Survey: Breastfeeding Employees Not Getting the Necessary Workplace Support

In August 2023, the Department of Labor (DOL) launched the “Power to Pump” campaign, an initiative designed to raise awareness of the workplace protections nursing workers are afforded by law at agencies everywhere.

Led by the agency’s Wage and Hour division, the initiative included DOL staff members dispensing thousands of information cards on the PUMP for Nursing Mothers Act, which went into effect in April 2023. The legislation extended protections to millions of nursing parents, affording them the right to receive break time to pump and private places to pump at work, and enabling workers to sue their employers if they do not comply with the law.

DOL employees also distributed resources to community-based organizations nationwide, with district representatives taking part in a series of outreach activities and presentations in local communities to promote understanding of the PUMP Act’s benefits.

New survey findings indicate that, despite such efforts, there is still work to do on this front, particularly in the workplace.

Fielded by Mamava and Medela, the 2024 State of Breastfeeding Survey polled more than 6,600 U.S. parents who are currently nursing or have breastfed within the last two years.

More than 80% of respondents work in some capacity, with 63% saying they work full-time, and another 18% reporting that they work on a part-time basis. Among this group, the majority (66%) said they have a workplace lactation space, but one out of three respondents cannot access, or are not aware of, a workplace lactation space they are free to use on a consistent basis, according to the survey report. In addition, 43% said they are still not clear on the PUMP for Nursing Mothers Act’s provisions.

“These findings suggest that employers could be doing a better job of providing lactation accommodations and educating breastfeeding employees about their legal rights,” the survey report read.

According to the poll, nearly half (46%) of breastfeeding parents use a breast pump in addition to direct feeding at the breast. Sixty percent of respondents cited the logistics of pumping—packing, transporting a pump, cleaning pump parts, for example—as their top breastfeeding challenge.

Such findings illustrate that most breastfeeding parents pump as well, and highlight the need for American society—including the workplace—to do more to provide lactation infrastructure, according to the survey.

“We know that parents who engage with our two brands are often really committed to breastfeeding,” said Mamava co-founder and CEO Sascha Mayer, in a statement. “So, it’s notable that the survey findings reveal that even those folks, who are going to great lengths to set up systems that allow them to meet their breastfeeding goals, are still not finding the breastfeeding support they need.”