Expressing milk in a storeroom is better than a toilet, right?

When I was returning to work 4 months after the birth of our first son. It was hard. 

It was hard because my manager didn’t remember I was coming back. It was hard because my husband didn’t think he would need to pick up or drop off our son at childcare. It was hard because I wanted to crawl under my desk and just sleep from exhaustion. And it was hard because there was nowhere to express milk during the day at work.

There was no office or meeting room that wasn’t made of glass. There was no first aid room where I could shut the door. There was no room that I could wash my hands and no room with a little fridge to store my milk. There was no time allocated for me to express.

In case anyone is wondering, expressing milk in a toilet is not on and neither is baring your breasts to your work colleagues. A private, clean and appropriately appointed space is. 

On that first day back, another woman mentioned there was a storeroom in the other building that might work. 

Every day during my lunch break I went over to that room. I sat on a chair with my back against the door because there was no lock. I sat amongst the brooms and mops and cleaning equipment for an hour and expressed milk for my 4 month old son. Then with sticky milky hands and with milk-stained clothes I went back to the other building (where I mainly worked) and put the milk in the kitchen fridge. I hoped no one would move it and that I would remember to take home with me. 

It's breastfeeding month from the 1st to the 7th of August. One way organisations can make themselves more inclusive for women (and all parents) is to think about how you can manage the transition back to work after giving birth or adopting a child (or after a miscarriage or death of a baby), and how you can make breastfeeding and expressing milk easier and more comfortable.  This could apply in the office and remote working.

Policies and practices like this should form part of your gender strategy that attracts and retains your talented women (and their partners). I don’t think any woman should have to express milk in a storeroom with no lock, or even forego returning to work because of insufficient facilities. 

Get in contact if you would like to develop policies and practices to support women returning to work as part of your gender strategies.