Working & breastfeeding

[Sarah5167]

Hi, hoping someone can help please. I’m currently breastfeeding my 14 month old & due to return to work next month. I’ve put in a flexible working request which has been refused so I want to appeal. My job is travelling around the country visiting customers. My baby has a high palate so struggles to drink from cups & can’t take a bottle. Also struggles with solids & only making slow progress. Has dropped from 75th centile after weaning to now being in 25th so having monthly weigh ins to monitor. Has been referred to ENT which still waiting for an appointment & SALT & has been seen this week.
my employer wants me to work 8 hour days & im concerned to leave my baby this long without breastfeeding because of the feeding issues
i wont be provided with anywhere to express or store milk
the only place I will be able to rest is my car

from a legal point of view where do I stand with this?

TIA & for reading if you’ve got this far!

What did you request and what were the grounds for refusing? Is the job completely field based?

I’m fairly sure employers have to provide another time and space for mothers who are breastfeeding to express. If there is no where suitable, time would include travel to a location where this can be done appropriately!

I’m not sure there is. I hope there is; but Google suggests there’s not - the NCT website explicitly states there’s no legal right for employers to provide breastfeeding breaks at work, but they must allow rest breaks, and Maternity Action (updated June ‘24) says there’s no legal right to breastfeeding breaks or shorter days, but the employer should do a risk assessment.

For babies under 12 months, they suggest arguing that not allowing breaks would be putting mum and babies health at risk, but there’s precedent for this being rejected over 12 months.

The European Commission suggests employers provide access to a private room to express, plus a fridge and facilities for washing and sterilising, but it looks like that’s not mandatory.

I think it’s all a bit wooly. I’ve never worked anywhere where the “rest” place didn’t also have the expressing facilities but that doesn’t have to be the case.

You may find this useful:

https://www.hse.gov.uk/mothers/employer/rest-breastfeeding-at-work.htm

I originally asked to work 6 hour days (although I’m not even sure now how baby would cope for that long)
they refused on the grounds that the hours proposed wouldn’t be able to meet customer demand & would have a detrimental effect. Yes I’m only field based

That sounds hard @Sarah5167 . Is there another way baby might take milk if not from a cup? Have you tried a Doidy cup? Does baby take expressed milk from a syringe or off a spoon or in mash or mixed with puree (if you do puree) etc?

Also think about your own comfort once you return to work, especially if baby feeds frequently still, engorgement and block ducts e.g. you really don't want mastitis. Can you use that approach in your appeal? Surely if you're off sick with mastitis due to not having time given to pump or nurse that will have a bigger detrimental effect than slightly compacted days.

She really struggles to drink from anything other than the breast. The speech& language therapist we saw this week is going to get her some thickener prescribed to help her with drinking so just waiting for that to come through now. Her main aim is to get her drinking then can add in extra calories that way.
yes I’m thinking more to have to go down the health & safety route for my appeal instead as it seems such a grey area with regards to the law & breastfeeding. They only thing they have to provide by law is somewhere for me to rest, which they will just say is the car!
it’s really difficult as it’s a male dominant industry I work in & the entire company is made up of men also. I was also told before I was pregnant that I couldn’t be paid the same as my male colleagues doing the same job as me because I have children & can’t be placed any time of the day or night like the men can! So you can imagine!!!

You would probably need to argue it on health and safety grounds. Being away from your baby for over 8 hours would put both yours and their health at risk and they have a legal obligation to negate those risks as far as possible. Whether that be providing rest breaks or shorter hours. Where will your baby be being cared for, could you visit them during the day to feed if you're close? It also comes pretty close to gender discrimation so you could argue that with them.

But the thing about them paying you less because you are a woman and have kids is already sounding pretty dodgy. Get as much of this in writing from them and get some advice from someone like Pregnant then Screwed or Maternity Action or someone similar.

Sorry OP that sounds v stressful. Be warned - baby may reverse cycle i.e if she wants milk she may shift to waking to feed at night instead of the day. Mine did this - not interested in solids, after I went back to work went from sleeping through the night to waking several times to breastfeed.

On the plus side I never got mastitis, it was a little uncomfortable at times but the body soon adapts to the changed timing of feeds. I continued feeding for a year after returning to work.

How efficiently does your baby feed? Is there a chance she could have 1 or 2 big feeds in the morning and another couple in the evening (say when you get home and just before you go to sleep) and manage that way? With food and snacks offered in the day as well?

Well she hasn’t slept through since 4 months old! She feeds a lot through the night anyway so she would still be able to get those it just concerns me especially in the warmer weather for her fluid intake.

Baby is going to nursery while I’m at work but I wouldn’t be able to visit to feed during the day as I cover a large area of the country from about a 150mile radius of where I live so not often am I close to home.

i will fight this all the way because I feel it’s all so wrong & definitely feel I’m being discriminated against

@Sarah5167 @Wrongsideofpennines I know this may seem pedantic but from a legal perspective it’s important. The Equality Act 2010 includes sex discrimination not gender discrimination. It also includes maternity discrimination and you need to be using correct language to make your point.

I think the H & S approach will help you the most. You could ask your GP to provide a fit note. They tick the option “maybe fit for work if” … and could say something along the lines of as a breastfeeding mother you need to be able to express regularly throughout the day to prevent mastitis and to release the pressure build up (engorgement?) which is extremely painful. As you are in a male dominated industry I don’t know how much detail you want the GP to go into.

@Harassedevictee Argh, sorry, quite right. I knew I should have just gone to bed last night!

I guess expressing will only help you relieve engorgement though as the baby won't take the milk from a bottle? You can express in the car and also get refrigerator for the car.

I does sound I like they’ve considered your request and have a genuine business reason why they can’t accommodate it

you can appeal have you suggested a way you could still do your job in the hours you requested

the pay one sounds like they pay people more who can go everywhere which sounds fair enough
If I was placed anywhere and everywhere I’d want to be paid more than someone who doesn’t

Can your job be done in 6 hours, can it meet the customer demand? I think you need to put a plan together which shows how you working 6 hours will work for them. If your job will be impacted then they can refuse.

I was also told before I was pregnant that I couldn’t be paid the same as my male colleagues doing the same job as me because I have children & can’t be placed any time of the day or night like the men can! So you can imagine!!!

Insensitivity worded, but if it's true and you didn't counter with yes I'll have children but their father will be able to parent also and so I can do this aspect of the job without issue then fair enough. Their sex doesn't seem as relevant as the fact you'd not be in a position/willing to do this element of the job.

It's a tricky one because your job is field based, they seem to have genuine business reasons for not reducing the hours (did you apply through the official channels for flexible working request?). If you were office based then although not necessarily law there'd probably be more they could offer such as hybrid working, space and facility to express etc. Certainly appeal, but if the fundamentals of the job are no longer suitable then perhaps time to rethink? Would you really want to be hours away from your child anyway? If you can prove your job can be adequately done in 6 hours then present this to them, but it's a hard one really saying actually yeah just taken hours over this for the past x time I've worked here.