Breastfeeding rights at work - please clarify for me please! I start in 3 days!

OP I think people are being a bit unfair on this. I don't think you are particularly unreasonable - lots of countries do give paid breastfeeding breaks by law. Just because the UK mgiht be behind on this benefit doesn't make your query completely outlandish or outrageously entitled.

For example in Ireland, by law, you are legally entitled to paid breastfeeding breaks at work up until your child’s 2nd birthday.
You can take up to 1 hour (with pay) for an 8 hour working day.

Do you actually need to feed during the day? My baby wouldn’t take a bottle at all and I went back to work at 6 months and he went to nursery. I fed him before I went to work and he was there about 6 hours. I fed him as soon as I picked him up and then later on before bed. My supply adjusted so I wasn’t overloaded during the day and the nursery managed with him having milk out into his foods so he was nourished in those 6 hours. He was a chunky baby so didn’t suffering with this routine.

Here you go.
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/feminism/5419739-bringing-a-newborn-to-university-lectures

And from NCT website:

What are my legal rights around breastfeeding at work?

Before returning to work, it helps to let your employer know in writing that you are breastfeeding. They can then complete a risk assessment and consider whether there are any specific risks to you for as long as you are breastfeeding.

There are few direct risks to breastfeeding but you should seek advice if you work with dangerous substances, such as organic mercury .

Employers are legally required to provide a space for mums who are breastfeeding to lie down and rest if they need to.

There is no legal right, however, for your employer to provide breastfeeding breaks at work. But they must meet their obligations to employees who breastfeed under health and safety law, flexible working law and discrimination law. This means your employer should make sure you don't feel unfairly treated because you are breastfeeding.

Can I express milk for my baby at work?

You should be able to express milk at your workplace if you wish. You can request that your employer provides you with a suitable private space where you can do this.

Guidelines recommend that you have access to a private, clean and comfortable room with a lockable door - not a toilet - in which to express. However, there is no legal obligation for your employer to provide this space.

It's also recommended that you have use of a fridge to store your breast milk.

None of which alters the fact that in the UK there is no legal entitlement to paid breastfeeding breaks.

@carrie3003 “That’s fine, we can look to work your break around that time if that’s ok with you”

Are you sure they don't mean allowing you to breastfeed, and then taking your break immediately after that?

You know, so you're not leaving to breast feed, coming back, and then leaving again for the break. I'm wondering if it's easier and more efficient to simply do the breast feed, and then have the break after that.

So every employer needs to let all children of their employees in to the work place and be expected to pay mothers to look after their own children rather than work. Yes, sad state of affairs that

This is the case in many other civilised countries. Only in the UK we are obsessed with separating the baby from their parents and to get the parents working and paying taxes asap without any consideration given to the wellbeing of the babies.

Surely you express or pump and whoever is doing your childcare does the feed? I may be wrong, but walking into a brand new job and immediately demanding “my baby will be brought to me at 11am” sounds crazy entitled to me.

Sad state of affairs where we put the interest of businesses and grown adults above those of little babies. Not everyone can pump btw.

The reply to your email sounds positive and agreeable, I can’t see anything for you to get so het up about. What comes across from your posts is that you don’t want to go back to work. In which case you need to tell them and withdraw rather than being resentful and combative.

A bit selfish OP, expecting your employers and work colleagues to put up with this. Just pump.

I live in Ireland but thought it might have been similar in the UK. Here, you are entitled to up to 1 hour paid breastfeeding break based on an 8 hour working day (to either BF onsite or pump). This is allowed up until the child turns 2. Part time workers can also avail of these breaks, the time is just calculated based on the hours worked. Aware this is kind of useless information but just sharing to show its not unheard of.

Your work are acting within the law. I have to be honest I've never known anyone have a baby brought to work to be breastfed I'm sure it happens but with most babies being in childcare and work not being on the doorstep it's not really the norm.
I would have found it difficult to breastfeed within such a tight time frame what if your baby is unsettled or doesn't need fed at your break time. Expressing would surely be less stressful for you if possible

We don't actually know it's a group induction. It may be just for her.

The kid's 10 months old. Give it a pouch of Ella's and a bit of Aptamil. Will be reeet.

Right - hope you're okay, OP. I breastfeed and going back to work at 11.5 months, also dreading it. I've never heard of this arrangement though, I thought they were supposed to give you a private space to pump.

Maybe it's me, I work in a school and know realistically there's no way they'll give me the space or time to pump at work on top of my timetable, bringing my baby to me to feed would be out of the question.

What everyone is missing is this is an induction so others on the course. If op misses 30 minutes of the course everyone is hanging around waiting for her and I doubt they’ll be up for unpaid extra break so op can feed/pump. In other scenarios I don’t think you’d have to use the break but surely no one is so entitled they would think the company and other employees have to work around them? It’s great companies are more flexible but give and take so the office needs are also not hugely impacted.

This is from the ACAS website:

Breastfeeding

If you're breastfeeding, you may need to:

• rest
• express milk
• store expressed milk

They're not legally required to provide somewhere for you to express or store milk.

However, it's a good idea for them to provide facilities, such as a private room and a fridge to store the milk.

Read NHS advice on breastfeeding and going back to work

An additional factor in OP's case is that she is starting at a new work place. That means she's building relationships with unknown people and negotiating for additional benefits when she has no track record there. This would be easier if she already had strong links with people who already understood her value to the business. I know the law is the law (the hard factors) but the soft factors count too.

I know you said you are on a zero hour contract but how many hours roughly are you expecting to work per week? If you are only part time I think your baby should manage without the milk a few days a week if it's only a six-seven hour shift. (Speaking from experience but I only work part time maybe it would be different if you are expecting to work 40 hours per week).

That doesn't mean they have to allow that. That means they choose to go above and beyond.

I work in hospitality, 6 hour shifts are standard and you don't get a break at all. If a woman is pumping/feeding she can take an unpaid break to do so, then back to work. If she wasn't breastfeeding there'd be no break at all, so definitely not two breaks allowed.

Lots of employers are better than mine, obviously. But that doesn't mean mine is doing anything wrong or unreasonable.

Your employer is being petty and it’s also sad to see other women on here telling you that you’re acting entitled. God forbid a woman want to breastfeed her child. It is the norm in many many civilised countries for women to get an extra hour per day for breastfeeding up to the child being 2 (and some countries even longer!). In Ireland you get a full paid extra hour for breastfeeding up to two years for example.

Totally agree. She’s taking the mick, mick!

I work for a local authority - if you need to express breastmilk or have your baby brought in to feed then you can do that whenever. You don’t need to use your “break” or make up the time.