Please do not disturb: Pumping in progress

This is the sign that adorns my office doorknob every day around noon and again at 3. And this is more or less what I look like as I pump -- yes, quite the fashion statement. Thankfully my officemate is comfortable with my pumping in our office. More importantly, however, is that I have the convenient option to use the new lactation room in my building.

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.