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Original poster

breastfeeding rights

26 replies

Dottydot · 28/03/2006 21:59

Asking this on behalf of my Mum, who's a manager!

If you're breastfeeding your baby and want to return to work, are you entitled in law to bring your baby into work because you're breastfeeding - or does the work just have to provide a private environment for you to express in?

Just wondered if there was any legislation around it and if any clever MNers knew..!

OP posts:

Original poster

Dottydot · 28/03/2006 22:02

I can find stuff on the right to breastfeed in public, but nothing on the right to have your baby at work because of breastfeeding.

Ah well...

OP posts:

Flossam · 28/03/2006 22:02

I thought work had to provide privacy

TheBlonde · 28/03/2006 22:27

I think it is all about providing somewhere private to express and if possible a fridge to put it in

Depends a lot on the job - there are H&S issues around having a child in the workplace

starlover · 28/03/2006 22:29

i don't think you'd be able to bring the baby in all day...

AllBuggiedOut · 28/03/2006 22:33

According to the government's \link{http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg373hp.pdf\Health and Safety Executive}...

"Breastfeeding mothers need a clean, private place to express and store their milk. Employers are legally required to provide suitable rest facilities for workers who are pregnant or breastfeeding. Also, although not a legal requirement, employers are encouraged to provide a healthy and safe environment for nursing mothers to express and store milk. This could be provided in the suitable rest facilities. However, it is not suitable for toilets to be used for this purpose."

Hope this helps!

chipmonkey · 28/03/2006 23:33

My Dad had a colleague who wanted to bring her baby in to work. The manager ( female, incidentally) refused because they "weren't insured" for a baby. My dad pointed out that the workplace had many visitors and insurance had never been an issue so why should a baby cause any problems? He said that if insurance were a problem then all visitors should be banned. This was unthinkable so the manager allowed my Dad's colleaugue to bring her baby in. Apparently babs was no trouble at all!

moondog · 28/03/2006 23:40

When my grandmother worked down at 't mill in the 20s and 30s,she said babies would be brought to the gates,squawking for a feed by the g/mothers.
As soon as the bell rang for break,the mothers would rush out,unbuttoning their blouses.

starlover · 28/03/2006 23:53

ok from what I can gather no, they do not have to let her bring the baby in.

what they do have to do is provide a place for her to "rest"

\link{http://www.abm.me.uk/working.htm\this site} has some good links at the bottom of the page.

starlover · 28/03/2006 23:53

it would seem that the place provided for her to "rest" should be suitable for expressing, and should not be a toilet

chipmonkey · 28/03/2006 23:55

Moondog, did you read "Tess of the d'Urverville's" . Tess's sister brought the baby out to the fields at lunchtime for Tess to feed.

moondog · 29/03/2006 09:30

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

Kathy1972 · 29/03/2006 09:36

Moondog, how fascinating about t'mill.

I am very interested in this because I really can't see any problems with doing large elements of my job (academic) while bf - perhaps not large-scale lectures, but I could supervise and do smaller-scale teaching quite happily, go to exam boards or other meetings, etc etc. I know people in other universities who teach while bf but somehow I suspect my current employer would pull on spurious h&s reasons to stop me doing it - would love to know if anyone else has experience of this - maybe I should start another thread!

moondog · 29/03/2006 09:38

Kath,I think most women in white collar jobs will get some sort of leeway (although not always given willingly).
The biggest concern is women in blue collar jobs who are perhaps less assertive and knowledgeable about their rights.

Kathy1972 · 29/03/2006 09:51

Good point, Moondog - I'm sure you're right that it's going to be more of a problem in blue-collar jobs, and especially if bf rates are lower among those women anyway.

Don't agree that there will always be leeway in white collar jobs, though it depends what you mean by leeway. Probably those women are more likely to get what they are legally entitled to (space to express etc) but if you want to go beyond that, it only takes a few obstructive managers who are obsessed with 'health and safety' and 'insurance' to stamp out anything else.

moondog · 29/03/2006 09:54

I agree,which is why I tempered my post with a 'sort of' comment.
My NHS job allowed me to visit the nursery to b/feed myself for the first fe weeks. (Actually,when I say 'allow',what I really mean is I just duid it.)

Kathy1972 · 29/03/2006 09:56

Hmm, I think the 'just do it' approach is probably the best one - I'm sure the people I know who bf while teaching have not cleared it with their line manager! My head of department is very correct and likes everythign to be very above board, unfortunately!

moondog · 29/03/2006 09:59

Yes!
Don't ask just do,while looking confident and business like.
Good rule for life in general I find.

Original poster

Dottydot · 29/03/2006 12:31

thanks all - that's really helpful! I think the h & s issue is the thing that's worrying 'the management' where my Mum works - that and it's never been requested before! I think in law then as long as somewhere is provided for women to rest and express in private, that isn't a toilet, that's all you technically have to do - anything else is extra and could be negotiated locally. We'll see what happens..! (and it's an NHS place of work aswell!!)

OP posts:

morningpaper · 29/03/2006 12:53

Kathy1972 have you HAD a baby (serious question)??

Kathy1972 · 29/03/2006 15:04

Morningpaper - yes, she's 9 months and I am expecting the next in late Nov.
She used to bf for hours and hours while my brain slowly fried or I attempted to keep books open or hold the phone with one hand. I would have been so much happier sitting in a lovely office discussing someone's thesis, and I know several people who have done this - they don't take off long periods of mat. leave but take the baby with them.
My baby used to like being held all the time but was happy to be carried around anywhere and everywhere, so what I found was that it was extremely difficult to get certain physical things done (having a shower or sorting the washing) but I had more time and mental energy than I knew what to do with.
She was a great sleeper so I didn't have sleep deprivation, which could make a big difference, and there is no guarantee that the next one will be the same, but yes, I am very much basing my thoughts about how to deal with the next one on my own experience, not on an idealised view of what life with a new baby is like
What I am really hoping to do is to take longer mat. leave but keep up with certain tasks during it, supervision of research being the main one.

Pruni · 29/03/2006 15:11

Kathy, I know (of) an academic at Oxford University who used to take her small baby in - cleared it with the head of dept - and had a room set aside from her shared office for b/f.
She demanded it, mind, but she got it.

Kathy1972 · 29/03/2006 15:22

Thanks Pruni - I want to gather as much anecdotal ev. like that as I can!
All the people I know who have done it are at Cambridge so it must be an Oxbridge thing (people less intensively managed, less awareness of health and safety or insurance etc. Also many academics there probably have never seen a baby before and wouldn't know what it was )

moondog · 29/03/2006 17:43

Kathy,one of my p/g lecturers in City Uni often gave lectures and tutorials while b/feeding.
On a lighter note,the local fitness guru (and mother of six) in these parts,has actually conducted aerobics classes while b/feeding.
Never saw it myself but the local midwives still talk of it in awed tones with misty eyes.

moondog · 29/03/2006 17:43

I know exactly what you mean re lots of mental energy but no way to use it.I was the same.

Kathy1972 · 29/03/2006 17:56

at bf while teaching aerobics.

Now, if they taught you that kind of thing in antenatal classes, I might have gone to more than one. (Come to think of it, maybe they do at the NCT ones )

The lecturer at City, Moondog - was this recently? And standing up or sitting down?

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