milk), the lower the risk of developing obesity in later childhood. While 78% of Canadian women reported starting to breastfeed in 1996-1997, otherstudies showed that about 40% of those who breastfed did so for less than three months. In contrast, 1993 Sweden reported an exclusive breastfeeding rate of 61% up to four months of age. Breastfeeding can be promoted through one-to-one counselling, education, and community and workplace support."

⁷ http://www.infactcanada.ca/Breastfeeding_Rights.htm

Federally, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms also affords some protection. Section 15(1) states as follows:
· 15(1) Every individual is equal before and under the law and has the right to the equal protection and equal benefit of the law without discrimination and, in particular without discrimination based on race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age, or mental or physical disability.
· To ensure that women receive full benefit of all Charter guarantees, gender equality is also enshrined in Section 28 of the Charter.
· 28 Notwithstanding anything in this Charter, the rights and freedoms referred to in it are guaranteed equally to male and female persons.

⁸ Pregnancy & Breastfeeding: Your Rights & Responsibilities Ontario Human Rights Commission
http://www.ohrc.on.ca/english/guides/pregnancy-breastfeeding.shtml

⁹ BRITISH COLUMBIA HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION POLICY AND PROCEDURE MANUAL
TITLE: Sex discrimination - breastfeeding and expressing milk
http://www.infactcanada.ca/B.C._HR_Policy_Procedure_Manual.htm

¹⁰ Bourgoin, G. L., Lahaie, N. R., Rheaume, B. A., Berger, M. G., Dovigi, C. V., Picard, L. M. et al. (1997). Factors influencing the duration of breastfeeding in the Sudbury Region. Canadian Journal of Public Health, 88, 238-241.
Abstract: OBJECTIVE: To determine the duration of breastfeeding in the Sudbury Region and to identify the reasons why mothers wean before the Canadian Paediatric Society's recommended six month period. METHODS: Questionnaires addressing factors that influence the duration of breastfeeding were mailed to 350 breastfeeding mothers at one/two weeks, three months and six months after their postpartum discharge from hospital. RESULTS: Forty percent of mothers breastfed for the recommended six month period. Reported factors positively influencing longer durations of breastfeeding were higher education, higher family income, parity, previous breastfeeding experience, decision to breastfeed before the child was born and late introduction to solids. Reasons for weaning included perceived insufficient milk supply, fatigue, breast problems and return to work. Mothers' top three choices of services were home visits, telephone hot line and television programs. CONCLUSIONS: The duration of breastfeeding in the Sudbury Region is lower than the provincial average. Several modifiable factors associated with duration of breastfeeding were identified

¹¹ FLEXIBLE WORKING - THE RIGHT TO REQUEST A basic summary (PL516 Rev 1)
http://www.dti.gov.uk/er/individual/flexible-pl516.htm

The [UK] Government is committed to helping working parents. From 6 April 2003, parents of children aged under six or disabled children aged under 18 have the right to apply to work flexibly and their employers will have a duty to consider these requests seriously.

Appendix - Mother's Testimonials

What was your experience in combining breastfeeding and work. How could workplaces or society change to make it easier for moms to breastfeed, and to continue to breastfeed?

Anna
Contract worker in banking industry

I returned to work when my first child only 5 months old. I was a contract worker with a national bank and I was offered a return to work date I was unable to refuse. I was employed as a contractor and I left just prior to my contract expiring to have a baby. I kept in touch with my manager but due to the project schedules she was only able to arrange and offer a return date that was at the five month mark. I was worried about losing my job, losing my experience, losing my skills (IT related technical writing) if I stayed off work for longer. I couldn't get a promise there would be work for me if I stayed home for the full year.

I had been employed by the bank for only 10 months before I left to have a baby. I was eligible for EI as the bank deducted the EI contributions, but I had no other benefits (sick leave/vacation whatever).

I scrambled to find a daycare space but we hadn't weaned the baby nor had we tried formula. I pumped heroically to stockpile and I was planning on pumping at work.

I used a small hand pump at home so I brought that to work. I tried the handicapped bathroom but there was nowhere to sit comfortably and I felt badly staying in there for 30+minutes in case someone else required the loo. I also tried the conventional ladies bathroom but no surface in either type of bathroom was appropriate for all the bits and pieces I needed to pump comfortably (bottle, cap, carry bag, freezer thing, pump, tissues, breast pads, somewhere to put the pump if I had to do a massage to get started...etc). It was also embarrassing to be pumping in what felt like the wide open public bathroom.

I decided to try the bank-at-work rooms located in the lobby of the building. The building I worked in contained a number of call centres so bank at work rooms were located in the lobby, next to the bank machines, the cafeteria and the Tim Hortons. Although you were sitting right in the busy lobby it seemed private as the room had frosted windows for privacy, a door that could close completely, a small desk and an office chair. I began doing this three times per day for 25 to 30 minutes, which was my lunch and breaks rolled together. Two months later, I was notified that due to security concerns about the bank-at-work rooms, the security guards could view what was happening in the rooms on their video monitors.

We switched to formula over the next weekend for during the daycare hours and I breastfed only at night, in the early AM and on weekends after that. We stopped breastfeeding entirely after 9 months. I felt this was too early for my child but the best I could do.

I worked from 8am to 4:30 or 5pm with half hour for lunch. As a writer I actually had flexibility to take breaks as I needed but I felt that I needed to work 'extra' to make up for the fact I could not stay as late as my co-workers. They often worked until 6pm to deal with emergencies or extra work as the project required. I also felt limited as I couldn't attend meetings held after 5pm as I had to rush to the daycare to collect the child.

I did not ask for accommodations, as I was not sure what type of response I would get from my supervisor. It was very much a culture of 'come in early and stay late'. I felt that some of my co-workers felt I was slacking although I tried very hard not to take sick days and to provide the face time required. I was unable to take work home due to the security of the work, and honestly I wouldn't have had time to work on it anyway. I was on daycare pickup and my partner was on drop off duty so I could get to work somewhat early.

My supervisor was a bit put off by the breast pumping at work thing, she was childless and older than I was. If the bank had a policy about breast feeding/pumping I think we both would have been more comfortable discussing it.

As a contractor I also had slightly less HR representation than a full-time employee, so I had no-one I was comfortable with using as an intermediary.

The entire process was mortifying, humiliating, embarrassing and unnecessary as if I had been told that the security guards could see me I would never have tried that avenue. While I was trying to pump at work, I found it very hard to concentrate on my work due to the timing of pumping. Pumping also was difficult if I was tense or nervous which occurred if I had to sit uncomfortably in the bathroom to complete it. I leaked constantly for months and suffered often from rock hard breasts, which required hot water compresses to 'unclog' which was also impossible to perform in a public bathroom. I found it hard to concentrate on my work AFTER the bank at work room situation also.

I had intended on breast feeding at least for 1 year to give my child the best start I could. As it was, out of my mom's group of 5 new moms, I was one of the longest at only 9 months!

I am expecting my second child soon and I have ON PURPOSE completely changed careers (downwards) to no longer be on contract but a full-time employee. I now am eligible for an entire year of maternity leave. I plan on happily breastfeeding for 365 consecutive days before having to return to work. At that time I will assess if the child can supplement breast feeding in the evening/early AM with some kind of least noxious formula product or perhaps even cow milk as they will be eating many foods by then.

Breastfeeding education in the workplace, designated quiet rooms, and an expectation of some distraction in the mom-returning-to-work would have helped me deal with this more effectively I think.

Good luck with your submission,
Thanks,
Anna

Armande,
Public Health Nurse, on behalf of her breastfeeding clients

I have many moms who are low wage earners who never have an opportunity to use EI benefits for very long. 55% of $6.50 per hour is not enough to live on. These moms are generally back to work in two months or they end up going to take some kind of course so they can live off the provincial training allowance. In many cases the courses they get into on short notice are through the Academy of Learning or the like. These moms then end up leaving there babies in child care as the course requires them to separate. Bottom line is lower income wage earners rarely have the same maternity experience as higher wage earners. I often stew or feel sad when these moms share their story. In our society someone has to work in the service industry, not the whole world can be a high-income earner. This is my experience.

Armande

Stephanie
Hourly wage, service industry

Hi my name is Stephanie Parago and I am a 23 year old 3rd year nursing student in Sydney, NS whom breastfed my daughter from birth (December 23, 2003) exclusively while attending school fulltime which I went back 2 weeks post birth (January 4, 2004).

I returned to work after 3 months (in March) and continued to breastfeed without supplement. On June 30, 2003 I went to work at Smitty's Restaurant in Sydney at 1400 hrs, and did not have time for a break so I could express milk that would be picked up later in the evening. My mother came in to the restaurant at 2045 and I did not have milk for her. I took my daughter into a back office and nursed her for only minutes. When I came out the owner of the restaurant yelled at me and told me how disgusted he was that I did "that" in his restaurant and gave me the choice of breastfeeding OR work. Needless to say I left the building, I walked out when I was given that ultimatum. So yes I was forced to quit, I could not work for people like that.

I filed a report with Human Rights and I am dealing with all of it now. I enter the mediation process next week (Sept 7, 2004). If you are interested in hearing more on this case, let me know and I will gladly email you the documents.

Stephanie

Sandra
Flexible work - self employed, child brought to workplace

My name is Sandra Gaunt. I live in Victoria, BC. I will give you the details for my two sons separately.

My son Tameryn was born Dec 31/00 and I was just eligible for the full year maternity leave. I took most of it and my husband took the remainder. I had worked full time before having my son as a restaurant server. When my son was about 10 months old I started working part-time as a bookkeeper for a neighbour who has her own business and her office was in her home. She was very flexible regarding when and how long I worked, as long as I got the work done she didn't mind. It ended up being between 8-16 hours a week. I was still breastfeeding then and I would just pop home whenever I needed to nurse my son, whether he was hungry or just wanted to cuddle. My husband worked evenings so he was with Tameryn when I wasn't. I nursed Tameryn until he was 21 months old.

I worked for myself doing part time bookkeeping, picking up a couple of contracts, before I had my son Jaden in June 2004. Because I was self employed I did not qualify for maternity benefits. I returned to work full time when Jaden was 6 months old. I have been working in the accounting office at the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Victoria and it has been great! They are very accommodating. I was able to ease into working full days at my pace over a couple of weeks (this was over the Christmas holidays and it was quiet at the office so that wasn't hard.) At the beginning my husband would come by with the kids around lunchtime so I could nurse Jaden and visit with Tameryn. We did that for about 6 months. I still nurse Jaden but not at work since he gets too distracted and would rather explore. I plan to nurse him until he is two years old, then we'll see.

I have had great breastfeeding at work experiences. Both times I was not ready to be parted from my babies for too long and my employers understood that. I wish that this could be the norm for all mothers who have to go back to work but are still breastfeeding.

Sandra

Megan
Daytime weaning, stigma to pumping at work

Hello,
I just saw your call for stories at the Today's Parent website. I'm a breastfeeding parent who had to return to work. My story isn't out of the ordinary, but if it helps, I'm happy to share.

My son is now nearly 14 months old. He was exclusively breastfed for the first six months. I knew I was returning to work around his first birthday, but didn't want to give up breastfeeding. So, we decided to supplement with whole milk during the day, and breastfeed morning and evening. We started the whole milk a few weeks before my return, just to make sure it would be alright.

So far, it's going well. We had discussed the possibility of pumping. However, there are no facilities at my office. I have a door to my personal office, but it's considered inappropriate to have it closed for any reason. The fridge is public, and I didn't want the embarrassment of storing milk there, not to mention the lost time it would take to pump throughout the day. I often go without a lunchbreak - I couldn't see being able to take time to pump. As well, my field is dominated by men and women who either don't marry, or don't have children. The one woman who does have a child in my office makes fun of people who "insist on breastfeeding."

I'm just not an outgoing enough person to really overcome all that for the sake of a few ounces of breastmilk. My son was strong and healthy, so the decision was made that he could drink cow's milk part-time. I'm already taking heat from my husband's grandma for continuing past a year - I didn't need weirdness at work, too!

My doctor is extremely supportive and progressive and would prefer me to keep breastfeeding as long as possible, but he's fine with us supplementing, as long as it's full fat milk, not water or juice or anything else.

I nurse on demand for weekends and holidays, and any other time I'm around him. In the beginning, my son held out for the nursing, and wouldn't drink anything at daycare, but he's adjusted to it - he actually loves milk now. However, if I were a stay at home mom, he'd probably be breastfed a lot more. Our plan is for me to stay at home full-time after the next one is born (due in April - knock on wood) then both will be tandem nursed until they self-wean.

That's what we've done and what we plan to do. - hope that helps your submission.

Megan

Sarah
Weaning at 7 months, no pump facilities, no role models

Hi. It's nice that something is being done!

I went back to work when my son was almost 7 months old and I needed to wean him onto a bottle because I didn't feel comfortable pumping at work because I knew that there wasn't anywhere to pump.

At my work I work in a cubicle but it's a shared one so I knew I wouldn't be able to pump there. We also have a lunchroom but it's for the whole building so I knew I couldn't pump there. Really the only place I think I could've pumped was in the bathroom or if I went to my car. So with that said I felt like weaning was my only option. I think to my knowledge no one has ever pumped at my work, so I don't know if it's ever been brought to my employer's attention.

And by the way I work for a municipality.

Sarah

Jennifer
Registered nurse, no time or place to pump, premature complete weaning

I went back to work when my son was 6 months old so that my husband could take half of the paternity leave. I am a RN and work full time on the high acute medicine floor. 12 hour shifts, 7 shifts in 2 weeks. I thought that also because I would full time nights that it would help with continuing to breastfeed. I was wrong.

There was no place for me to pump except sitting on the toilet. Ewww. My work environment is very stressful and I couldn't 'relax' enough on my 45 minute break to pump even if I could find a place that people didn't poop in.

I tried every shift for a month to pump and couldn't. We tried feeding just before and as soon as I got home but it wasn't enough and because I basically went 13 hours sometimes a little more without breast feeding, I dried up. It was very sad for me and I don't know if it was all my workplace's fault or not, but I feel it was. I don't know how people can pump in the toilet, where else would people do it. I brought pictures and tapes of the baby crying and nothing worked. Then after 2 weeks I couldn't even feed my baby. I would like to have still been breastfeeding my baby now, he is 13 1/2 months old.

I am expecting for March 2006, I think that this time around, I won't go back early and I will breastfeed for a year at least because I want to give that chance to my baby.

Jennifer
London, ON

Sarah
No time or place to pump, disappointment with employer support

I was a breastfeeding mom who returned to work after 1 year. I still wanted my baby to have breast milk. Some barriers I encountered to pumping at work were:

1. finding time - A half hour lunch break was all that was available. Pumping usually took up most of this time and missing lunch was not ideal.
2. finding a comfortable place to pump - a quiet room to sit comfortably and pump would have been ideal.

Because of these barriers, my plan of pumping milk while at work was cut short. I am a health professional and work in a hospital and I was expecting more support from my employer.

Sarah, BScPharm

Sabrina
Disciplined for breastfeeding on lunch break

I am still breastfeeding my 25 month old daughter and I work full time. Of course, this [breastfeeding] is only in the evenings.

I never did wean her and have no intention of doing so - just hoping she will wean herself soon enough. Regarding suggestions, the only problem I encountered was this - my daughter is being looked after by my Mom and she is not even 10 minutes away from work. I used to take the opportunity and go over at lunch and breastfeed and try to eat something myself (important for breastfeeding moms to eat, right??) and get back to work. I was pulled up for over-staying my lunch break! Hence I stopped doing this, but that got me thinking - why can't there be a rule that a breastfeeding mom can take a longer break just to feed her kids??? Of course, that is if the kid is close to home etc. I do realize that the kid can be brought to the mom for feedings etc, but tell me, how many offices are equipped for breast feeding??? And of course, I would like to avoid using a bathroom or a meeting room, which will make it very obvious.

Sabrina

Christine
Drastically reduced hours

I am not sure if I would say that I have had problems returning to work, but have chosen to return only part-time, partly due to feeding and partly due to concerns about childcare.

I work for an agency (Canadian Forces Personnel Support Agency) doing a job that I love. I made a proposal to work from home part-time, but when that proposal was rejected, I decided that I would stay home until my daughter was older. However, my manager was supportive and offered me one day per week, so I returned to work on July 29th (My daughter turned 1 at the beginning of August). Although I would have liked to work more, with the commute and inflexible hours (I am a crisis counselor so someone has to answer the phone) I am away for more than 10 hours per day.

Currently we are still able to breastfeed with a general level of success, but there have been days when she was reluctant to take a bottle of water or juice and I am not willing to give her formula at all. It seems strange to me that the Canadian government is still largely ignoring the World Health Organization recommendations.

I suppose with our level of success (at the cost of 4/5 of my salary) my testimonial will have less impact than others' might, but I would like to see changes in the legislation.

Regards,
Christine

Janice Reynolds
Fought for right to breastfeed AND work, until I lost my job...

Seven years ago I was a new mom on maternity leave, wondering how I would fulfill my work obligations without compromising my daughter's nutritional and emotional needs for breastfeeding.

I was a sales representative for a large international publishing corporation, selling textbooks to the school divisions, responsible for all Saskatchewan. I worked alone from my home using the phone and computer, or driving to schools on several-day car trips. Twice a year I had to attend week-long conferences in Toronto. I was very career oriented, and had done little preparation for parenting prior to giving birth, but I did think I would breastfeed for 6 months as my friends and sisters had done. Both my daughter and I enjoyed nursing and as I now had time to read while the baby nursed, I learned about the many impacts on health that breastfeeding has, for mother and baby.

So as the end of my maternity leave approached at 6 months, I had no interest in weaning. I moved my nursing goal to one year, boosted by the AAP recommendations to nurse for one year, and a study just released stating that intelligence was boosted by nursing for one year.

But my first work commitment would be a 6-day conference in Toronto that was actually still during my last few days of maternity leave of my 6 month leave. I had planned to attend with baby and husband, but my husband had work obligations of his own that week. (My manager had done this with her newborn the previous year - but she had since left the company). After contacting the Saskatoon Breastfeeding Centre for information about pumping and introducing a bottle, I decided I could not leave my baby for that long without risking breast infections and jeopardizing my nursing relationship. So I made babysitting arrangements with the hotel. My manager and company were totally against this - they had a strict "no children at conferences" policy. After increasingly more heated conversations, I learned about an unadvertised "additional leave'" policy of my employer, and extended my leave until my baby was 9 months old. Then I returned to work, worked at home as much as possible, and hired a university student to travel with us during the busy May-June sales campaign when I had to travel extensively.

As the next conference loomed, when my baby would be 14 months, I again began discussing arrangements with my employer to bring my baby along. (By this time, I had revised my nursing goal to 2 years, as I had now learned about reduced breast cancer rates from extended nursing, and my mother had fought breast cancer for 14 years before succumbing at age 59, having never breastfed her daughters). Again my employer was adamant I could not bring my baby along, but I was equally adamant that I would not compromise my child's and my rights to health. This time I asked the Breastfeeding Centre to write a letter of support, explaining the health benefits of breastfeeding, and strongly encouraging my employer to be "family-friendly". I also got a note from my doctor, with her recommendation that I continue breastfeeding, and that my baby needed to travel with me to accommodate this.

Numerous very heated phone calls occurred. (They questioned my commitment to the job, and I questioned their commitment to me as an employee. Because I was their only representative in Saskatchewan, I had some leverage over them). I asserted that if they refused to let me attend they would, in essence, be firing me as I would be unable to do my employment duties without the current product training I would have received.

In the end, the national manager reluctantly agreed for my baby to attend, and I made babysitting arrangements with the hotel (My husband would be working and wouldn't be able to accompany me). Baby and I went, I attended all meetings and scheduled social functions (even after getting food poisoning the first night) and my daughter nursed and slept with me all night, as usual. It was a complete success, I thought. Most of my colleagues had family, and welcomed my daughter. There are many women in my company in their childbearing years, and I thought I had been an example to them. One even spoke regretfully of recently weaning her daughter in order to return to work and fulfill travel commitments. I returned to work in the fall, continuing to nurse and taking my daughter along with me on several local sales trips and to attend displays.

The next conference was in January, when my daughter was 19 months. I began inquiring about the hotel, in order to make my babysitting arrangements, but was unable to get any information from my company. One week before the conference I received a telephone call from my manager, and I was dismissed. No mention was made of my breastfeeding or my daughter - they were "reorganizing" and I would receive a severance package and letter of reference. Until I returned from my maternity leave, my employer and I had never had any major conflicts and all my performance reviews were above average. My position was filled within weeks by a woman whose family was grown up. I considered suing for wrongful dismissal, but I didn't want to win my job back at a company that treated me this way, so I accepted the severance package.

So from this experience I became motivated to make sure other women know breastfeding is not a "lifestyle" choice, but their baby's and their "human rights". I'm determined to use my unique corporate, marketing and work/nursing experiences to make a difference in helping to make ours a breastfeeding culture.

Janice Reynolds