There are many challenges for women returning to the workforce after maternity leave. For some it is managing childcare arrangements while for others it’s getting used to a new routine. But for some mothers there is an additional logistical concern: what to do about breastfeeding?
It is a common conundrum. In fact, researchers at Curtin University have recently found that returning to work is the most common reason that women do not breastfeed past six months.
“The main barrier identified to breastfeeding of children for more than six months was the need to go back to work, which clearly shows there are actions workplaces could take to assist women to breastfeed once they return to employment,” researcher Allison Daly says.
Although there are no official guidelines, some organisations do provide measures to support breastfeeding mothers who are returning to work. Lorna Harrison’s* baby was eight months old when she returned to her job as a government lawyer.
“The HR person set aside an area for expressing and showed me where I could get a chair to wheel in to sit on. I was entitled to one half hour break for expressing,” Harrison explains.
Despite the right provisions being put in place, Harrison still found the process of expressing and storing milk at work very difficult.
“It was very awkward, especially when my breast pumping time happened to coincide with lunch time and the gym junkees and joggers would come back and line up outside to use the change room,” she explains.
Some of Harrison’s colleagues also made inappropriate jokes about using her expressed breast milk in their tea.
“The breast milk jokes would always get a laugh and, to be honest, I just laughed along because I didn’t want to draw any more attention to the whole thing. But it made me feel awkward, embarrassed and self-conscious,” says Harrison.
Although it wasn’t an easy path Harrison was able to continue breastfeeding. Some women are not so fortunate.
When Elsie Barber* started planning her return to work as a residential worker at a children’s home she hoped that her shift pattern would be flexible enough for her to continue breastfeeding her 10-month old son.
“I suggested doing more structured shifts so that I could still breastfeed my son, but my boss was horrified that I was still breast feeding at ten months so that didn’t happen,” Barber explains.
Without the support of her employer Barber took the difficult decision to cease breastfeeding, something she says neither she or her son were ready for.
At the moment there are no specific employment laws that apply to breastfeeding mothers, however, anti-discrimination laws do give breastfeeding mothers some rights.
“For practical purposes this means it would be an offence to treat breastfeeding mothers less favorably than others who are not breastfeeding,” chief executive officer of the Australian Human Resources Institute Lyn Goodear says.
The Fair Work Act also provides the right for parents returning to work to request flexible working arrangements, which could be more practical for breastfeeding mothers. However, as Goodear points out, employers are not obliged to agree to requests if they have reasonable business grounds to refuse.
Goodear says these measures are probably not enough and that, “employers could do a good deal more” to support breastfeeding mothers.
“Clear, visible policies would help, and they should cover items such as guidelines on lactation break times, and appropriate facilities such as a clean, hygienic space where lactation or feeding can occur, baby change tables, and access to a sink and fridge for storage of milk,” she says.
For women who feel that they are not receiving adequate support, Goodear suggests that raising concerns with their line manager or HR representative would be a good place to start. “It is quite possible that the organisation is not opposed to introducing suitable measures but may be unaware of the issue or had never thought about it,” she explains.
While some employers may see accommodating the needs of breastfeeding mothers as an inconvenience, Goodear suggests that on the contrary, seeing it as a “temporary necessity” would be a wise move.
“If employers want to retain the talent of breastfeeding mothers they need to take the steps necessary to keep them in the business,” she says.
*Names have been changed