I got invited to a meeting this week at work about "breastmilk storage concerns". I may be jumping to conclusions, but I get the impression that there may have been a complaint about somebody storing milk in a refrigerator other than the one in the lactation room. There's a mention of how to deal with storage constraints if we are "required to store milk in a designated cooler". There's simply not enough room for everyone pumping to store their milk in the lactation room, and as a matter of convenience I don't currently store mine there, and wouldn't prefer to regardless of the space available.
Some quick online research got me statements from CDC, OSHA, and Dept. of HHS that breastmilk is not considered a bodily fluid, Universal Precautions do not apply, is not considered a biohazard, and can therefore be stored alongside regular food. I plan to bring that information to the meeting, ready to pounce on anyone who says that we need to segregate our milk. (I've included the links below, sorry if there's any issues with them).
I wanted to ask here, too, whether anyone had experienced anything similar or had any resources they could share. I feel pretty good about what I have currently, and I know that at least one other woman is on board with me pushing back if needed (I haven't talked to the others yet). But I'm also this mix of excited to advocate for us and pissed off that I have to in the first place, and mostly wanted to share with people who get it.
I get why people might assume that we should store milk separately, but anyone in a place of authority should do some very basic research before trying to assert that assumption over what a pumping mother does. It took me one google search to find the first source that says it's not a bodily fluid, and not much more time to find the other resources. I've been pretty happy so far with my employer's support of my pumping, mostly based on the pretty nice lactation room we've been provided, which I know is better than what some women have. But the fact that a bunch of grown adults can get squeamish over breastmilk is really disappointing.
Submitted December 05, 2016 at 11:00PM by serendipity37 http://ift.tt/2gUSFzo breastfeeding
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