Breastfeeding while working from home
By Cordelia Uys, NCT Breastfeeding Counsellor
January 2022
One of the silver linings of the Coronavirus pandemic is how many people have discovered that working from home is not only feasible but actually less stressful, not least because it doesn’t involve a daily commute. Many are also finding they are more productive, and companies are realising how much money they can save if they don’t have to provide as much office space. It looks likely that once the pandemic has passed, many more employees will be working from home. What will this mean for breastfeeding mothers?
Members of NWL Breastfeeding were asked how they are managing to breastfeed and work from home during the pandemic. Here’s what they said, and some suggestions they made.
Working from home makes breastfeeding easier:
Many said that working from home has made continuing to breastfeed much easier. Finding the time and a private place to pump when at work can be stressful.
“We are all at home, working, feeding, home schooling etc. It’s wonderful. As my son is now 9.5 months old and a big lover of solid food, the feeds are pretty quick in the day. If I’m in a meeting and he’s fussing, usually water and an apple slice will keep him busy until I’m done. Being able to work from home and be with my children 24/7 has been a total silver lining.”
Schedule calls and meetings to allow for ‘breastfeeding gaps’:
“If your work requires you to be on calls or meetings, you need some organisation skills to make sure you don’t have too many back-to-back meetings and that you allow enough time in between meetings to feed your baby.”
“I have set meetings in my calendar called ‘childcare’ for her feeding times and food times. It’s worked well so far. I’ve also been firm on meetings that double book this time, proposing alternative times or declining meetings. So far people have been accommodating - I think they are in awe of the multitasking mum approach.”
Position the camera strategically while on Zoom/Skype calls:
With a younger baby who doesn’t move around too much, it’s possible to breastfeed through online meetings or calls by positioning the camera carefully. However, many women find it best to warn colleagues and clients in advance via a quick email that they have a baby and might need to breastfeed during a call.
“I’m on the phone or Zoom most of the day and do lots of feeding under the screen. And then suddenly there is a yelp as she finishes feeding and colleagues get a bit of a surprise when she pops up.”
For meetings that require discretion, some women use a pump that can be hidden under their bra:
“When I’m not comfortable breastfeeding, I’ll pump and then give her a bottle (which my partner can thankfully do at the moment while we’re in lockdown and his work is on pause).”
Of course, there’s also the possibility of turning off the camera during video calls.
Have a conversation with your partner about sharing the load:
“My husband and I are both working from home full-time, in jobs that are substantially busier due to COVID-19. We are aiming to share caregiving as evenly as possible.”
Both mums and dads can work while wearing baby in a sling or baby carrier:
“My husband is able to work effectively with a sleeping child in a sling. Not something he expected to do, but you need to have frank conversations with partners about loads, abilities and compromises.”
Meal plan:
“Every week we have meals lined up for lunch and dinner, with easy backup options to rescue a hard day. The fact that they’re written down means one of us can get on with them if the other is busy.”
Clean in bite-sized chunks:
“Taking just 30 minutes (or as much as you can) a day to work through set cleaning tasks means the house is in a reasonable condition. It really helps my state of mind.”
Make time for yourself:
“It is so important to take a window of time alone. It could be once or twice a day, or a Saturday morning bath, or early morning run, or some breathing and meditation. To keep going and giving without filling your own cup is unsustainable.”
In conclusion, there was general agreement that breastfeeding makes life easier when working from home:
“Breastfeeding is actually helping us all manage quite well in what is a very strange time, and our son is a very happy little boy who we are enjoying immensely.”
“Overall, I'd say that it's perfectly fine, some days are really lovely, and some days it feels hard. But the hard bit really isn't the breastfeeding, it is just the parenting/managing as a family/working/cleaning/worrying about COVID-19, particularly without any family support. Plus trying to counteract the very gendered cultural expectations of who does what when it comes to household management and parenting!”
“Breastfeeding has been a useful parenting tool to help calm a fractious child - e.g. if my baby is getting really irritable, and my husband and I are frantically trying to finish some work thing, I can sometimes give my baby a feed, then he will be in a much better mood afterwards, and will happily play with his toys for a bit longer.”