6. Dress the part
Remember that certain outfits make pumping milk or breastfeeding easy, and others make it very difficult. The worst possible way to express milk or to nurse your baby is with your one-piece fitted wool jumper smashed up around your shoulders. Invest in nursing attire -- it's worth it, and you can sell it to a mom-and-children's resale shop once you've stopped nursing.
7. Be sensitive to the variety of perspectives
Your workmates may range, in 'breastfeeding orientation' terms, from totally casual ("Go ahead and pump if you want to, I just want to tell you about this one customer call I made") to very freaked out. Try to be sensitive to this range of views and experiences.
For some of your colleagues, the idea of a woman breastfeeding or pumping at work may be brand new. To the 18-year-old who delivers the interoffice mail, it may be just plain gross. It's not your job to educate everyone or make them comfortable, but it's good to be aware that people have many different perspectives on the issue of milk, moms and work.
8. Find support
Seek out a mom's group at your office or nearby, or even an online discussion group for mothers, to get support for your breastfeeding-at-work adventure. Plenty of people have walked this path before -- the La Leche League is a great resource, and there are others in almost every region.
9. Speak up
If you're in a meeting and you're about to burst from unexpressed milk, don't be a martyr -- excuse yourself. Your need, for a period of months, to pump milk or nurse your baby during the workday is no different than another person's need to take regular medication or otherwise manage his or her health in the workplace. Your nursing or pumping shouldn't affect your work output, so don't be apologetic about it.
10. Have pride
However long you continue to nurse or express milk while working, be proud of yourself! Women who make this great, healthy choice for themselves and their children deserve a ton of praise. Every month that you prolong your child's nursing days is a boost for his or her overall health, and yours. And when it's time to stop nursing or pumping at work, know that you've done something tremendously positive for your family, and served as a model for other women in your workplace. Pat yourself on the back!
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