I was EE for Pie when I went back to work, initially every 3.5 - 4 hours (although at first I stretched it out a bit and finished early) - I usually had one pumping session at work, sometimes two.
I was in a shop with no separate room, even the toilets were outside the building & public and no WAY was I going in there. So I shifted a cupboard out the back of the shop (not in public view) to kind of partition the space off and I sat back there & pumped. The noise worried me for all of 5 minutes... really everybody just went about their business. I had one or two conversations with staff while pumping, I had a big T-shirt which i used to change into so i was fairly well covered.
Agree with Kazbah, check the ABA site so you know your rights. I never had to assert them but it did make me feel better just knowing what my rights were should I ever need to argue the point.
I looked at the ABA site and the BFWA site and couldn't find anything on the responsibilities of workplaces. Can someone post a link if you find it.
I only expressed at work for a short time, i was working at a day program for adults with disabilities. i had a small room that was used to change clients. the powerpoint was near the door, so i would sit on the floor with my back against the door. the fridge was communal for staff and clients, and so i found it easier to just use a cold pack with frozen bricks.
I found that most of what I expressed was not getting drunk anyway, so I would do one "keeping" express either at lunchtime or in the morning before work, and otherwise just pump and dump wherever I could. You should try and get good at quick hand-expressing of a small quantity so you can manage engorgement throughout the day by just squirting down the sink as needed.
my work had a first aid room and a meeting room available for use, but I was also quite often out and about. Big jackets were very useful - as was double pumping, which was much quicker.
If you have access to a fridge then it is much faster to just put the milky pump bits back into the fridge without washing them.
I had a bit of a different work environment (I was a cop) but I expressed successfully for ages.
There was no room set aside but I just used the locker rooms (I was usually the only chick on the shift so no biggie, but everyone was supportive anyways). I was given space in the bosses fridge (so as not to freak the young fellas out), and when I announced I was going off to express always one of the guys hopped on my truck to cover me, so I had great support.
I only ever used a hand pump and never had an issue with it. I'd always be done in under 30minutes. Due to the nature of my job off site wasn't an option so if I was at a job I just had to wait.
I am a p aramedic and so like Kim my work environment is a bit different to those that work in an office. If we were at branch when I needed to express I informed the duty manager and we would be taken out of service for the time it took me... usually about 20 minutes. The response I received depended on who was on duty; sometimes supportive and accommodating, sometimes with a huff and a puff of exasperation and sometimes with embarrassment. Didn't matter, it is my right to express at work.
When we are off site, I have found hospitals a great place to express. The paediatric section of the emergency department usually has a parents room which is used for BF or expressing. Hospital staff have always been very happy to let me use this room. The added bonus is the sound of the babies on the ward crying helps with my letdown! Depending on how long we are going to be at hospital determines whether I inform the duty manager or just express without notifying them. Often I express while my partner does their paperwork. I have expressed in the back of the a mbulance on one occasion; we kept attending cases where we didn't need to transport but we didn't get back to branch either so I expressed in the back while my partner sat up front and completed the paperwork. I do have the right to ask to be moved to a branch and taken out of service but I was happy to express in the back and am fairly flexible and easy going about when and where I get my boobs out!
I do feel anxious about expressing at work when the vehicle is taken out of service (ie. not available to respond to a job). I feel responsible for one less truck being on the road and although it is my right, I would hate to think a patient would suffer an adverse outcome because they had to wait longer for a truck because I'm expressing! It's for this reason that I prefer to be flexible and express at hospital before we are ready to clear anyway.
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