Pumping Buddies
By Shawndria Avery
Hampstead NC USA
From: NEW BEGINNINGS, Vol. 15 No. 3, May - June 1998, p. 88
We provide articles
from our publications from previous years for reference for our Leaders and
members. Readers are cautioned to remember that research and medical information
change over time.
My second child is now eight
months old. I knew when he was born that I would breastfeed him since
I had already breastfed my daughter successfully. When my daughter was
born five years ago, I knew LLL existed, but never contacted the organization.
I had the support of my mother, who encouraged me to breastfeed, and
she was wonderful in answering my many questions. Without her help,
I would have given it up after the first week home. The only problem
with Mom was that she was 500 miles away!
When I was pregnant with
my son, a woman I work with, Renee, was due two weeks after me. She
asked questions about the benefits of breastfeeding, whether or not
it hurt, and about pumping after returning to work. I told her that
I nursed my daughter and I thoroughly enjoyed our time and experience
together. I continued to nurse her even after I had returned to work,
pumping during my break time in the ladies' room. Since we had our babies
twenty days apart, we both returned to work at about the same time.
We hadn't really been friends
at work, just co-workers. We worked together for eight years, but we
never really knew each other. We saw each other away from our place
of work only if there was a wedding shower or a social event of that
nature. But when we came back to work after our babies' births, all
of our shifts seemed to coincide. So we were alternating turns to take
our breaks and pump. Renee suggested that we take our breaks in an unused
locker room downstairs, since there was more room, a table to place
our pumps on, and lockers where we could store our snacks. (This locker
room and lounge became our lactation station.) One afternoon, she had
a question about how to produce more milk and have more let-downs during
pumping. I told her I would come downstairs to help her solve the problem
she was having. Since she was a first-time mother who was just learning
to pump, I told her I would give her any tips that I thought would help.
One afternoon, Renee suggested
that I attend an LLL meeting and ask a couple of questions for both
of us. I'm so glad I did. It was great knowing there was a support group
out there for nursing mothers - something I didn't take advantage of
with my first child. It also gave me the freedom to discuss openly and
honestly the "womanly art of breastfeeding." Renee and I decided to
start taking our breaks together, and this offered us time to read the
information from the LLLI Web site and gave us the opportunity to talk
about our children. This in turn gave both of us more let-downs, and
we found that we both produce enough milk that we don't have to supplement
with formula.
I want to say thank you to
Renee for introducing me to LLL, and we would like to thank LLL for
providing us the opportunity to become friends. New mothers don't have
to lock themselves in a closet to pump while at work. Hiding only discourages
other women and causes them to think that breastfeeding is a very private
thing you don't talk about. I want to encourage all mothers who have
to return to work to find breastfeeding friends at work and encourage
other mothers to breastfeed, too. I hope that bottlefeeding will become
taboo in the future. Thanks again to LLL for helping us new mothers
overcome difficulties.
Last updated 11/12/06 by jlm.
Page last edited Sun Oct 14 09:30:53 UTC 2007.
