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

[carrie3003]

Returning to work part time after 10.5 months mat leave. Breastfeeding.

It is a new job (bank hours so 0 hour contract I can work when I like). Not worked there before.

First shift and induction is on Friday morning for 6 hours - a 20 minute break.

I have emailed and said my baby will be brought to me around 10/11am for a feed. (I read online that you need to tell your employer in writing you’re breastfeeding so that’s why I emailed)

They have just emailed back:

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

I don’t have to use my break for this do I?
Surely as a breastfeeding mother I am entitled to my full break for me and a 10 minute breastfeeding “break” for my baby?
They can’t make me use my break to breastfeed can they?

What do I reply? It’s really shocked me as I thought she would just reply saying “yeah that’s fine”

Please tell me I’m not mad. AIBU? I need clarification on my rights and what to say back.

Not keen on returning to work as it is and now this has pushed me even more to just not go!

Thank you in advance lovely ladies xx

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Ask La Leche league, they will know the law.

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

Honestly OP your entitlement is off the scale.

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

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

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.

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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.

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.

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.

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Sorry I think YABU OP.

Firstly they are not entitled to give you extra time to breastfeed.

Secondly personally I already think they are being pretty flexible allowing your baby to be bought to you, in the workplace "around 10/11" to breast feed. Most workplaces allow you a private place to pump but is it a legal right to have the baby bought into you?
Genuinely I dont know the answer to that one...

Your post comes across as very entitled OP. The majority of us didn't want to return to work and I dont see how they have been unreasonable at all.

Its a workplace. There are rules and times when they expect people to be working.

But they're not saying that you can't feed your baby for 5/10 mins, they're saying you absolutely can, and they're being flexible with your break timings in order to accommodate it.

Your employer has to provide a private space for you to express or breastfeed.

They also have to provide adequate storage facilities for the breast milk expressed.

They do not have to provide paid breaks to facilitate it.

If your baby is being brought to you, they should conduct a risk assessment.

It’s not going to be 5 minutes. It will be minimum 30 minutes each time you want to feed by the time you’ve finished what you’re doing, left, said hello, fed, said goodbye, gone back to work, etc. It’s a bit entitled to expect an employer to enable this for you. Especially when you’re on a bank contract… just do what everyone else does and pump, or just feed before and after work. As others have said, you’re entitled to have a space and time to express if you want to, but not to be paid for the time required.

OP - speak to your employer. If you don’t ask for an extra break - which you will
make up for at the end of the shift - then they cannot say yes or no.

might be easier to phone them and have a conversation rather than over email.

then confirm the agreement via email so it is documented.

likely will only be required for a few weeks or months anyway.

You are very lucky to live so nearby! Will make the transition so much easier.

good luck.

You’re only there for 6 hours. What’s the problem with using a bit of yr break? That Sounds reasonable to me