I was not sure I wanted to jump onto the soap box again, but have decided
to add my 02¢ on this topic.

Having worked with many many working breastfeeding mothers (those most
likely to pump frequently, steadily, and for many months), I have listened
to numerous stories about the reactions of others (particularly at work,
not all male) to the combination of activities the mother engages in; to
wit, working (out of the home) and nursing (supposedly an intimate, in-home
activity).

While some people in a bottle-feeding society can accept the image of a
baby at the breast (after all, what can you REALLY see?!) and this image
has long been a part of much of the artwork throughout the world, breast
pumping is decidedly different.

1) It is mechanical
2) It is often accompanied by wheezing and/or other breathy sort of sounds,
depending on the pump of course (and-from the pump, not those
watching--although I suppose that might happen in certain really wierd
situations!  :-)  )
3) It is accomplished in order to provide the baby with milk that would
otherwide be obtained in a much less obvious way (yes, the baby is nursing,
but one rarely sees milk dripping or spurting and I have yet to see a
baby's cheek that one could see through)
4) It is not a couple activity; the mother does it herself (and thus may
appear to some people as a form of breast masturbation--this notion was
suggested to me by a mother whose own mother mentioned that this was what
SHE thought of when she saw her daughter pumping her breasts.  Honest!)

It is not surprising, then, that women might hesitate to engage in such
behavior in front of others whose views of breastfeeding and milk
expression may be less than enlightened.

One of my former clients was quite comfortable nursing the baby in front of
her male colleagues, but chose to pump behind a closed locked door to
ensure privacy. From all I have heard from other mothers over the years,  I
do not believe her distinction between these behaviors was at all unusual.

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"We are all faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly
disguised as impossible situations."
Kathleen G. Auerbach,PhD, IBCLC (Ferndale, WA USA) [log in to unmask]
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