Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

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

Need a little perspective please re milk in fridge at work.......

29 replies

BCLass · 15/05/2009 17:16

So, DD 7mo, back at work 6 hrs a day, 4 days a week.

Partners have arranged for me to have a room to pump in if need be and to keep milk in the fridge until I go home. Have been very accommodating and lovely.

So for the first time on Wed I pumped and put milk on the top shelf of the freezer. I made a little sign which I stuck to the door saying 'The milk on the top shelf of this freezer is breastmilk. Do not use!' I thought this was polite and courteous.

Today one of the partners (and if you are a mumsnetter please don't out me!) said she had removed the sign because there had been comments about it - to which in my gob smacked state I replied 'oh, boys are so silly!' but apparently it was 'not only' 'boys who complained but also some women!

I am just baffled that the people that I work with, who I always thought were lovely and considered pretty much all of them friends, would actually be so peturbed by 3oz of breastmilk in the freezer that more than one of them actually went to the partner and complained! I don't know who, she wouldn't tell.

Apparently, it's ok to keep milk in there, but not to have a sign, because some people are 'squemish'. I thought H&S-wise we would be better with a sign, but hey ho.

And, dd won't even take a bloody bottle (or cup), so ATM am donating it local milk bank - to save baby lives, people. Kind of important.

Have various revenge scenarios running through head, but have so far managed to resist.

I am just feeling unreasonably upset by this I think. Or am I? Should I do anything?

Sorry for ramble, just wanted to get it down as therapy!

OP posts:
wilkos · 15/05/2009 17:19

god the pettiness of some people is just incredible
i am massively on your behalf

SoupDragon · 15/05/2009 17:20

It doesn't really matter though doies it? You have a room to express in and you can put it in the fridge [shrug]

SoupDragon · 15/05/2009 17:21

What is there to be angry about?? It was a sign, not the milk.

3littlefrogs · 15/05/2009 17:23

Just label the bottle.

Original poster
BCLass · 15/05/2009 17:24

I know SoupDragon, that's what I keep telling myself, but then I start thinking - but, but, but.......

...and why I think I need to get some perspective.

But I keep looking at everyone thinking, was it you??

OP posts:
MrsHappy · 15/05/2009 17:25

I don't know what I think about your colleagues. I do know that some people find the thought of breastmilk quite icky, and stupid though that seems to lots of us who have children, it's the way it is.

But I know that I raised the odd eyebrow when a woman I worked with was storing breastmilk in the work fridge. This was not because it was breastmilk but because, well, some people are idiots, and I would worry about them touching my pump/anything sterile/the milk. Do you have your own room or room for a mini-fridge by your work station? Alternatively if there is a fridge where people can keep medicines (first aid room?) that might be a safer place to keep the milk.

Original poster
BCLass · 15/05/2009 17:26

Bottle labelled anyway with NNU label, just thought I was being helpful with additional label....

OP posts:
Wonderstuff · 15/05/2009 17:26

I think some seemingly balanced and rational people go to pieces when hearing (or seeing) the word breast. I can't explain it, it is very strange, but I wouldn't get upset. They don't have a problem with you, or what you are doing, they just have their own ishoos.
I had a parents evening when my lo was quite tiny and forgot my pump, luckily some kind soul volunteered to take me home to pick it up (no car) any how, long story short she was explaining situation to a couple of people and was unable to say the word 'breastpump' with out going red and wispering, I pointed out it wasn't a rude word, was very strange the things people get embarressed about.

skidoodle · 15/05/2009 17:30

What there is to be angry about is that her colleagues complained to her boss about the fact that she put a sign on the fridge to let them know there was breastmilk in there.

Not a single one of them even had the courtesy or courage to ask her to remove the sign themselves, which IMO just shows they know they are being ridiculous and unreasonable but are still prepared to take it out on their colleague.

Personally I think a sign on the door of the fridge was probably a bit unnecessary. Was anybody really likely to drink milk in a weird bottle that didn't belong to them (assuming you don't store your EBM in an used tetra-pak )

This is not an issue that needed a boss's input. The colleague or colleagues should have just said something like "OK BC, we've got the message now, you can take the sign off the fridge door."

Original poster
BCLass · 15/05/2009 17:30

MrsH I am kind of worried that they may tamper with it - there is a second fridge freezer I intended to use (which is not in the staff canteen) but seems to be broken ATM...

OP posts:
SusieDerkins · 15/05/2009 17:32

Some people are "squeamish" about breastmilk/breastfeeding etc and are very uncomfortable about it. It's just how they are - they probably don't have kids etc etc.

I really wouldn't worry about it, it really truly doesn't matter.

skidoodle · 15/05/2009 17:33

You think they would tamper with it?

Surely not!?

What kind of people do you work with that would tamper with somebody else's breastmilk?

Original poster
BCLass · 15/05/2009 17:34

skidoodle - in the fridge is whole milk, semi-skimmed, skimmed and soya - not beyond the realms of possibility that someone might use my gold top

OP posts:
Original poster
BCLass · 15/05/2009 17:36

Skidoodle - well, I hope not, but then I didn't think they were the kind of people who would complain about a sign.

I don't think they would be malicious, but it could be removed and the top taken off, peering in, that kind of thing....

OP posts:
MrsWeasley · 15/05/2009 17:38

I would write a note saying

"sorry I offended some of you with my naturally produced milk. As my DC will only drink from the real thing I am donating this milk to help save the lives of poorly newborn babies. So please dont touch it!"

That should shame them!

Original poster
BCLass · 15/05/2009 17:40

MrsW - was one of my revenge scenarios actually.....

OP posts:
MrsWeasley · 15/05/2009 17:42

Great minds etc

SoupDragon · 15/05/2009 17:46

If they'd removed the sign themselves the OP would have been on here being irrationally angry about the fact they'd dared remove the sign.

They haven't complained about the milk being in there, they've "made comments" about the sign.

It's just a sign! They've not complained about/ made her stop expressing at work have they?? That would be worth getting angry about. A sign though? Not worth wasting any energy on.

Chulita · 15/05/2009 17:49

I second MrsW's idea and I think it's rubbish that they couldn't have come and at least whispered their disgust to you rather than taking it to the boss. Maybe 'mammary gland secretions' would have been a less offensive label?

claireybee · 15/05/2009 18:02

I would be worried about storing it there tbh. I stayed at a friend's house recently for a big get together, most people there were ewww at the sight of my breastmilk in the fridge but one of my friend's dh's was very interested and took the top off to peer at it, sniff it etc. Later on a couple of them tasted it (swigging from the bottle). They aren't especially immature normally...

Picante · 15/05/2009 18:06

Two things... why is it in the freezer part not the fridge, and secondly you know it's fine at room temp for up to 10 hours - can't you just keep it with you?

FWIW I think it's awful just trying to find a better solution.

sachertorte · 15/05/2009 18:14

A sad story OP.. think it´s best forgotten. The reaction has got nothing to do with you personally, everything to do with how people respond to bfeeding and anything to do with it.

pointydog · 15/05/2009 18:17

just label the milk.

Communal fridges always cause discord

DitaVonCheese · 15/05/2009 19:26

Actually that sign could be read in different tones of voice - the word "please" might have made it more obvious which tone you meant

I agree with the other posters that some people are just squeamish. I always felt a bit odd leaving a bottle of obvious breastmilk in my own fridge when we had people visiting. My cousin, who is extremely nice (and now pregnant herself) told me that she was upset by one of her colleagues carrying her expressed milk through their office and felt it should be in a paper bag or something (in a bottle, obviously). It is a bodily fluid after all.

But really, don't worry about it They'll be begging you to put the sign back on after the first person has tipped it into their tea by mistake ...

Hope your return to work is going well.

Tinker · 15/05/2009 19:32

Can you not just keep it in a small cool bag to keep it safe?.

Swipe left for the next trending thread