Breastfeeding while working?

[FriendlyNeighbourhoodAccountant]

I'm due to give birth soon, and will be on maternity leave for a while. I work from home full time and that will still be the case when I return to work.

I'm the high earner in the house so my partner will be reducing his hours instead, this combined with paid childcare will mean I can keep my same working hours.

My question is about breastfeeding.. it might be a stupid question, who knows, I've not been in this position before, but can I breastfeed while working?

I know I can express, and if I was in an office I'd be allowed time and a space to pump, but I wondered whether just for the feeds (rather than childcare during the day as my partner will be there to take care of the baby) whether there are laws around just breastfeeding the baby instead of expressing if you're working from home?

Unless you plan on breastfeeding while on zoom calls, your employer only needs to know that you are taking breaks due to breastfeeding - whether you use that time to pump or feed directly makes no difference!

I'm not sure what the law is but don't assume you'll be about to breastfeed and work at the same time - both of mine were quite 'active' feeders after about 5 months-ish. I know legally though you are entitled to breaks to pump so I can't see why you can't just feed in that time!

That was where my head was at as well (although I have a lot of zoom calls I won't be breastfeeding during them haha). I suppose my thoughts were more that you would breastfeed on demand rather than pumping at maybe more convenient times during the day?

I was also wondering if it would be classed as providing childcare while working.

What do you mean "don't assume you'll be about to breastfeed and work at the same time?" Sorry just me being daft I expect.

I worked from home 3-4 days a week, went back at 6 months, expressed on the days I was in the office, actually used to just sit in my car four times a day to express as had a plug socket in the car, and on the days I was at home I just fed when she needed it, if I had calls my DH would give a bottle if she couldn't wait, managed that way for 2-3 months before we moved fully onto the bottle, but expressed for a little while after that.

This is basically what I'm hoping to do, unless I've got work calls in which case I'll make sure we've got expressed milk in the fridge just in case. I was more panicking that it would be classed as childcare while working, even though the principle is the same as expressing instead.

I think it depends.on your boss, mine was really supportive and even asked if I wanted to work from home 5 days a week whilst I was breastfeeding. When will you be going back? Feeding routine is better as they get older, earlier months though you do get bouts of cluster feeding particularly during growth spurts.

Around Jan/Feb 2025 will be when I go back, although still working from home full time.

The problem you’ll have is that the baby doesn’t want you just for milk - they tend to want you more than Dad if you’re bf and you’re around, so you’re unlikely to be able to just feed and give back to Dad with no issues. You might, but it wasn’t my experience. However if I wasn’t at home, mine were totally fine with their Dad - out of sight, out of mind. I went back to work when my youngest was 8m and fed her until she was 2, but I didn’t feed during the day or express. She had water and food and made up for it later and it worked out fine. You’ll find a way through it.

I think if there's another adult who's in the house and responsible for her then it can't be childcare while working, surely? You take a break to feed her, just like you'd take a break to pump. Like you say, if she needs milk and you can't take a break then your DH can give her expressed milk, and I think this is the key thing. You aren't doing the childcare, because if you were, you'd have to go and attend to her every time she needed something. You're just planning to feed her if she needs it at a point where you can take a break.

You might even find you can more or less plan the feeding breaks in - both of my babies got into a routine of feeding and by six months I would know roughly when they'd want a feed. The routine changes all the time of course, particularly when you introduce solids, but it was there for me.

If you're not going back for around a year I don't think you will have too much of a problem. By then you will probably be able to get away with one or two feeds during the working day, and before long you'll just be able to feed the baby once you've finished work. By that age feeds probably only take about ten minutes. So depending on how strict your workplace is, I don't think I would even mention it to them. Ten minutes here and there is nothing. You'd probably need a longer break to make yourself a coffee.

Agree with pp who said they want you for more than feeds. When I work from home, if my youngest is around he cries when I leave the room, so I have to sneak in and out of the kitchen to get drinks!

I'll be at home regardless so that would be a battle whether breastfeeding or not I suppose? I don't have the option to work from anywhere else.

Sorry I just mean you won't be able to work and feed at the same time - they'll get distracted, grab things, generally do other things rather than just feed. This was just mine though I'm sure other babies are easier! Echoing earlier as well it was be very disruptive to them to see you occasionally throughout the day. It all depends what age you're planning on going back to work. If after 8-9 months I'd just not bother during the day and feed morning and night.

Not read all the replies but when I had dc years ago before covid, I looked into laws and I would have been entitled to take time out of the office in the car for example to feed baby which mil drove to my workplace. (Yes I really considered this!)

So going from that I would say yes your break to feed or pump will be allowed.
If baby is older and on solids there may be the expectation baby can wait, however you can have medical problems from milk build up so you would always need the break to 'pump' even if directly into baby's mouth lol.

I imagine I'd be taking breaks to feed just as I would to pump if I was in the office, rather than try and work through it. She'll be 9-10 months when I go back, but don't have an office to go so I'll be at home regardless.

At 9-10 months baby won't be breast feeding as much as they'll be eating food and drinking water then so you should be fine. To do a few feeds eg before nap time. You don't know yet how feeding or pumping will go so I wouldn't try to plan ahead too much now

From my experience at that age it'll be far too disruptive for them - they won't understand why you're constantly leaving them all day. They also won't need milk during the day though so you can carry on feeding morning and night and can just have food during the day. Or maybe pump for one bottle - personally I wouldn't bother they'll be fine.

I went back at 6 months, FT WFH, breastfed on demand. I found it challenging emotionally (had a FT nanny) but from a practical perspective it worked v well. My role is 60-70% of the day on teams meetings. It got harder when DD turned 1 and would want me to stay and play. It did help that I was based in a garden office so had a defined workspace.

People have made some fair points - it's not always quick and easy to feed baby and hand them back over. But it's not impossible either.
I was fortunate to have my children at nursery on the same site as my work and as my middle DS was an absolute bottle refuser I used to nip out to feed him directly instead of expressing. So I was doing more or less what you're proposing except I wasn't at home. Nobody at my work objected. My work got done and it took me no longer than expressing would so I don't think anyone even cared.
Being at home might make it a bit trickier for you as it could be confusing for your baby that sometimes you are fully available and sometimes you're not but the environment is the same, but on the other hand you'll perhaps have a bit more flexibility and control over your day, so it could be an advantage. I can't see any harm in trying though. Hope all goes well for you.

Yeah, I'm afraid it's all about when they demand a feed rather than deciding to take a break every 3 hours to pump unless you have an amazing routine and a compliant baby

Thanks, this is interesting. I have a dedicated office room at home, rather than working from a desk in the living room or something so that might help. Alternatively maybe I'll need to express and just rely on partner bottle feeding those days.

I breastfeed with my first but it was a loooong time ago and I only breastfed for about 4 months. Hoping to go longer this time so wasn't really sure how often they tend to feed at 9/10 months.

I went back to work when baby was around 10 months and didn't need to express. Just fed her before and after and her and my boobs adjusted fine. She's now nearly 14 months and we're still feeding successfully 😊

You say you're due to give birth soon but won't be returning to work until January 2025 - so it sounds like you're taking a long Mat Leave. Your child will be weaning by then, having solid food and being able to drink water from a cup as well as having breast milk. In the nicest possible way, you're overthinking and worrying about this when it really won't be a massive deal. By this age it's not like an exclusively bf tiny baby who you're feeding on demand.