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Breastfeeding is a sensitive topic for any mother, and family, with a little one. For those who do decide to pump breastmilk, particularly at work, many stories hone in on how difficult a process it can be yet there are happy pumping stories out there. 

Starting with a definition. Pumping or expressing milk means removing milk from one’s breast other than when the baby is directly feeding and can be done by hand or by an electric machine. Typically, pumping must be done at the same time that a baby would normally feed to maintain production at a level that the baby needs. For a five-month-old baby, this could mean pumping during the day at 7 am, 10 am, 1 pm, 4 pm and 7 pm, generating up to 250ml or more of milk each session. It is estimated by some that 1,800 hours are spent breastfeeding or pumping in a baby’s first year – in comparison, a typical full-time job is 1,960 hours worked per year. So, enabling pumping is an opportunity for workplaces to #AccelerateAction to enable breastfeeding and pumping at work and in life.

We can learn a lot from those working mothers or fathers who have experienced this pumping journey firsthand. We can also normalise the topic by talking about it. 

So joining Marilyn Blattner-Hoyle of Swiss Re Corporate Solutions, is Priyamvada Singh, general manager, global head of supply chain finance and co-head of global trade finance, at SMBC Americas, sharing her inspiring stories. 

Marilyn Blattner-Hoyle (MBH): Priyamvada, we met last year over a business lunch, and we had an immediate camaraderie when I discreetly explained I had to slip out to pump. For me, it was immediately reassuring to hear you had ‘been there, done that’ and to hear your acknowledgement of the challenges. What is your family story, and how did you decide      to pump?  

Priyamvada Singh (PS): I was employed full-time at a previous employer when I had both my children. I went on parental leave rather abruptly in both situations as both my children were born premature (“preemies”) – at 31 weeks and at 26 weeks gestation. Both spent several weeks in the NICU before coming home. I felt the best I could do for these tiny babies was to give them breast milk to thrive. I always knew I wanted to breastfeed my children but hadn’t considered pumping (oh how naïve I was!). Of course, when I had my first child as a preemie, actually being able to breastfeed was impossible – I had to learn to pump. I realised quickly that breastfeeding your kids or feeding them breast milk can be two very different journeys! 

With my first child born prematurely, I had to make the decision to pump or use formula. So when the NICU offered me the option of using donated breast milk until I could manage with my own, I immediately agreed, and said a silent prayer of thanks to those mothers who donated the precious ‘milk of life’! I felt relieved and fortunate that I was able to have this option as it isn’t available everywhere. I learned later that a lot of donated breast milk comes from bereaved mothers and even as I write this, I feel a chill down my back just thinking of what those mothers lived through. 

My younger child was born in March 2020, one week before the world shut down with the pandemic. A micro-preemie at 26 weeks and a high-risk infant, even without the fear of a looming fatal virus. For several weeks, I ferried breast milk back and forth to the NICU every day – she wouldn’t be able to breastfeed until three months later. Every day, I would watch how much milk she digested (through gavage) and the weight chart, as I had to be in full sterile gear and gloves even to hold my child.

MBH: Priyamvada, that is such a moving story, and it shows how much a mother and family can possibly experience in the birth and pumping journey – far beyond imagination when we met at our business lunch. I understand you also had to pump while being at work. What made pumping facilities easier for you? I felt lucky as in my own pumping journey, my boss let me use his MD room to pump so I could be quick on the turnaround. I didn’t have to extend my work day with the “commute” to the pumping facilities. 

PS: My previous employer’s office had a mothers’ room in the building, but it was on a different floor. So o while I was able to use that room for pumping, I did use the beverage refrigerator in my boss’ office to store it during the day. Before the pandemic, when it was almost always expected that you attend meetings in person, I have to say it made life easier by having colleagues who were understanding enough to not schedule meetings around the regular times I had blocked for pumping during office hours.  

MBH: It’s inspiring to know how much our bosses, families, and colleagues can influence and improve our pumping journeys. My husband was crucial to my pumping journey – he always took ownership of cleaning all the pumping equipment and freezing all the milk. Another topic – business trips are part of our work lives. Often there may not be any pumping facilities in places like airports or conference centers. I recently found a special pumping pod at Billy Bishop Airport in Toronto, Canada, and was overjoyed. Did you find business trips a challenge?   

PS: Absolutely. It was really tough to find a private mothers’ room at some airports – even airport staff sometimes hadn’t even heard of such a thing! Hotel conference centres were the same – often the best you could do was the bathroom. At one all-day work conference in Hong Kong, I only had the lunch hour to pump, and the hotel staff was kind enough to let me use a back storage room of the Chinese restaurant in the building where I could pump sitting on a small folding chair and balancing the pump on top of carton boxes. 

Mamava‘s lactation pods are an example of a positive innovation in this space. They are nursing pods at select airports that you could reserve at specific times for pumping when passing through the airport. It’s such a great facility to have – except at times when it isn’t near your boarding gate or even in the same terminal, I had to make sure I had enough time to get there and back in time for my connecting flight (with some near misses)! Other times, I pumped in the tiny aeroplane toilets on long-haul flights to Asia and had to let the flight attendants know I would be in there for a while so there wasn’t any annoyed knocking on the door.     

MBH: Again, it shows how awareness of pumping is already a major step forward to #AccelerateAction. Were there any particularly useful tools to aid your pumping journey? I particularly found my Yeti backpack useful for longer business trips, as it could store frozen milk for an overnight flight just using the ice from a hotel ice machine (and easier to carry as a backpack).

PS: From every insulated lunch bag and cold gel pack (since ice packs won’t go through airport security) to the amazing resources from Milk Stork – I used their service to ship one week’s worth of frozen breast milk back from Asia to the US – there are many tools which became my lifesavers! I chose not to ‘pump and dump’ after my experience in the NICU, so I saved all of my breastmilk and used the Milk Stork provided container to pack and check in my precious ‘cargo’ (as a checked bag) back to the US. It arrived perfectly.

MBH: Per year, breastfeeding occupies nearly the same amount of time as a full-time job… which is quite interesting to compare, especially if trying to do both. It shows all the support possible is not just great, but necessary. Do you have any thoughts about this angle?

PS: In my view – working mums and families, whether or not you choose to breastfeed, we all work two full-time jobs without hesitation and without breaks. Breastfeeding or pumping is just another part of the job alongside a salaried job. 

MBH: Raising children is definitely challenging and beautiful. Swiss Re Corporate Solutions recognised this and now has an on-site daycare in Zurich where mothers can decide to breastfeed their children during the day if they would like. This adds another flexibility to the pumping journey. Would you have considered something like that? Is there anything your work is doing that you would like to share? 

PS: The World Bank and IFC offices in Washington DC, where I worked, do offer on-site daycare where one could have that option, and that is indeed wonderful. I would absolutely use such a facility not only for the convenience but also the most economical option. Daycare and/or full-time nannies aren’t always easily affordable options for many families.

MBH: Data also shows that [American] mothers who breastfeed for six months or more experience longer and more severe income loss than mothers who formula feed (data from the US National Longitudinal Survey of Youth). Do you feel more awareness and support could help this issue? 

PS: I feel that any support for families from affordable daycare options or lowering the cost of formula and pumping would go a long way to help new mothers get back to regular jobs as the choice to return to work is all too often dependent on childcare options, let alone being able to feed breastmilk. Another example is allowances for child daycare that are tax exempt under IRS rules is only a fraction of what it actually costs. One parent, often the mother, sometimes leaves the workforce because it’s cheaper to stay at home and look after the children than to return to work and have to spend it all on childcare. 

MBH: Do you have any funny pumping stories? I will always remember when my sister told me she was on a consulting gig in Asia and people were so considerate to plan in advance nice pumping facilities for her. At that time, pumping was not discussed so much or really understood by many workplaces. They gave her one of the nicest rooms in the office… there was just a little hiccup that all the windows were made of transparent glass. Another fun story was from when she had her Yeti bag in airports. These are also very popular bags with groups for hunting and beach trips… so people would often ask, “Hey, what kind of beer are you carrying there?” and my sister would reply, “Milk of life”. I find it nice to share these stories as they generate the discussion in a more accessible way to make sure this topic is on the table and encourage others to speak up.  

PS: Yes, it’s great to share these stories. Storing breast milk in hotel kitchen freezers wherever I travelled longer than three days brought on most of my funny stories. It was always the oddest conversation with the front desk staff to tell them what I wanted to do and then at check-out to ask them to fetch it for me. I was always prepared with labels and secure bags before I handed it over to be stored securely so no one in the kitchen would take it out or, worse, throw it away by mistake! 

More are just stories of kindness. At another conference event where I could find no place to pump, our keynote speaker gave me her room key to use for pumping! So many times, all-day client events would lead to dinner afterwards, when I was bursting and in pain. My boss or an understanding colleague made excuses for me so I could beg off the dinner without announcing I had to pump. I have to mention the airport TSA staff, all women, who were so kind and discreet, when I scanned bags of breast milk stored in ice packs in my hand luggage through security, telling me encouragingly to take care of the ‘liquid gold’!. Our band of “women who pump”, we understand each other.

MBH: I like the idea of expanding this to “families who pump” and “workplaces who pump”, as we are all in the journey together. To finish up, are there any tips and tricks that you might want to share with families considering balancing back to work and continuing to breastfeed? 

PS: Feel comfortable talking about pumping to use the resources available. Most hospitals have several resources including lactation support help and counsellors. This was a whole experience I was unprepared for – and whoever I reached out to, someone was always there to help. Lastly, because my first child was lucky enough in the first couple of days after birth to have some amazing mothers who donated breast milk, whom I will never know, but to whom I will always be eternally grateful – if anyone feels so inclined, please donate breast milk. I did so, after my second child, to the New York Milk Bank (NYMB), hoping another mother would benefit just as I did from that simple act of kindness. 

MBH: It is so inspiring to discuss this with you. I am hopeful that even articles like this can #AccelerateAction by spreading awareness and encouraging workplaces to evaluate how they can enable happy pumping stories.