Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

Original poster

Working from home, breastfeeding, zoom meetings

274 replies

jadelou85 · 30/09/2021 17:19

Since the lockdowns my company has set thing up to allow most of us to work from home so my whole return to work hasn't been the wrench / challenge that I thought it would be. We do have a lot of zoom meetings and to start with everyone including my boss was fine if I dropped out of meetings if I needed to feed. I still had the feeling some people thought I was using it as an excuse so a few weeks ago I just told my boss I needed to feed but I was OK to carry on with our meeting. I managed to be discreet and was pretty chuffed with myself until right at the end I had a mssive slip-up becuase I was paying more attention to the meeting than what I was doing. I probably wouldn't have attempted it again after that but since that day I've felt more and more pressure to 'just get on with it' and take the multi-tasking approach. He hasn't been direct about it but my boss has made more than one comment along these lines even though he was always fine with me dropping our occasionally before. I literally feel I'm being pressured into now and I don't know how to deal with it. I feel lucky to be allowed to work from home but it feels a bit like an ultimatum like stay on meetings if you need to BF or come back to the office. Can someone help me put this in perspective and even better suggest how to deal with it or how to approach the subject without it being any more uncomfortable than it needs to be?

OP posts:
AssassinatedBeauty · 30/09/2021 17:21

I'm unsure what your work set up is. Who is caring for the baby between feeds, whilst you work?

PurBal · 30/09/2021 17:21

Are you working or looking after LO? You can’t really do both. If you were in the office would you be BF? Or would you arrange alternate childcare?

Patapouf · 30/09/2021 17:24

How old is baby? Are they eating solids too yet? If so can they stretch the time between BF with a food snack? I think it's very difficult to WFH with a baby and I wouldn't expect any employer to allow me to care for an infant and work at the same time.

If the baby is just with you for a feed and then back in the care of someone else I guess that's okay, but only if you can multitask and keep baby latched and still focus on the meeting.

EasterIssland · 30/09/2021 17:26

@PurBal

Are you working or looking after LO? You can’t really do both. If you were in the office would you be BF? Or would you arrange alternate childcare?
this, im still bf after 3.5years but I've never bf whilst in the middle of a meeting, I'd not pay attention to the meeting nor to my child. Even If we're both wfh my child goes to nursery as they'd not get quality time nor we'd be give the best of ourselves for our job.

are you home alone with the child?

FawnFrenchieMum · 30/09/2021 17:26

Have you officially returned to work (but from home) or are these keeping in touch days / meetings you’ve joined to keep up to date?

Who is caring for the baby while you are working?

SleepingStandingUp · 30/09/2021 17:28

You say return to work so is it safe to assume baby is 6 months plus? Who has her whilst you work? How often does she feed vs how often do you have meetings?

Honestly I'd just turn the camera off so no worries about flashing your breasts to Dave from Accounts and get on with it. Surely it can't be happening every meeting?

DynastyBarry · 30/09/2021 17:30

Can you not express so the your baby can be fed by the person looking after them?

I find it odd to be working and feeding,you wouldn't do it in the office during a meeting.

I had time out at work to express and store but again, it didn't interfere with meetings or anything else important.

CottonSock · 30/09/2021 17:31

I don't think I'd like this as a line manager, but that's probably discrimination. I'd be thinking about how much time you were with baby and not working. I assume the baby has another carer though.

Wriggleon · 30/09/2021 17:31

You can't work from home and look after your baby. If someone else is caring for her, it should be in your breaks and not during meetings you are feeding her.

Severntrent · 30/09/2021 17:34

I think I'd agree with your boss, you're either working or looking after your baby. People taking a lot of breaks for whatever reason doesn't really work long term.
To put it in perspective most people put their baby in childcare once they go back to work.
Is your dh looking after the baby when you're not feeding?

Lazypuppy · 30/09/2021 17:34

You should only be stepping away from work during breaks.

AssassinatedBeauty · 30/09/2021 17:35

Assuming that someone else is looking after the baby in your home whilst you're working, then I can see why it's appealing to continue to breastfeed as you were before starting back at work. Fine when you can fit in around your own work tasks and can make up the time later, but if it coincides with meetings then I would think you'd need to check with your line manager if you're ok to do the occasional meeting with video off.

doadeer · 30/09/2021 17:36

I have my own business and worked around my son regularly but I wouldnt breastfeed on a work call I would save calls for when he slept. I don't think you can do this. Are you working full time? It's not clear what your set up is

SparkyBlue · 30/09/2021 17:37

You shouldn't be looking after a baby while working.

Ginger1982 · 30/09/2021 17:37

You can't work full time and look after a child.

dancingdolphinsagain · 30/09/2021 17:39

Unless you have extenuating circumstances that day (nursery closed/child off ill) then I don't see why you would need to do this at all. Surely if you're working you have childcare in place?

Floralnomad · 30/09/2021 17:42

You shouldn’t be looking after your child during the working day so this isn’t really an issue .

SylvanasWindrunner · 30/09/2021 17:47

How old is your baby? I wouldn't be breastfeeding during meetings. I think it's a bit unprofessional to do any sort of childcare during meetings when you're back at work, regardless of whether it's breastfeeding or not. Presumably you have a lot of time during the day when you aren't on meetings, so you shouldn't have a problem feeding around meetings, surely?

Who is looking after your baby while you're working?

Original poster
jadelou85 · 30/09/2021 18:26

@dancingdolphinsagain

Unless you have extenuating circumstances that day (nursery closed/child off ill) then I don't see why you would need to do this at all. Surely if you're working you have childcare in place?
Yes, I do. Well done Sherlock.
OP posts:
Original poster
jadelou85 · 30/09/2021 18:30

@AssassinatedBeauty

I'm unsure what your work set up is. Who is caring for the baby between feeds, whilst you work?
Why do you want to know?
OP posts:
dancingdolphinsagain · 30/09/2021 18:32

So rude Grin. My point is there is zero reason to feed during meetings. If baby wants feeding then you should have expressed so that your nanny/whoever can give that. I breastfed until both mine were well over a year and work from home and I've never fed during a meeting.

If your manager is ok with it just turn your camera off Hmm

dancingdolphinsagain · 30/09/2021 18:33

And as it seems they aren't then you do just have to 'get on with it' as you're at work!

doadeer · 30/09/2021 18:35

If my baby was sick and it was a one off I just wouldn't have video on or I would reschedule to when they slept

dreamkitchenhelp · 30/09/2021 18:37

You shouldn't be feeding during work hours if you are back to work.
You should have childcare in place.

One off and emergencies are fine. But if you were working for me I would expect you to have your childcare in place. including arrangements for feeding your child.

Zarene · 30/09/2021 18:37

People want to know who's looking after the baby because it affects the answer.

If you're trying to look after a baby yourself and WFH, then there are myriad reasons your colleagues are getting pissy, it's just that BFing is the visible one.

If someone else is, and they're just hanging you a hungry baby that's different.

I've fed on lots of work zoom calls, and it's always been fine. But I'm always focused on work -for me the joy of BFing is that the baby doesn't care how focused you are on them, as long as they have a nipple in their mouth. It's a brilliant way to multitask!