Hellobee

great tip!!!

I’m jealous. Even though I live in CA, there is literally nowhere to pump at work. It’s a completely open floor plan with the only closed off rooms being the bathroom and the boiler room. I go out to my car. It’s fine for now, but when it’s hotter, it’s going to be hard.

i like the tip of using the twistie ties and pumping directly into the bags…i’m exhausted by the time i get home so this would help save a few extra minutes of washing bottles

wow. You have TWO? I’ve pumped in a “private” conference room, then unused office and currently the private women’s bathroom.

good tip about the twistie ties!

my employer also has a pumping room–it has curtained off sections each with a chair and pump, and a communal fridge and sink. i am so so grateful that i have this room. even though i have my own office, it’s nice to go somewhere private and strictly dedicated to this use. plus they provide hospital grade pumps, so i don’t have to bring a pump to work!

Thanks for sharing. I haven’t been in the lactation room at my office yet but I think it’s just an empty office. Better than nothing.

How many employees does this room serve? What industry are you in?

I pump in my private office. Before I got my own office, I had to use our conference room, the single stall handicapped bathroom, or any office in which the normal occupant was out for the day.

I pump in my own office (the firm provided a lock to my door). I love the idea of pumping into a bag and using twist ties!! Starting that tomorrow:) Also, I’m jealos of your output- I’ve only been getting about an ounce each side every time I pump

Wow – nice setup. I’m fortunate to have an office with a door that closes, so when I was pumping I would just close (and LOCK – lest people just waltz on in. Ask me how I learned to do that) my door and pump away. I could do most of my work while pumping (though I wouldn’t talk on the phone… people can hear the pump and that’s kind of weird).

My workplace has a lactation room but it’s across the street in another building – I was not going to haul my stuff through the snow twice a day!

The trick with bags is smart… I was always stressing about bottles.

This is awesome! I would just pump in my classroom. I have my own mini fridge and could just pump right at my desk so I could work simultaneously. The only problem is that even though I can lock my door, other adults on campus have keys and usually just walk in without knocking. I always wore a cover just in case, but was only walked in one a couple of times.

Our rooms aren’t official lactation rooms, but it is great to have blocked off rooms!

We have our first aid room on the first floor, you need to get a key from security desk to get in.

We also have (the one i use most often) a blacked out conf room with lock and sign (they also have a lactina select pump in there) on a diff floor.

What a great idea on using twist ties on the bags!! I think I would still be afraid they would fall off, though… Nice lactation area! I am lucky enough to have an office where I can shut my door and not have anyone disturb me.

Pumping into bags is clutch! Great idea! I bring two small bottles and then a big glass one (it’s supposed to be a water bottle). I dump the little bottles into the glass bottle after each session – it’s great because the fat doesn’t stick to the sides in glass bottles. I also store my pump parts in the fridge between sessions so I don’t have to rinse them out.

That’s an awesome room! Even though CA is required…it’s doesn’t have to be fancy/have a sink or anything. I pump in my classroom which is fine, but if I had to pump more times, I’d have to use a counselor’s office which would be weird. I used the pumping room at the hospital while lo was in the NICU (it’s for pumping employees too) and it had three curtained off areas and a sink…ok, but not awesome.

I used the medela pump bags and thought they suck! They are too small and easy to spill. Your way looks so much better! I only pump 1x at work so it’s not too bad, but I might have to try it.

Great post : ).

@edelweiss: That’s so awesome that the provide pumps for you all!

@edelweiss: Your work provides a breast pump?! Shut. up. That’s freaking awesome!!

I always wondered if you could pump directly into storage bags. Now I know!! Thanks for sharing!

I teach and mostly pump in my classroom. When I can’t (meetings or other schedule changes mean kids are in my room) I use the PE supply closet. I check hellobee and other blogs to keep my mind off work and stress level down.

It’s great your office is so supportive of breast feeding. I get the feeling that its a nuisance & people keep asking when I’ll stop/if I’m still nursing. For example, a meeting was scheduled during my lunch/pumping break. I asked as soon as I heard for someone to cover. No one responded, I asked again the morning of the meeting & they said someone would come. No one came & I had to call down to get someone. Now I’ll be late to the meeting and I know I’ll get grief for it. I don’t understand why they aren’t more supportive – literally 90% of our staff are mothers!

ETA: this scenario happens at least 3x a month. Blerg.

That’s so smart to pump directly into bags! I have been mixing fresh w/refrigerated milk b/c I don’t have very many bottles and felt guilty about it, so I’m glad you posted that link! I don’t have to be ashamed anymore.

There is a pumping room in my office, but it does not have a fridge or sink. It also isn’t supposed to be used for anything other than pumping, but employees sneak in there to eat lunch pretty often. I at least have a fridge in my cube, but I am nervous about the idea of washing pump parts in front of nosey coworkers in the pantry area!

Pumping into the bags is so nice! I love not having to wash bottles! Thankfully I have an office so I can just shut my door!

I work in a hospital, so I use the lactation room in the Intensive Care Nursery. It’s a quiet room with seating for 5, and a bunch of pumps (Medela Symphonys). Most of the users in there are moms with babies in the ICN, but employees are allowed to use it, as well. I pump directly into my Tommee Tippee bottles (with an adapter), so there is a lot less transferring of milk involved.

I was wondering about the fresh into cold milk. I am going back to work in two weeks. I know there is one room to pump but I have heard someone is always in there. So I think I am going to do what a coworker did and use a storage closet that only a couple people have keys too. That way I don’t waste time walking to the other side of the building.

Thank you for sharing this tip. I am bringing twist ties to work tomorrow. I hate washing parts and bottles!

I live in CA and work for the government. My office does not have anything even close to a pumping room. I’m currently I the private office of the most senior person in the building. He’s rarely here. It’s the only room that doesn’t require me to rearrange furniture before and after each session in order to have access to an outlet and a chair. In two months he’s only showed up once when I was in here and told me it was not a problem at all.

@MaisyMay: When I pump in my car I still keep the engine on and blast the AC… I need my AC!

@regberadaisy: I’ve had to pump in bathrooms in the past – NOT fun. Does your bathroom have a toilet seat cover that you close and sit on or do you sit on the floor? Do you use batteries to operate your pump then?

@edelweiss: Your employer PROVIDES hospital grade pumps?! That’s so awesome, and I’m jealous!

@Corduroy: I’m in the healthcare/pharmaceuticals industry… and we have locations nationwide, but in my particular office there are 3 floors and I’m guesstimating about 100 employees per floor.

@purrpletulips: @LulaBee: @Schmei: @littlebittyhouse: I wish I had a private office – I would feel so much more productive that way!

@mediagirl: I had the same fear, but when I tried it I was pleasantly surprised that they hold up really well, even when the bag is at it’s fullest. I don’t even tie the twist ties very tightly and the bags feel quite secure.

@mewtill: That’s awful!! I don’t think it’s any of their business when you choose to stop. And you would think that other mothers would be more understanding and supportive, it’s a sad reality that that’s not always the case.

@tororojo: Yay, mommy guilt begone!

@Modern Daisy: You don’t need to wash parts in the middle of the day if you have a fridge. It is ok to just stick them in the fridge and reuse them.

@littlebug: Wish I had Medela Symphony’s at my disposal at work!! I tried to do a rental through my health insurance, but they wouldn’t provide a hospital grade pump unless there was something wrong with my baby, so I ended up with an Ameda Purely Yours (which is good too).

Tip: I have a Medela pump but the hospital had an Ameda. So I had a few boxes of Ameda storage bags… which come with an adaptor that fits the Medela and hangs all the other brands of storage bags! The adaptor screws on and has two little horn-like projections that the bags hang from. Grab a package of Ameda bags once, get the adapters, and then you’re set!

Great post with lots of good ideas- thanks!

So nice to see an example of an employer who supports nursing mothers. In WA state, we are required to have a separate room- but ours is a storage closet. It locks, but there isn’t a sink and forget a fridge… Luckily, the three ice packs I bring from home keep things cold.
My HR office refuses to call our closet the mothers room or the pumping room- we have to call it the “privacy room” because they think its too embarrassing having to explain to other employees “what we are doing in there”. Really mature huh?

I’m so jealous! If I had been pumping at work it would have been in someone else’s private office. You can technically pump in our hospital’s NICU, but it would have taken me 10 minutes to walk there and 10 minutes to walk back. We generally don’t leave the ICU during a 12 hour shift, so I would have been asking coworkers to cover my patients (and theirs) for a big chunk of time! I know one person who has made it work, but the difficulty of the pumping situation definitely contributed to my stress about breastfeeding past three months. It’s a shame that there wasn’t more support, especially considering that this is the hospital where I delivered!

I am very jealous of this set-up!
I’m in Australia and whilst our equal opportunity laws make it illegal for employers to discriminate against breastfeeding mothers, the law (in most States) is silent on what would constitute reasonably accommodating breastfeeding mothers in the workplace. I recently returned to work and am pumping twice a day for my 9 month old baby – I was refused a lock on my door of my private office when I asked so I make do with a do not disturb sign, my back to the door and wearing a cover. Not ideal!

I just found out about something that has CHAnGED my life though – did you know you can use your horns/pump parts again if you refrigerate them? For up to 24 hours! Wish I’d known that when I was pumping eight times a day after nursing my daughter (she was a very nefficient feeder for first 10 weeks)!
At work I simply pop my pump horns and bottles in a clipseal bag then disguise them in a small lunch cooler bag and keep them in the fridge, no washing etc required. Saves me a few minutes

Great tips! I’ll have to use bags when I pump at work. I’m not sure if NYS requires a space or not, but I know that my work has a room set up for that, since it’s in a school.

@Mrs. High Heels: The bathroom I use has a GFI outlet. There is a small end table and a chair that my PM had set up for me. But for some reason the other ladies kept moving the chair back out. It was pissing me off so I’ve just been sitting on 2 boxes of napkins they keep in there.

@Mrs. Tricycle: This may be a really stupid question, but how come you don’t have to rinse out parts if you store them in the fridge?

If I can BF long enough to pump at work w/the next one, I’ll definitely use these tips!

@Mrs Checkers: I’m not Mrs. Tricycle but the reasoning is because you can leave pumped milk out in the fridge, so that means you can store pump parts with some milk residue on it too. It would be like the same thing! (That’s ANOTHER thing I learned on HB that would’ve made my life a whole lot easier the FIRST time around). You have no idea how much I learned about pumping from this site.

@regberadaisy: that makes me sad/mad that you have to sit on napkin boxes!!

@Kate: the same goes for CA too – it is a great first step that we even HAVE laws in place, but like you said, what constitutes “reasonably accommodating” is up for interpretation. Sigh.

@MrsF: wow, that sounds REALLY challenging!! I would think hospitals would be better about this sort of thing…

@Pink Champagne: ugh, that’s ridiculous.

@Hollienoël: that’s a great tip – thank you! I’ll have to check out some Ameda bags.

@Mrs. High Heels: I’m learning so much! Now I just need to muster up the courage to have the next one.

@Mrs Checkers: I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised! A is going to make such a great big sister

This post is helpful because I am returning to work next month and keep going over, in my mind, how I am going to navigate/setup a pumping system. Fortunately my employer has a lactation policy, which I am so grateful and appreciative for. Per the policy an employee must be provided a private area to pump, and not a bathroom. The bldg manager even told me he would find me a private area to store my milk. I am concerned though about my boss. I am not sure if I should talk to him about my plans or not or just do it taking my breaks and pumping away as needed. I am sure I will have to schedule and block the time on my calendar or else I will be scheduled for meetings and miss pumping. I am so anxious about missing pumping and losing my milk supply. Paranoia I’m sure. Anyway, thanks for sharing.

@FabDvaMommy: Sounds like you have a very supportive work environment, hopefully your manager will understand too if you do talk to him! I have the same type of work, where I’m constantly being booked for meetings throughout the day, so I’ve blocked off times in my Outlook calendar so I’m less likely to be booked during certain times. And some meetings aren’t crucial so I will pick and choose which ones to skip. I really value and guard my pumping times.