Help! How can i continue Bf and return to work if I work shifts??

[KnockedUpMell]

I go back to work in March when DS will be almost a year. We struggled with bf initially, but its now so easy i dont want it to stop. I'm not too worried about the daytime when i go back to work as he doesn't feed much during the day anyway, but he still feeds all night. What are my rights with returning to work? Can I say no night shifts? I am assuming I will be able to express and store milk there if I'm doing a long day. Do I need a cooler bag for taking the milk home?
:(
Don't want to leave my baby, but will have to repay mat pay if I don't go back for at least 3 months...

There is no harm in asking if you can go onto days only. You have the right to ask for flexibility but your employer does not have to grant it. Legally they have to give it serious consideration according to this website, have a read. Personally I feel that often you get the best response if you just go in and ask rather than take the line "it's my right".

You haven't said what you do. Your rights will vary greatly depending on what you do and your own obligations. I had to inform my employer that I was BF and they were supposed to organise a private room where I could do this and offer me a fridge to keep it in. In actual fact they offered me my bosses very messy office without asking her and I put my milk in the same fridge everyone else used. I had my own cooler bag with those blue ice block things in it that kept prying eyes away from it. I expressed in my own classroom in the end but after a while I just gave up. My employer wasn't interested in making it easy for me and I was exhausted trying to keep up. For a short while I expressed immediately after work and when all that was too much I gave up completely and let my DD have formula during the day. She has half a bottle of formula a day.

I hope I was of some help. Good luck!

hi, your situation sounds similar to mine, when i went back to work after having dd and i guess will be the same after i have had this one.
as catherine said, you are entitled to ask for flexible working (check the policy) and they have to seriously consider it and give good reasons why they won't, but they do not HAVE to grant it. that said if you work for the nhs they are actually pretty good about that kind of thing.

i went back onto nights as dd had most of her feeds during the day and i did them split (it nearly killed me! ) but it meant that if she woke up dh only had to battle a bottle for one feed and if she didn't go back to sleep they were only disrupted for one night at a time. she was only 7 months (i only had 6 months mat leave and took a months holiday), so she was still very dependent on her breastfeeds.

if your dc feeds more at night then perhaps day shift is a better option for you, and consider doing them split rather than together so that he and whoever is looking after him only has one disrupted day rather than a few. if you offer to be flexible and are seen to be being reasonable on which days they are, then they have less of a case to deny you your requests iyswim. also, tell them that you anticipate that it is only till dc stops bf (if that is your intention) as it lets them know that what you are requesting has an endpoint.

iirc, they ARE obliged to provide privacy to express and somewhere to store it. if you can get your ds to take a bottle then that is also a huge help, try a sippy cup too. dd completely refused, despite much effort on our part, to take a bottle or a sippy hence 'battling bottles' and stress 'disruption' for us, even though it was ebm.

hth

Hi there,

I'm having a similar problem at the moment - see my thread here. Some great advice on there.

I'd recommend phoning both Maternity Action and Working Families to get advice. I don't think a flexible working request is appropriate here as they normally apply to permanent changes. Your rights and your employer's obligations fall under health and safety legislation.

One of the leaflets linked on my thread (can't remember which sorry!), specifically refers to night workers.

Hope that helps and good luck.

Thanks for the replies!

I just realised yesterday that my frozen milk has gone off! Am now concerned that expressing will not be an option...

missing your idea of splitting nights is brilliant. I hadn't thought of it. I think I'll also suggest that DH works from home the first couple of times I do nights. (ATM I do all the night time care as DS is in bed with us and feeds in his sleep)

1catherine I suspect that there won't be a room or a fridge provided... But i am almost embarrassed to ask as it feels as if DS is at an age where he would be perceived as not needing bf... (I will ask of course as am quite rapidly developing a thick skin post DS)

moogdroog will look at that thread now!