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Pump It Up

Posted Sep 18, 2008 by Beth Gaddis

Updated Oct 9, 2008 at 05:09 PM

I’m never more aware of the difficulty of juggling my job and my kids than when I have to sneak away from my desk for “baby business.”

I have this really sweet co-worker who thinks the bag over my shoulder contains my lunch.  He’s always asking me what I brought with me today.  I haven’t had the heart to tell him it’s a breast pump. 

Honestly, it’s the part of the day I hate most.  I grab a chair and head to the single-stall handicapped bathroom at the end of the floor.  Anyone passing by probably thinks I’m having an asthma attack.  All you can hear is this horrible “huh-huh, huh-huh” sound that starts as soon as I turn on the machine.  I live in dread that somebody is going to knock on the door to see whether I need help!

But everything I read says babies thrive better with breast milk than formula.  It can be better for the company, too.  Cigna started its Working Well Moms group in 1995 and found its “corporate lactation program for employees who [breast-fed] revealed a savings of $240 thousand annually in health care expenses for breast-feeding mothers and their children. In addition, a savings of $60,000 annually is realized through reduced absenteeism among breast-feeding mothers at Cigna. The study also found that pharmacy costs for breast-fed children are lower because they require 62 percent fewer prescriptions.”

I emailed my HR director to see whether my company has a dedicated lactation room and found out that yes, we do, but it needs to have some work done on it.  She asked me to wait a week before going to use it.  I’ll let you know how it turns out.