Northwestern University's Tech Building is no exception. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) requires employers to allow time for pumping as well as a reasonable space (that's not a bathroom!) to pump. Specifically, the law requires that employers “provide a reasonable break time for an employee to express breast milk for her nursing child for one year after the child’s birth each time such employee has need to express milk.” Moreover, employers must “provide a place, other than a bathroom, that is shielded from view and free from intrusion from co-workers and the public” for nursing employees.
Ann Hornschemeir highlighted the progressive lactation room situation at NASA Goddard as part of a great series of posts in 2011 on nursing and pumping. In a relatively quick search online, University of Michigan stands out in terms of providing a long list of conveniently located lactation rooms across campus, 16 of which are equipped with breast pumps. Similarly, at Virginia Tech many of the rooms are equipped with hospital grade pumps. This way nursing moms don't have to lug their pump back and forth from home to work.
If your building does not have a lactation room and you are interested in having one put in, consider including the following in your proposal:
- Comfortable chair and table.
- Good ventilation and lighting.
- An electrical outlet.
- A lock and an 'Occupied' sign for the door.
- A hospital grade breast pump so employees needn’t tote their own back and forth.
- A sink for washing hands, pump, and tubing.
- Anti-microbial wipes.
- A refrigerator, with a freezer, for storing milk during the day.
- A bulletin board for baby photos and info/resource sharing.
- Internet access so employees can continue to work while pumping (if they want to).
- A clock and a mirror to readjust clothing before returning to work.
- Routine cleaning/maintenance.
The benefits of providing lactation rooms include:
- 3-to-1 return on investment
- Helps recruit and retain good employees
- Lowers absenteeism rates
- Improves productivity
- Builds employee morale and loyalty.
So far (in this first week back at work with a 2-month old at home) I've been able to schedule my day and in-person meetings to accommodate being able to pump every 3-4 hours. But what happens on really busy days? Or at conferences? Anyone have creative solutions and/or just their own experience to share?
p.s. I drafted this post while pumping.
p.s. I drafted this post while pumping.
3 comments :
Thank you first for sharing this blog.
I pumped at work for my son for about 10 months at work and plan on pumping again with baby # 2. Just a few suggestions for pumping when busy. I have a Medela Pump In Style Advanced Breast Pump (backpack) and it comes with a battery pack. It requires 8-AA batteries. But this is very handy when having to pump on the go (or when you forget your wall charger at home). I used the battery pack a lot when I was busy at work, out of the office, or didn't have access to an electrical outlet. On the days I was busy at work sometimes I would pump on my way to pick up my son from day care. So having the "hands-free" bra came in handy.
When I had to be at a workshop away from my Institute I looked at the facilities breastfeeding information online. It happened to be at Goddard so accessing their website and being able to identify lactation rooms prior to the visit was very helpful.
I have to travel a lot giving presentation and when I was confirming the speaking engagement I would notify my contact that I needed to use a room for pumping and 100% of the time the contact was able to provide a space for me to pump. (I've pumped in a closet and teachers bathrooms not the nicest of places but just letting the contact know ahead of time made it less stressful to find a room on my own).
I just wanted to give a shout out to STScI for it's support of a breastfeeding friendly workplace. We were awarded Regional Breastfeeding Friendly Workplace in October of 2012.
At one point when I was using the breastfeeding room it was three or more mom's using the room in the same day so it was very helpful to have a schedule outside of the room to let people know when the room is going to be occupied. The other mom's were very flexible when it came to rescheduling using the rooms on busy days. I have also seen the room be made available for visiting guest.
I hope this helps. Happy pumping!
Thank you for sharing your experience and suggestions!
I use the same pump -- and what's great is that my insurance paid for it 100%. Thank you Obamacare :-)
http://www.medelabreastfeedingus.com/assets/file/ACA%20-%20General%20QA%20rev012113v3.pdf
Where does the 3 to 1 return on investment stat come from?
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