Employees Complain About Co-Worker Pumping Breastmilk

Anyone who’s returned to work while breastfeeding knows the pressure of needing to pump breastmilk to make sure supply continues.

But this new mum says her employees have complained about her pumping, saying it makes them ‘uncomfortable’.

The breastfeeding mum says she’s returned to work, and has an office of her own, which means she’s able to pump breastmilk in relative privacy. However, she found she was continually getting interrupted.

“When I returned to work, I would just close my door and put up a sign asking people to please return in 15 minutes,” she explained on reddit.

“Unfortunately, I’d still have people banging on the door every few minutes or trying to talk to me through the door, or even jiggling the handle, asking if I could ‘just’ whatever. My word that I need 15 undisturbed minutes wasn’t enough and it made my pumping sessions really stressful (and anyone who’s ever pumped knows stress can really mess up the pumping and make it less efficient.)”

It prompted her to slightly change the wording on her door sign, and that’s when her co-workers decided to complain.

“I amended the sign to say ‘Pumping–please return in 15 minutes’. That cut down on the disturbances but apparently now a couple of coworkers have complained that it’s TMI and making them uncomfortable. Am I the a**hole for outright announcing when I’m pumping?”

Let us know what you think in the comments below.

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31 Comments

- - mom487643 said
  - 20 Apr 2023
    2:06 pm
Those people sound really rude and childish. What do they expect her to do? I would start pumping with my door open. She shouldn’t be shamed for pumping! Sometimes I feel like we are moving forward with normalising breastfeeding and pumping in public but it’s stories like this that prove we still have a long way to go.

- - mom111059 said
  - 20 Feb 2023
    1:27 pm
Poor Mum needs more respect. She is not in the wrong.

- - MummaD said
  - 12 Feb 2023
    11:12 pm
OMG, the rudeness of some people. She is doing this in the privacy of her office behind a locked door and they find a sign TMI. That is ridiculous.

- - Ellen said
  - 10 Feb 2023
    8:59 am
I find it kind of pathetic that the sign is perceived as too much information.

- - Chelsea1905 said
  - 09 Feb 2023
    1:14 pm
No, it can be more uncomfortable to have people interrupting you pumping or walking in.. I thiknk it is a great idea to put pumping on there. I hated pumping at work.

- - mom160270 said
  - 09 Feb 2023
    12:32 pm
This mum is NOT the A-hole. It appears her co-workers are the ones with problems if they cannot respect the original sign or get offended by the second sign.

- - shocolatmoose said
  - 09 Feb 2023
    4:03 am
Colleagues sound like idiots if they can’t read and respect the first sign, and even more silly to complain about the updated sign. Could change it again to say “preparing bubs next meal – come back in 15 mins.” I’d also be blocking that time out in the calendar as busy.

- - ~Loui~ said
  - 09 Feb 2023
    12:06 am
Not the A…h… . They didn’t respect the boundary of a closed door with a sign. so it makes sense to change the sign.

- - tessie said
  - 08 Feb 2023
    10:12 am
You’ve done nothing wrong. You asked for 15 minutes privacy and when that didn’t work you let them know why. How do they know you weren’t on a conference call? It’s their problem not yours, so they can just go jump as far as I’m concerned. They are the ones being rude

- - rovermum said
  - 08 Feb 2023
    9:57 am
Wow! She has done everything to try and pump in private and it’s on the rest of the stuff to acknowledge and respect that.

- - cassy26 said
  - 08 Feb 2023
    9:52 am
No you are doing anything wrong at all. If anyone has a problem with it, that’s on them. They are the one with issues that they need to sort out. I’m just sorry you’ve been made to doubt yourself over this.

- - sars_angelchik said
  - 08 Feb 2023
    8:57 am
They really can’t complain against that- pretty sure the law is in your favour. For goodness sake, how hard is it to wait 15min?

- - mom489452 said
  - 08 Feb 2023
    5:24 am
Your back to work supporting your family put a sign on your door that all complaints should go to work cover and let them bury themselves . Good on you keep up the good work your are doing the best . A great MUM

- - mom101628 said
  - 07 Feb 2023
    10:17 pm
I would have thought that things like this would no longer happen in this day and age. If it is TMI for some of you co-workers then return to the previous signage and state door locked, or Back in 15 minutes.

- - 3kidmumma said
  - 07 Feb 2023
    8:47 pm
No way are you the asshole they are. Your doing something amazing for your child. They should mind there own business and be ashamed of themselves.