How employers can make work better for breastfeeding mums

Many things about returning to work after having a baby can be stressful. Working out how you’re going to pay for childcare after months of stingy maternity pay. Leaving your child in the hands of a stranger. Trying to be professional when you’re extremely sleep deprived.

And, if you’re breastfeeding, worrying about how you’ll manage to continue once you’re back at work – or whether your child will take to formula if you need to switch.

New official data illustrates the clash between breastfeeding and returning to work. The 2024 Infant Feeding Survey for England, published in July 2026, found that 56% of mothers who had returned to work did so when their baby was six to nine months old. Among mothers with babies aged eight to ten months who intended to start or return to work within the next year, 36% planned to stop or reduce breastfeeding when they returned.

Last year, University of Reading researchers found that many UK workplaces lack adequate support for breastfeeding mums. Just 23% of HR professionals reported having a breastfeeding policy, while over half of line managers lacked sufficient training. Mums reported anxiety, isolation and physical challenges, including reduced milk supply, mastitis – painful breast inflammation – and fatigue.

The UK law currently gives breastfeeding employees health and safety protections and the right to request flexible working. But, there’s no statutory right to time off to breastfeed or express. Employers aren’t legally required to provide facilities specifically for expressing and storing milk, leading many to express in unhygenic toilets or meeting rooms.

Rachael Bews is the founder of Don’t Make Me Choose, the UK campaign for paid breastfeeding and expressing rights at work. She started the campaign after she was prevented from attending a professional development programme because she needed to bring her breastfed five-month-old daughter.

“Since speaking publicly, I have heard from women who have expressed milk in toilets, weaned earlier than they wanted to, lost income, turned down opportunities or left work altogether,” she says.

“I have been incredibly fortunate to run my own business and make my own rules about breastfeeding and work. I have breastfed my children on shoots, in meetings and at conferences,” she adds.

“Hearing the horror stories of so many other mothers made me realise just how bad the situation really is, and how much needs to change. Like many people, I had assumed that breastfeeding and expressing at work were already protected as clear legal rights. I was shocked to discover that they aren’t.”

Read more: Employment tribunal time limits to double: Why it matters for women

(Towfiqu Barbhuiya/Pexels)

How employers can better support breastfeeding mums

Understand breastfeeding and the needs of working parents

Bews believes there’s often a lack of understanding about what breastfeeding actually requires. “It’s treated as a lifestyle preference that can be switched off during working hours, rather than a physical and time-sensitive need for both mother and baby. Some employers may worry about cost, disruption or setting a precedent,” she says.

“Others simply feel uncomfortable discussing breastfeeding. Because the law does not currently provide a clear, positive right to breastfeed or express at work, support can depend entirely on the knowledge, attitude and goodwill of an individual employer.”

Supporting working mums is the right thing to do both from moral and business standpoints. Studies have shown that employers who provide a breastfeeding-friendly workplace benefit from reduced staff turnover, reduced time off for sickness, more job satisfaction and increased morale.

Provide appropriate spaces and flexibility

“Too often, women are forced to express milk in toilets, cupboards, cars, open-plan offices and other wholly inappropriate places,” says Bews.

“And I have yet to hear of a workplace that has actively made it possible for a mother to breastfeed her baby during the working day, allowing her to maintain that crucial connection with her child.”

It’s also important for employers to be flexible about working time and breaks to allow a mum to either express milk or to feed her baby during the working day - either by the baby being brought to her, or using a nursery close to the workplace.

Have a clear return-to-work policy

Returning to work while breastfeeding can feel daunting, and mums shouldn’t have to navigate awkward conversations or guess what support is available. A clear, accessible breastfeeding policy, whether standalone or part of a wider maternity policy, takes away some of that uncertainty. It sets expectations, helps managers understand their responsibilities and makes sure mums know what support they can ask for.

Provide milk storage

Make a private room available for expressing and a refrigerator to store the milk. It needs to be somewhere the mum won't be disturbed – and not a toilet.

Support the proposed legal changes

Bringing in legal changes is about creating a consistent minimum standard, including flexibility, suitable facilities and protection from disadvantage, so women can stay in work. The petition to introduce the right to breastfeed and express at work is open until 14 March 2027.

“Clear legal rights would remove ambiguity for both mothers and employers. Employers would know what they are expected to provide, and mothers would not have to negotiate from a position of vulnerability or rely on goodwill,” says Bews.

“Legal change would also help shift workplace culture. It would establish that breastfeeding is a normal part of life and that women should not have to choose between feeding their child and earning a living. International labour standards already recognise the importance of paid nursing breaks and appropriate facilities, the UK should offer mothers the same basic protection,” adds Bews.

“No mother’s ability to continue breastfeeding should depend on whether she has an unusually supportive employer – or, as in my case, the privilege of being able to make her own rules.”

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