Hi, I'm going into work tomorrow to discuss altering my shifts a bit when I go back to work in a few months time. I currently work for 8 or 9 hours at different times of day, but as I'm breastfeeding, I really can't leave my baby for longer than 6 or 7 hours without milk. She will be about 10 months old when I go back. She is eating proper food reasonably well, but is still on several milk feeds per day & night.
I can't express & she won't take a bottle. Plus the fact I really want to continue breastfeeing & dont want to give formula. Does anyone know what my rights actually are? All I can find is the stuff about giving women a clean & private place to express & somewhere to store expressed milk. Nothing about flexibility of hours for mothers who exclusively breastfeed.
In an ideal world, I'd like to do 6 hour shifts, in order to get back to feed her. Financially it's doable, & my husband is fully supportive. I'm really nervous about discussing it though, & I feel really emotional about it. My workplace is full of women, & they're are incredibly unsupportive of other women it seems. I've been there several years & haven't once felt supported in my job, let alone in a personal matter such as this. I get the impression they'll be shocked I'm even breastfeeding (they haven't been in contact at all since I went on mat leave), & will just say "give her a bottle".
I really hope they surprise me by being wonderful about the whole thing, but I could do with some advice on how to handle what I think they might throw at me...any help would be hugely appreciated. I'm getting all anxious as I type this. I'm such a wuss!
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Breastfeeding & going back to work...my rights...
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JenniferAnistonsHair · 08/01/2016 21:00
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