Moms Share Pics Of The Worst Places They Had To Pump

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Breastfeeding is touted as one of the best and healthiest things for new babies, so why is it so stinking hard for working moms to find a place to express breast milk? It’s no surprise to many nursing (or pumping-only) moms to find out that mothers everywhere are pumping in weird, uncomfortable, and sometimes downright gross situations.

In fact, there’s even an organization that started in retaliation to milky moms’ fight for clean and appropriate pumping spaces at work. Among other issues, MomsRising advocates for nursing moms to highlight their experiences and demand change.Which is fantastic, because moms who are making milk for their babies shouldn’t be resigned to pumping in their cars or hiding in closets hoping no one walks in.

Here are the fifteen worst places moms have had to pump, and this is just the beginning of awful pumping locations moms have dealt with while nursing.

15Do It Standing

Mom Audrey shared this snap via Twitter, in which she’s standing in her company’s bathroom while pumping. We applaud this mom’s courage in pumping in the wide-open, since a lot of moms are shy about pumping and would prefer to huddle in a corner. We’d hazard a guess that she could be walked in on any time, since this looks like a bathroom with multiple stalls.

Obviously the outlet location isn’t ideal, since she’s forced to stand to pump, and there’s no way she can hide if someone walks in. Plus, when women are washing their hands at the sink, she could get spritzed with water. Luckily, Audrey says this was at her last job, so we hope she’s moved on to a better workplace with a dedicated lactation room!

14McDonald’s Slammed For Bathroom Pumping

Huffington Post reported on a fast-food worker who returned to her job after having a baby. After breast feeding for the three months she was home with her new baby, the mom wanted to continue making milk by pumping on her breaks. Even though her manager required a doctor’s note, which the mom provided, her supervisors refused to give the mom a private area to pump that met the legal requirements for nursing moms on the job.

This determined mama resorted to pumping in the (public) bathroom at the McDonald’s location, which is bad enough, but then her manager forbid her the use of even a dirty public restroom to express milk for her baby. The employee had to clock out, travel to a nearby library, and use their bathroom to pump in. Ultimately legal action earned better conditions for lactating mamas at this particular store.

13While Moving At Top Speeds

Mom Jen shares on Twitter that while on an Amtrak train, she had to pump in a cramped and dirty bathroom. There also wasn’t a lactation room at the Chicago Union Station, which she stopped at during her travels. Being on a train has to be one of the worst places to pump just because it’s moving so fast, and we hope Jen keeps a good hold on the milk so she doesn’t end up sloshing it all over the place.

Being in close quarters with a bunch of other people isn’t fun anyway, but being stuck on a train and needing to pump, only to find out that you have to use the bathroom truly sucks. Maybe this tweet will spur change with Amtrak, and they’ll at least add some lactation rooms to their station facilities.

12Stains Of Past Pumpers

Mom’s serving up milk for her baby, so the name might be appropriate, but the location is lacking in a few basic pumping amenities. Apart from an outlet, nursing moms need a (somewhat clean) surface to set their pump and the resulting milk on. As KUOW employee Isolde Raftery wrote after her return to work following maternity leave, lactating moms plug their pumps in to an extension cord that hangs from the ceiling.

The dated office chair is stained with old milk spills, and there doesn’t appear to be a sink or other counter space. Any mom who’s done the pumping and pouring routine knows that there’s a high chance of spilling milk if you’re trying to hold one bottle between your knees while pouring the other one into it. But hey, at least this location has a door that locks.

11The Irony Of Dairy Storage

KUOW shared this image of mom Stephanie Parker’s pumping space, which happens to be a storage room at the dairy export company she works for. This pumping mom says the irony of pumping in the dairy supply room isn’t lost on her, and the room does have one thing going for it- it’s not in a bathroom.

By the looks of it, there might even be a fridge in the back corner, although that office chair doesn’t look very comfortable for pumping moms. Plus, is there a sink in this room? We doubt it. So mom probably has to wash her pump parts and store the milk in the bathroom, or risk embarrassment or judgment from coworkers if she uses the employee break room. Then again, since it’s a dairy facility, maybe they won’t mind.

10Soggy In More Ways Than One

Every nursing or pumping mom is used to getting a little soggy from time to time from spills, but it looks like this pumping scenario has the potential to turn into a full-body drenching. We suppose that a shower is a step up from a toilet area as far as bathrooms go, but a shower with an uncomfortable chair isn’t our idea of the best milk-producing ambiance.

The worst thing about this pumping setup, a group of moms told KUOW, is that this medical center actually has lactation rooms. A group of moms (eight of them for this one shower stall) can’t make it to the lactation room in the time they have to pump. It’s either don’t pump at all, or pump in the shower room, and for these nursing moms, it’s clear that making milk is a priority.

9This Mom Almost Broke The Internet

Mom and social worker Mazzalai Nguyen became internet famous when she shared a pic of herself pumping in a hotel lobby. She told US Magazine that she was fed up with the staff at the hotel she was attending a seminar at, since they shut down every reasonable request she made for a space to pump.

Their excuses ranged from they didn’t have any clean rooms to put her in (Nguyen says she found vacant rooms on Expedia), to the hotel’s conference room doors didn’t lock (Nguyen said she didn’t care), to only the General Manager had a private office and it had glass windows (Nguyen also didn’t mind this option). In the end, Nguyen sat down on what we hope was a comfy chair in the hotel’s lobby, set up her pump, and got to work making her baby’s milk. We hope she gave the staff what-for too.

8Milk Making On The Fly – Literally

It’s hard to pump when traveling- even if you’re only driving 20 minutes from home. Packing supplies, tubing, the pump, extra bottles, and a cooler with ice is just the beginning. Add luggage and layovers to that mess, and you’ve got a pumping mom who learns to dread traveling. Plus, TSA requirements state moms can take pumped milk on the plane, but we’ve seen one too many social media posts about agents who unceremoniously dump out moms’ milk anyway.

At least this mom found an outlet and was daring enough to pump in a public spot! For moms who travel a lot for their jobs, their first priority is often to find a pumping-friendly location. Even if the bathroom was her first choice for some semblance of privacy (without considering the ick factor), outlets aren’t always conveniently located.

7Flooring It For Baby

This mom will do anything to get her baby fed, including sitting on a germ-infested bathroom floor to pump milk. It’s infuriating to see moms pumping in bathrooms in the first place, but this mom’s employer didn’t even provide a chair. Luckily her pump is a portable, battery-powered one, so she’s not tied to an outlet to get the milk out.

We suppose sitting on the floor is a better alternative than sitting on the open toilet, since it doesn’t seem to have a lid, plus we imagine there are germs on every surface in there. It almost makes me grateful for the times I had to pump in a bathroom, because at least I was responsible for cleaning it, so I knew it would be somewhat sanitary. That, and I had a spot to sit that wasn’t an open toilet.

6Multitasking Like Only A Mother Could

With MomsRising’s hashtag, #ipumpedhere, this mom shares her less-than-ideal pumping situation. We imagine she’s parked for this pumping selfie, but at least she’s handsfree, so she probably pumps on the road too. Of course, many moms do, especially those with a long commute or lack of pumping location if they travel during the workday.

What sucks about this pumping location is she has to either run her AC or heat, depending on the weather, and people walking by can just look in while she’s parked. Definitely not the privacy of those cushy pumping rooms that we’ve seen elsewhere. Plus, she then has to transport the milk, and what happens if she spills some in her car? Rancid mama milk smells just as good as any other spoiled milk, but now it’ll be all over the car.

5School’s In (Pumping) Session

This pic bugs us for so many reasons, but we’ll start with the fact that there’s an extension cord running under the door for mama’s pump. As if lugging a pump and supplies and bottles around isn’t enough, this mom also has to find and plug in an extension cord, drag a couple chairs into the bathroom, then get started pumping. We sincerely hope she has enough time in her schedule to fit in the actual milk making, because this setup would have us dreading each pumping session.

Whether she’s a teacher or school staff, there’s no excuse for this mama not having a more sanitary and convenient place to pump, considering that many teachers have offices, plus there has to be a nurse’s room or something, right? Wouldn’t a first aid setup room make more sense than an unhygienic bathroom that doesn’t even have counter space or an outlet?

4Unwelcome Visitors

Another contribution to MomsRising campaign, this cluttered photo shows a variety of supplies in a storage room with very little space for mom and her set of milk makers. Is that chair with the box on it where she’s supposed to sit? And are those cords plugged in somewhere, or is there an outlet buried behind the stacks of junk that are piled up?

We’re a little nervous for this mom’s safety, but at least the space has a door that closes and hopefully locks. Still, with the range of supplies that are in here- projector, coffee pots, electrical components- odds are, someone’s going to come looking for an item while this mom is pumping. Every pumping mom dreads hearing someone try the door while they’re pumping, and this is the worst since she’s in storage central for the entire office.

3The Copy Room Cliche

This awkward setup has us shaking our heads for a few reasons. First, there’s clearly a copy machine right inside the door, likely the primary use of this room. We can imagine a queue lined up to make copies as this mom exits with her pump and freshly made milk. Then there’s the fact that this is some kind of control room- is that a wireless router we spy on the wall?

We hope that tech support or computer engineers don’t need to get in here for any reason, especially when this mom is pumping, because interruptions while you’re trying to make milk are obnoxious and uncomfortable. However, this mom told KUOW that her agency was planning a location move, and that the new space would have a dedicated lactation room. Hang in there, mama!

2Taking Care Of Business Times Two

Mom Lee Ann Yonker shared on Twitter that she was going to Vegas for business, and that her little girl was back at home. We’re sorta jealous of this mom because she wrote that she has Freemie Cups, which every nursing and exclusively pumping mom lusts after! Freemies are a hands-free pump that includes cups that fit into your bra. So it’s not that shocking that this mom was pumping in the airport and inside a casino, because her pump is fairly discreet.

Other than the odd tubes coming from her chest, this mom’s pumping situation isn’t that noticeable. However, pumping in a smoky casino isn’t our idea of enjoyable milk making, especially knowing that we’ll probably have to visit a bathroom after to pour the milk into bottles and store it. Then again, maybe this mom has a hotel room and a fridge, in which case this might not be the worst pumping scenario we’ve seen.

1Uncomfortable In Every Way

This mom told KUOW that her office is too small for her to pump in, and her company doesn’t offer a lactation room for milky mamas. At least she has a portable pump, so she’s not tied to an outlet for power, but it can’t be comfortable pumping in her car. Trust me, I’ve been there, in 80 degree temps with the windows up and trying to hide from coworkers as they walked past my car.

We also wonder though if this mom shares an office with coworkers, and maybe that’s why she pumps in her car rather than negotiate better pumping conditions. At least this way, her entire office doesn’t know that she’s taking a pumping break, because we know some uneducated types feel squeamish when we talk about making milk for our babies.

Sources: MomsRising.com, KUOW.org, HuffingtonPost.com, USMagazine.com, Twitter

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The Trendy Boutique That Employs People With Special Needs - ZABS Place in North Carolina provides on-site job training and business skills

Read article : The Trendy Boutique That Employs People With Special Needs - ZABS Place in North Carolina provides on-site job training and business skills

“Hello, welcome to ZABS Place! My name is Aaron.”

Aaron Roochvarg sports an award-winning smile. He’s there at the door, enthusiastically greeting customers when they enter the store and asking if they need any assistance finding items.

“How did you hear about ZABS Place?” he asks.

“I’ve been here a few times,” reports the customer. “Thank you, Aaron, for all of your help!”

“You are very welcome!” comes the reply.

It’s just a few minutes after 10 a.m. (opening time) and a stream of people file into ZABS Place in the charming town of Matthews, a 20-minute drive from Charlotte, N.C. There is a buzz around town about the quality and selection of clothing, books, games, toys, home goods, handbags, greeting cards and more at this thrift boutique that opened nearly three years ago.

It’s obvious that the selection of merchandise is excellent. But it doesn’t take long for first-time shoppers to realize just how special ZABS Place is. Colorful signs around the store inform customers that “ZABS Place is a thrift boutique employing young adults with special talents.” (The word “talents” appears over the crossed-off word “needs.”) The store’s website advertises it as “Affordable. Upscale. Inclusive.” That it’s all about “providing opportunities, realizing potential and having fun.”

Aaron Roochvarg (Photo: Howard Blas)

‘10 Years From Now . . . ’

In one part of the store, three teenagers sip frozen drinks and banter about whether or not an outfit “looks cute.” In another, mothers with kids in tow throw a few outfits over their arms, heading for the dressing room. All the while, half-a-dozen young adults with special needs are doing their jobs in every area of running a business. Roochvarg, 27, continues to greet and assist customers. Erin Keeter, 28, is organizing children’s games. And Jonathan Gale, a 22-year-old employee who has been with the store from the start and now works 10 hours a week, is shelving books.

He picks up a holiday cookbook and perceptively asks his supervisor, “Should this book be here? It is not near holiday time!” She suggests he move it to another section.

In the back corner of ZABS Place, Cammie Wilson, 25, is straightening books and games on a high shelf as employment coordinator Alison Dugo, 30, looks on. “If you can’t reach this, what you should do?” asks Dugo. Wilson carefully considers the question and suggests bringing a ladder next time.

Dugo has been working at ZABS place for two years. In addition to teaching job skills, she spends a great deal of time on soft skills—the not-so-obvious, real-life know-how needed to be successful and professional at work. These include dressing appropriately, having a positive attitude, knowing how to act in the break room, and learning how to get along with fellow workers and bosses. Dugo thinks quite a bit about the employees’ futures. “I ask them: What do you imagine doing 10 years from now? What are you good at? What do you want to be good at; what is challenging for you?”

ZABS Place offers everything from clothing and toys to home goods and greeting cards. (Photo: Len Weinstein)

In many ways, ZABS Place is intentionally designed to be a training ground and stepping stone to future employment elsewhere in the community.

While Dugo is working with Wilson, Rochel Groner—co-director of ZABS Place and Friendship Circle of Charlotte, with her husband, Rabbi Bentzion Groner—is up front with Keeter, patiently going over how to use the store’s scheduling program on the iPad to request time off. The young woman and her family are planning a trip to Canada in a few weeks, and she is learning the various drag-down menu options, which include vacation days, sick leave and time needed for a personal or family emergency.

Keeter works in the store Mondays and Thursdays sorting children’s clothing and organizing the toy section. She is also one of the artists and craftspeople with special needs who have signed a consignment agreement with ZABS Place to sell their creative works. She photographs flowers near her home and makes them into greeting cards. “I sold three last week!” she reports.

(Photo: Len Weinstein)

Hannah Strunck, 18, is also a consignor, making bath crystals, balms and creams at home to be displayed and sold at ZABS Place alongside jewelry, journals and non-noise-producing fidget toys. Hannah’s older brother, Andy, 27, works at the store two days a week for 90 minutes each day, cleaning floors, hanging clothes, and dusting shelves. He comes with his longtime-care staff member, Aaron, who serves as a job coach.

“Andy feels proud, he feels welcomed, and he can sustain work without complaining,” according to his parents, Michael Strunck and Ruth Singer-Strunck. “For him, this is a huge accomplishment.”

‘A Really Important Place’

For the Strunck family, ZABS Place is more than a vocational training program for their children; it is a source of Jewish pride and identity. While the main indicators that the store has a Jewish affiliation are the mezuzahs on all doors and a sign indicating that it is closed on Shabbat (it’s open on Sundays from noon to 6 p.m.), ZABS Place has become a second “Jewish home” for the Struncks.

“It is a really important place. Much here in North Carolina is Christian-based,” observes Ruth Singer-Strunck, who grew up in New Jersey and moved to Charlotte from South Florida several years ago. “You often hear about a church doing this or a pastor doing that [for a good cause]. It made me feel especially good to have my kids involved in something Jewish. This is a connection to my community. I feel more plugged in and want my kids to have a connection to the Jewish faith.”

They’ve joined the Groners for Passover seder, and their children have participated in Friendship Circle.

A young customer checks out baseball caps. (Photo: Len Weinstein)

Cheryl Slane and her family, former members of the Charlotte Jewish community now living in New Orleans, agree wholeheartedly with the sentiments expressed by the Struncks.

“Chabad believes that every neshamah [soul] has a place,” she says. Long involved with Friendship Circle, she looks to ZABS Place as a model for training young adults with special needs, like their son, Ben, who’s almost 20. “Giving people with a disability a place to work is pretty amazing. That’s what we are trying to do here in New Orleans. There are so few job sites in the country for people with special needs.”

Numerous Charlotte families have gotten to know the Groners through their children’s participation in Friendship Circle, which in many ways was the birthplace for ZABS Place.

“When Jonathan was a junior in high school, we asked him what he wanted to do. He didn’t want to continue in high school; he wanted to work,” recall his parents, Caren and Charlie Gale. “We wanted a place that would understand him in his fullness—with all of his abilities and disabilities. We sat around the kitchen table and said, ‘What can we do to help Jonathan and all the families we have met in waiting rooms all these years?”

The former clarinetist and screenwriter couple, longtime transplants from Los Angeles, had an idea—open a business. The Gales approached the Groners, “concerned about people like Jonathan, who were getting older, and what to do when they age out of Friendship Circle.”

(Photo: Len Weinstein)

‘A High Bar for Our Children’

Rochel Groner adds some important details in the evolution and growth of ZABS Place.

“In 2012, some Friendship Circle families approached us and asked if we would start a Jewish group home,” she explains. The Groners were more focused on vocational training and the overall lives of young adults with special needs as they got older. “We wondered: ‘What are they doing meaningfully during the day?’ When I would ask parents what their child was good at, many didn’t know. We had to do something.”

Rochel went home and started brainstorming. She was generating ideas for businesses with low overhead and thought of a thrift store. She searched online for “thrift stores and disabilities,” and came across Our Thrift Store in Franklin, Tenn., which provides 25 ongoing jobs for young adults with special needs. “A few months later, when Friendship Circle was on break for the summer, we made the nine-hour drive to see the program.”

Dave Krikac, the store’s founder, was very helpful in providing guidance about the ins and outs of starting and running a thrift shop. When the Groners returned to Charlotte from Tennessee, they met with the Gales and discovered that they, too, had been thinking about starting a business for people with special needs.

Keeter organizes a section of books. (Photo: Howard Blas)

Rochel’s formal training is in Jewish education; she was a classroom teacher for 10 years. She also notes with a small smile, “I did help run a basement business with family members many years ago in Baltimore, selling Israeli skirts.” At the time, Groner learned many things, including web design, though she acknowledges that the business was “minimally successful.”

When she and Bentzion married in 2005, they moved to Charlotte. In 2007, she began working with Bentzion at Friendship Circle International, an organization that creates chapters in local communities to foster relationships and friendships between typically developing teens and children with special needs. Through her work with Friendship Circle, Rochel acquired a great deal of experience in working with people who had all kinds of abilities.

“We know from Friendship Circle that everyone is unique, and has hidden qualities and something to share,” states Bentzion. In imagining a workplace for people with special needs, the Groners strongly believed that employees with special needs would develop social skills through their jobs.

Truth be told, “there were a lot of ups and downs” on the road to starting a thrift store, attests Rochel. “We looked at 25 places in a year and a half,” adds Bentzion. “Even when it got tough, people like the Gales stood behind us,” helping with fundraising and much of the behind-the-scenes work.

Rabbi Bentzion and Rochel Groner

Throughout the sometimes challenging startup process, the Groners stood fast to their sense of mission and their dedication to the people they serve. “It was a community effort—totally a partnership,” says the rabbi. Many helped gather, transport and store merchandise, as well as remove room dividers, strip and repaint walls, and more.

They credit Rochel with an eye for business and an easy demeanor. “Rochel is sweet, dedicated, hardworking and intelligent. When we met, I thought she was too young to work,” jokes Ruth Singer-Strunck, commenting on the 30-something’s young appearance.

Work she does, 24/6, her only day off being on Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath, when the store is closed.

“Rochel had a vision—a place that was bright and airy, where people will want to shop,” adds Caren Gale. “It has attracted a cross-section of people, from young thrifters to people struggling financially, and they buy because they feel like mensches here.”

Singer-Strunck also has kind words for the Groners: “They are lovely, good people doing good work. Rochel delivered on a concept. She knew what she wanted it to look like.”

Caren Gale agrees. “I admire her attention to detail, and her desire to run a store that is both professional and beautiful.”

But perhaps most importantly, she says, “Rochel sets a high bar for our children—everything parents of a child with special needs could hope for.” Her husband, Charlie, adds that “she has such an affinity to this population and believes strongly in what they can do.”

Caren and Charlie Gale, parents of employee Jonathan Gale (Photo: Howard Blas)

‘A Wonderfully Nurturing Place’

Another fan of the Chabad emissaries is Lisa Shporer, a community member with more than 10 years of retail experience. Shporer volunteers 20 to 30 hours a week, and sees herself as the “snow-globe shaker” since she is known for “shaking things up” at ZABS Place.

Her connection to the Groners and ZABS Place is uniquely personal. Her son, Zachary, died of leukemia in 2012, at the age of 19. He was a student at the American Hebrew Academy in Greensboro, N.C., and an active volunteer with such organizations as the Special Olympics, student council and Friendship Circle.

Community member and volunteer Lisa Shporer, whose 19-year-old son Zachary died of leukemia in 2011. The store is named in his memory. (Photo: Howard Blas)

The Groners, who had a special relationship with Zachary, approached the family at shiva about “doing something in his merit.” They decided to name the soon-to-be opened ZABS Place in his memory, using the initials of his Hebrew name: Zechariah Avraham Baruch. A sign and picture near the checkout station explains the origin of the store’s name.

Elias Roochvarg, the longtime cantor at Temple Israel of Charlotte and the father of Aaron is pleased with ZABS Place and his son’s work there. “It is a wonderfully nurturing place for adults with special talents,” he says, adding that his son looks forward to two afternoons a week there. “As parents of an employee and as members of the community, we shepped parental and communal nachas knowing how much our son is thriving as a result of the staff, and how great a service to the community Chabad is performing in this endeavor.”

Caren Gale is proud that Jonathan feels “confident and really productive,” creating the book section at ZABS Place. “Our hope is to be a model for other communities and to expand; it is always a process where we refine and add. We all need to find our own path. Why shouldn’t these kids?”

Employment coordinator Alison Dugo (Photo: Howard Blas)" />

Employment coordinator Alison Dugo (Photo: Howard Blas)

Merchandise With a Mission

Customers say they appreciate the variety and quality of merchandise at ZABS Place as well as the mission behind it. They learn an important lesson about people, in particular, the abilities of people with special needs.

“It’s nice to see their impressions evolve,” says Rochel. “For many, it is their first opportunity to come this close to people with special needs. ZABS Place helps them build educated opinions—that all people are important and can do things. We even see their patience when one of our employees is at the cash register.”

Caren Gale acknowledges that she hadn’t “anticipated at the start the role ZABS Place would have in educating the community. A byproduct of the program is that people came in, and their minds were changed. People were moved.”

Rochel says she never imagined directing a thrift shop. “But of all the jobs I’ve had, I am most excited to come here. I just love the people!”

She adds: “People ask me if I still teach. And I do. I teach here, every day.”

Photographs of Rochel Groner helping a child with autism on a transatlantic flight went viral on Facebook.

In fact, the general population got an opportunity to witness Rochel’s abilities firsthand. Several weeks ago, Rochel and Bentzion were on a flight back to the United States, via Belgium, after chaperoning a Birthright Israel trip. About an hour into the flight, a young boy with autism began screaming and crying. Passengers began getting upset, and the mother seemed unsure of what to do. Rochel approached the boy with her hand out, which he grasped; the two then spent a few hours playing near a bulkhead on the plane. A photo posted by Bentzion on Facebook went viral, generating more than 6,500 Likes.

That didn’t surprise members of the Charlotte community and those affiliated with ZABS Place. Singer-Strunck made it a point to say “that is who she is. She saw that a kid was in trouble; it didn’t matter who. This is their world. They are immersed in the work they do.”

Alison Dugo knows that all the attention on Rochel must have been tough. “She is humble and shy. For her, it is a calling—what she thinks she should be doing.”

“I didn’t like it,” admits Groner. “But I will survive the attention,” she says, as long as it’s been an opportunity for others to learn. “I hope what comes out of this is the ability for people to realize that they can reach out and offer support to one another, instead of staring or being apathetic. We’re all different, and the onus is on the community to make it work for everyone.”

It’s what her mother always taught, says the Chabad emissary: “Leave the world a better place than how you found it.”

Helping a customer with her selections. (Photo: Len Weinstein)

Len Weinstein browses through the wide variety of items at ZABS Place.