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

Using your break or making the time up at the end of the day is perfectly reasonable. I'm surprised you thought an employer would pay you to breast feed your baby.

I went back to work part time and BF my 9 month old in the morning and in the evening/ at night. No expressing or pumping, DC was fine.

Yes you will have to use your break. Or take an unpaid break.

how old is your baby?

my personal experience with a 10mo and later with a 5mo was that quite quickly we (me and them) did not require the breastfeeding / pumping break during the working day.

10mo - I pumped for the first week and then didn’t bother. (I was away from baby from 8am until 7pm for 3 days a week)
5mo - baby came to me to be bf over my lunch break for 6 weeks. And then we stopped it. I didn’t pump. I was again out of the house and away from baby 8am until 7 but this time it started at 3 days a week and increased to 5 days a week after a few months.

both kids breastfed beyond 2years so this didn’t interrupt our bf journey.

so try it for the first few weeks and see where you end up.

but sadly you do not get paid bf breaks. So factor it into your plans.

enjoy the return to work.

👀🤦🏾‍♀️🤣

This is almost as bad as that thread a few years ago from a woman returning to work after maternity and only going back part time. When she saw her new pay, she was furious and kept saying that they were legally required to pay her the same as before she went on maternity. She could not understand that previously she had worked full time, so got full time pay and when she went back part time, she was paid pro-rata for her new hours - same pay per hour. But she was adamant that they had to pay her the same amount despite working fewer hours, due to maternity protections.

I learn something new every day. Who has the pleasure of bringing the baby to you, so you don't have to pump?

I think using your break is perfectly reasonable. It’s not an entitlement to use company time to breastfeed. Why not just pump?

No you can breastfeed your baby with no problem whatsoever - just on your own time.

Honestly OP your entitlement is off the scale.

Ask La Leche league, they will know the law.

Who told you that you were entitled to breastfeeding breaks in addition to your work break?

They have to give you somewhere private to do it, but you have to fit it in around your breaks. You don’t get extra time.

Your boss had no idea how long it will take you to feed your baby. I had friends who'd take half an hour over it even at your baby's age. So why on earth would they give you carte blanche to stop working and feed whenever you want (with, presumably, someone having to cover for you)?

I would never have expected this, and to be honest, a boss that allows your baby into the workplace to be fed, and will arrange your break around it is a pretty good boss. I've never come across that before.

Employers need to know when mothers returning to work are breastfeeding as they have a duty to provide a suitable place for you to pump. The reality, harsh though it may be, is that if a woman needs or wants to go back to work, she has to make arrangements for her baby to be looked after by someone else. If you need this job, please tread carefully and show that when you are at work, work is your priority. If you feed your baby before you go to work and before he/she goes to sleep, your milk supply will adjust.

Exactly this. Have you expressly said you’d like to take 10 minutes to feed and will stay 10 minutes longer to accommodate this.

It also depends so much on your job as to whether that would be feasible.

I returned to work at 10 months and 9 months pp and had to pump at least once per day until they were 12+ months and unless I did this on my lunch break I assumed I would make up the time. Sometimes there was no appropriate space to feed and as that was a requirement I wouldn’t make up the time waiting as that is their duty.

It’s not going to be an issue for long either way.

I returned to work when baby was 9 months, CMPA so drank only my breastmilk with me excluding from my diet. Needed milk for first couple of months so I used to cycle to the nursery during my lunch break to breastfeed as wouldn't take expressed milk from a bottle or cup. Feed baby for my lunchbreak, cycle back and eat my lunch at my desk while working. Then they got better with the solids and water and were happier just to feed at home and overnight. Its hard work, but a short phase.

At this age your baby should only be having milk morning and night with solids and water in between. You need to wean off the milk

your employers sound flexible but you’re being unreasonable to expect to do this at a whim

Def not entitled to extra paid breaks to feed your baby. Also won’t your baby coming into work make the transition to going back to work harder for you and them? You’ll be saying goodbye twice a day. Also v disruptive for the nanny or whoever is bringing them in to you. Plus What if they’re starving and you’re in a meeting - do you just up and leave? I think it’s easier to keep work and baby as separate as you can. It’s a hard enough adjustment as it is.

No there isn’t a legal right to paid breaks for breastfeeding, it sounds like they’re trying to work with you on this. Perhaps clarify with them whether you still just get your 20 minute break or whether you’ll get a few minutes extra or whether you can split your break if too early for lunch for you?
I had my baby brought in for me when did some KIT days when they were still on just milk 4-5 months and wouldn’t take a bottle so did very much need feeding at least 4 hourly. Returned to work properly at 12 months and by then was fine as would eat solids and take water from a beaker. DC would normally feed 3-4 hourly still during the day so does become quite distressed after about 10 hours so just makes longer shifts difficult

I would talk to them. Explain that you would prefer to take your break in addition, and you are happy to make up the time from feeding your child. They don’t know that if you don’t tell them. Sounds like they are reasonable and flexible from the response you have had so far.

I think they’ve been fairly flexible to be fair. 10-11 is quite a broad time frame.

It's things like this that make it difficult for women to be taken seriously when they return to work from maternity leave. It's very entitled to think that you'd be paid to breast feed your baby. Your baby is on solid food now and isn't dependent on your breast milk.

I only breastfed my second, but returned at 7 months, baby in full time nursery. She wouldn't take the pumped milk and made up for it all evening and night instead. I just got hands free pumps like elvies and carried on working - but im laptop and remote based so it affected no one.

Like pp, the vast majority of employers are not going to pay you to feed your baby on top of your legally required breaks. It would be nice, but they're willing to move break times for you. Its a horrific work world at the moment though.

You’re unreasonable to expect extra breaks, yes. And no legal right to this whatsoever.

I've never heard of this. I'd be surprised if any uk employer would agree to essentially unlimited paid breaks. Especially during a 6 hour shift.

If you are UK based, they are acting within the law and indeed being flexible. They should do a risk assessment and provide somewhere suitable for you to express/feed but this can be in your scheduled breaks. I think it's fairly good they seem to be flexible about the timing. You can eat whilst baby eats. What job are you doing?