“To encourage new mothers to return to work, my wonderful employer provides a “mother’s room,” complete with a sink, refrigerator, cubbies for a pump, a nice comfortable chair, a phone, and a lock on the door. A strong pump was my key to success. I called it my double- barreled power pump. My milk supply did waiver, but after a few weeks I was a pro. From six to eleven months, as my baby began to eat cereal and veggies and needed less milk, I reduced my pumpings to two per day. Then, as her solid-food consumption increased even more (eleven to twelve months), I pumped just once a day. each day when I returned home, we nursed right away, which helped us reconnect. At one year, I ceased pumping altogether and I am still nursing.”
“I’m a letter carrier and in the final weeks of my pregnancy I sent out a flier to many of the homes on my route to see if any of these homes could offer childcare for my baby. I was ecstatic to find just the right home midway through my route where I could stop and breastfeed my baby.”
“I’m a security guard in a mall. I made arrangements with an understanding proprietor at the maternity shop to leave my electric pump at their shop. During my rounds, I would go into the back room of their shop and pump a couple times a day. At the end of the day, I would pick up the stored milk from their refrigerator. I figured that certainly a maternity shop would be sympathetic to my needs
“Nursing my baby as soon as I get home from work is not only great for her, but it helps me unwind after a tense day at work and fighting the rush hour traffic. Part way through the breastfeeding, I get so relaxed I’m almost comatose. It’s better than an after-work cocktail.”
“Because of my job schedule and unpredictable traffic, I didn’t always arrive home at the same time. I would call my caregiver as I was leaving work. If I got stuck in traffic, I would call her in my cellular phone and ask her to give my baby just enough milk to tide her over until I got home.”