Workplaces going to be urged for private Breastfeeding areas

[HermyaAndThePomBears]

Here!

The government are going to give mothers the right to Brestfeed at work.

I don't know about anybody else, but I think this is great news.

ISNT my work is like that, unfortunately if you have a long line of saps, stepping over each other to get in the door, why the hell should they care?.

The only employers who care for there staff and want to make them happy rather then do things on the cheap and chuck em out when they get miserable and start fighting back, are ones that require specialist knowledge or training in the field.

your bog standard independent shop, small basic office work office etc who isn't too fussed about experience etc (I.E normally the first foot in the door for anyone) will be keeping it in the back of there mind filed along side long maternity leave when taking on woman, because lets face it its all heaped on the mother.

EXACTLY!!! We are talking about perhaps an hour a day at most for a limited amount of time. Six months of expressing maybe?

Mothers are not going to sit there expressing for some wonderful need of their own - they are doing it for their baby's health. And therefore that saves money - both to the employer because parents will have to take less time off work and the NHS as that baby (and that mother) will statistically be less ill. Breastfeeding saves money and promotes good health. It is in everyones interest.

What percentage of women are breastfeeding by 9 months - 15% ish I think? What percentage of those women go back to work at this time....lets say 5%. How many of those mothers never give formula so will want to express? What percentage work in an industry that works to the book and she will actually have time off to do this (rather than in a position like mine where I just make the time up anyway). What percentage of those babies will actually take a bottle? I reckon we are down to less than about 1% of mothers - it is hardly going to collapse industry!

Many will be in the situation where they are still breastfeeding but their baby does not take a bottle or they give it formula during the day anyway. They might want 10 minutes to express a bit off for comfort.

In reality I dont think this will affect hardly anyone. What it might do is make breastfeeding more normal.

so we're comparing a breastfeeding mother with someone with a disability now are we? and the need to accommodate?

okaaay.

Well firstly the profoundly deaf man did not choose to be disabled - he was presumably born that way/became disabled in later life. Compare that to the breastfeeding woman that chooses to breastfeed beyond the point she goes back to work (and yes, it is a choice, as there are alternatives available in the form of expressing at home/giving formula if that is what she chooses).

Secondly the profoundly deaf man will have come through a lot of adversity/discrimination to get to where he is today, and have encountered a lot of attitudes from people not wanting him to speak/not wanting to accommodate his disability. Legally employers are not allowed to discriminate against people on the basis of disability, but they still do so on a regular basis. It is highly likely that the profoundly deaf man was turned down a number of dozens of times before he was successful in gainint employment.

Thirdly any adaptations to accommodate this man's needs will have been paid for by the government's access to work scheme which allows for the funding of equipment/help etc to enable disabled people to obtain and remain in employment. Failure to do so would almost certainlly result in the number of disabled people being employed being less than it already is (as it is 85% of the disabled are unemployed) as employers simply wouldn't be able (in the case of smaller businesses) or willing (in the case of many larger businesses, although I do know of some who are accommodating) to afford the adaptations that are often required in order to enable a person with a disability to work effectively. I don't imagine somehow that the government is going to be funding changes required to premises to enable expressing/breastfeeding, so any costs (space etc) will need to be met by the employers.

That's rubbish ryoko.

People who are happy in their work and appreciate their employers do a better job wherever they are on the pay scale, and that brings profit.

A cheerful friendly shop assistant will garner more repeat business than an unhelpful miserable one.

A demotivated admin person who doesn't give a stuff about the company will do things in a half-arsed manner, storing up problems for the future, not bother contributing with eg how to improve things, and be unhelpful and possibly obstructive (so as to avoid attracting additional work and because they don't give a monkeys).

I have seen it time and time again.

wannabe you haven't read the article that the op has linked to it seems, looking at your comments about costs and so on.

I am intrigued to hear that women as a group, and mothers, are not discriminated against in the workplace though.

No, wannabe - we are not comparing disability with bf. You know, surely, I did not mean that, and in fact I said it.....you wilfully choose to ignore what it said.

To spell it out: We are asking that people accommodate needs of people whose work day is not 'standard' and that this might mean putting ourselves out a little bit.

The cost of employing 2 interpreters for a day to support the deaf speaker will be supported by the government in one way or another - that's yours and my taxes. Good. I want to see my taxes used in this way.

Similarly, I will be quite happy to put myself out a little bit by accepting that someone in my workplace takes a little time off each day to express for the sake of her baby's health and her own well-being, for a short period of time.

I think my employer should pay for a small fridge and a chair for her, but I don't think that's too much to ask.

Blimey. The spelling-out of simple arguments on mumsnet sometimes is beyond a joke.

You need to come to my work place you really do, they don't care, plenty to replace you when your targets start dropping, not that they would know or care why they are dropping, management are in a different building half an hour up the road looking at statistics on a PC.

When they do show up they come out with lovely things like "you could get a job in Tesco" etc obviously that doesn't go down well.

Man the benefit of having an endless supply of saps, (most of em last 3-6 months before they bugger off).

they think we are all slackers and scum, so they treat us as such, so we behave as such with some people coming out with epic out busts on the way out which would only cement managements view, the circle is complete.

You need to get a different job ryoko.

I hear that tescos are very good employers TBH, if the pay was similar between your place and there I'd be moving.

No it's less, I know I need a new job, not working at all at the moment anyway, there isn't any night work at the moment and most employers in that industry are outside of London.

I love the industry I'm in, don't really want to work for a different industry.

Professionals will not be affected, work places will make allowances, tea girl work will more likely go to tea boys if more money/time/space may be required for them.

I'm looking for a new job as well, there is sod all out there (no matter what the govt tells us)...

Good luck with finding something that fits for you Ryoko

I cannot believe some of the attitudes on this thread.

What a lot of people are doing is using men as a reference point. Of course men won't take expressing breaks but our right to be in the workplace is every bit as valid as theirs and we should be in the workplace on our own terms. And if we do WOTH, our babies have an equal right to breastmilk as the babies of a SAHM. You can choose to use formula if you want but why should you have to? We have pumps, we have fridges, why anyone would make a big issue of a short extra break is beyond me. All the time I was expressing, I managed to express and eat lunch at the same time and totalled 60 minutes per day to do both. Which is a normal lunch break for a lot of employees. In fact I could have done it in 30 minutes total but my boss was nice enough to just give me the extra time.

Just because we want to be equal to men doesn't mean we have to be the same as men.
Jeez, think of all the sick time taken by men with man-flu.

In Spain we have extra days with our maternity leave for breast feeding. I take mine at the end of my maternity in whole extra days off, I think it comes to about 14 days But you can take so many mins a day. If you want to feed at the begininng or the end of the working day you get half an hour. If you go home in the middle of the day to feed you get an extra hour. But in Spain we only get 4 months maternity pay, on full pay. After that nothing. I seem to be very unusual among my collegues, with DD1 I had 7 months off, this time, I am planning on having the same. All my collegues tend to go back after 4 months.

Haven't read the thread yet and I've only seen this story in my parents' Daily Mail.

I don't see what the fuss is about. I thought we had the right to request these things already - I know I do. What's the difference between expressing milk for a baby and feeding the baby directly if someone can bring him/her to you? I don't get why there is such a fuss. It's a great thing, if indeed it is anything new. Costs to employers? Threatening jobs? Parp.

And one more thought. Smoking breaks. I rest my case.

I am appalled by some peoples attitudes on this thread and frankly really surprised and disappointed.

Why not just say 'well we don't get a lunch break so why should anyone else. Let's repeal that piece of legalisation'.

I always think of these things as karma. Mat leave is used to the benefit of the father as well as the mother. When your children have kids, what facilities would you want in place for them. OK you might not see the benefits of something and feel jealous and put out, but trust that somewhere along the line you will reap some benefit.

and as for the comments saying it's a choice between BF or returning to work. So being able to provide for your family means to have to give them a inferior product. Would you rather they claim money and benefits for not working as opposed to working 20 mins less than you.

hear hear chipmonkey

I have yet to see anyone up in arms about the men who march off bogwards with their newspaper tucked under their arm at the same time every day, not to be seen again for an hour.

chica that is a lovely idea. Do they check in any way that you are actually breastfeeding?

So many of these things seem to be targeted at the woman. If a woman is pregnant she is growing a baby for the man and the woman. It is just her biologically that needs the time off. If she is in a relationship her partner benefits from the maternity leave and maternity pay too...otherwise he would be fully supporting her wouldnt he.

Breastfeeding is about the baby not the mother. The mother is doing it for the baby - yes she physically has to do it but it is for the baby's health.

And society peppa.

People who say it's a lifestyle choice... What if all of the women thought "fuck this for a laugh" and decided not to reproduce. Would that be fine? No. We need women to have children to keep everything going.

Climber- exactly; women aren;t the only aprents; men are too.

Men benefit from maternity leave and childcare / antenatal / etc.

Dh took flexible working up in his last job- first man working for them to do so, but he did and got it.

Instead of trying to be men when it comes to child rearing etc, maybe we should be saying Oi, you're parents too instead?

Too hell with bf

I'll tell you what really makes me angry

All those slackers poncing off for their 'loo breaks'

FFS

Can they not just wear a nappy and cack themselves at their desks

Multitasking you workshy fobs, there's a recession on!!

Actually I would want to ensure there were jobs and people willing to employ staff when my kids grow up - the burden on businesses to accommodate every whim of the current government has created a whole raft of reasons why businesses won't hire.

Anyone pushing for this is basically consigning themselves to the dole queue or self-employment. And being either of those things doesn't have any maternity rights.

The government is trying to pretend this is a "family friendly policy" but actually it's a cunnning way of getting more people to stay in employment paying into their tax fund. They don't want SAHMs because they don't pay into the system. They want you all to work so you continue paying tax.

It's not their policy to palm off as anything. It's old news.