Rising Star
Related Posts
Bowl Leader
Conversation Starter
Pro
Rising Star
Mentor
More Posts
Please, make this ad on LinkedIn go away.
How to maximum save taxes for 20LPA?
Additional Posts in The Worklife Bowl
Rising Star
Visual Storyteller
Chief
Enthusiast
Rising Star
Enthusiast
Conversation Starter
New to Fishbowl?
Download the Fishbowl app to
unlock all discussions on Fishbowl.
unlock all discussions on Fishbowl.
Woman (and mom) here and think it is acceptable given the disruptions of daily life present in calls all the time now. Maybe “unprofessional” but so is your kid running around in the background interrupting you and I don’t think people would be so quick to say turn the camera off. I’ve done a few calls on video with my toddler sitting in my lap and would do the same if I were breastfeeding right now.
As a woman, I think it’s unprofessional with the camera on—just as I would find it unprofessional if a colleague were eating on camera during a call. If you need to feed your child or eat during a call, turn the damn camera off.
Female here, but that’s a big no. Would a woman seriously sit in the middle of an in-person meeting in a conference room and breastfeed their baby? It’s unprofessional. Just turn the camera off
Exactly just turn the camera off. If anyone asks she could tell them she was breast feeding.
Chief
That’s super bada$$!! Good for her. These are unprecedented times, it’s a world pandemic with kids at home for an extended period of time while working, gotta do what you have to do. It would be more weird to see her breasts leaking. Breastfeeding should be more normalized.
Maybe i can take a call while on the porcelain throne next time and leave the camera on. I mean, going to the bathroom is normal right?
Pro
I can’t believe there are still idiots who exits that compare breastfeeding to taking a shit
Rising Star
It’s professional if I am a professional and I’m doing it while doing my job. I can do both at the same time, I’m not sorry if that effects your job.
Boobs are for feeding, get over it. If it makes it easier for a woman to do her job then you can deal with having to see it. I worked from home throughout my maternity leave, camera on and zero fucks given.
It doesn't even affect their job though. People stay reaching.
Pro
If she felt she had to be on video for some reason, by all means she should be able to breastfeed on zoom.
If she was in the middle of the meeting and suddenly baby got hungry, by all means she should be able to breastfeed on zoom.
If she intentionally left video on to draw attention and make a point, then goddamn, that woman is my hero.
As a Canadian reading this post - coincidentally about to go on maternity leave for the second time soon - it’s easy to assume that most posters here are in the US. Folks, you really need to advocate for better maternity leave! I’ll be off for a year with job protection and could take up to 18 months if I want to. No concern about pumping on camera or otherwise when you’re not expected to go back to work while still healing from childbirth and trying to care for an infant.
Follow up post - if it’s okay to breastfeed on Zoom during Senate testimony - i think it was okay for this woman to do it on the team call
Legal intern 1 - I’ll concede to the breast pump point. It is an interesting fact that women are allowed to be legally topless in some places in NYC (assuming not strip clubs). Wonder why most NYC women aren’t exercising their rights.
Not trying to argue, just objectively pointing out inconsistencies in when we choose to “exercise” our rights. I’m just one for consistency if you’re going to make an argument for something.
Yesssss. Why do we keep the workspace standards from 1950s and 1960s? Why can't we reinvent new and modern ways of working? This is normal, everyone was a baby and needed mother's milk or mother's attention. Your kids will need the same!
Of course everybody's kids need the same, but that does not mean that they will livestream feeding their babies during work meetings. If morality can be defined based on some time period, then this could be the morality of 2160. You are actually behind.
Rising Star
Just turn the camera off. You don’t see me streaming from my restroom.
Chief
“Streaming”
Weird. My zoom background is literally a clip of a woman breastfeeding.
This is an interesting idea. Someone call aka Leche League! senior corporate paralegal just came up with a cannes lion winning idea!
I don’t see a problem with it. It’s the most natural thing to do, so why are putting your own (unwarranted) uneasiness around it on someone who is clearly dealing with a lot more than the ones who are apparently made uncomfortable by this. Even more so during a time where all of our lives have been disrupted. We are all doing the best we can, give her a break. Even better, do not make this an issue at all and/or about yourself, and perhaps find a way to support your colleague.
And if it matters even though it shouldn’t, I am cis-male, who generally hates kids and don’t want any, especially since we as humanity should probably stop having so many kids given the environmental impact of our numbers and how unsustainable all this is, BUT I will still defend new parents from you trolls till the end of the world.
Also, @Protiviti1 - if my self identifying as a cis male tells you that I am acknowledging my privilege as a male and that I will never know what it’s like to have a child and breastfeed, which is why I will always defer to the breastfeeding new mom in matter that effect her and do whatever I can to make her life easier regardless of my apparent discomfort around it, then yes, you have everything you need to know.
Pro
I feel like you can tilt the camera up to just at shoulder height and not worry about showing anyone or having to choose whether or not to do it, while still letting people see your face.
I’m a woman who could care less if it was a call between myself and one of my managers who’s a mom because, girl I understand, but during an official meeting that’s just strange. Seems like they’re looking for attention or something..
Don't matter to me. What matters is were the slides right?
Rising Star
It's whatever. No reason to keep cam on and no reason to turn it off.
I don't see it any differently than taking a drink of water. I could turn off my can to drink water if I wanted to, or I could keep it on. Nbd.
Rising Star
EY22: All Op had to do was minimize the window and it wouldn’t have been seen. A reminder: it is legal in the US to breastfeed in public.
Why are we shaming a woman for feeding her child which she must do and is legally entitled to do? Why didn’t Op take the initiative to stop watching?
There are certain protocols for a professional work environment. Breastfeeding on video during a work sponsored meeting is not appropriate. She could have easily done it with her camera turned off. Then no one would know. It’s distracting. If we were meeting in person, she wouldn’t breastfeed her child at work while in a meeting - this is no different. Turn off the camera and no one can see what you are actually doing.
I’m currently breastfeeding and I pump so we can bottle feed during the day, same as if I were in the office. It’s much easier to have a bottle available if someone else needs to feed him while I’m on a call, and in a pinch if I’m on a video call it’s a non-issue to bottle feed him. Everyone knows he’s breastfed, no one I work with needs to see the details of that. I have calendar blocks to pump and if my boss calls I’m very open about telling him that I’m pumping and will call back in x minutes. I think it’s perfectly acceptable to normalize breastfeeding and working, but nursing while on a video call with camera on is a bit of a reach. So easy to just say “I need to flip the camera off for a bit, but I’m still here.”
Why not just turn the camera off??? I don’t see why that wasn’t the first thought. It’s natural and I haven’t seen any comment saying “you shouldn’t be breastfeeding during a work call” which I’m proud of.
but it’s distracting to be doing that on camera during a professional meeting. This wasn’t the smartest idea.
M3 can the management also anything they want about this? Or.. you need big brother to protect your "rights".. ?
Ok.. seriously? WFH does not mean do what you want. Business rules still apply during meetings. If this woman had to return from maternity back to the actual office she would not pull out a breast pump and do that during the meeting. Same rules apply. Just turn off the camera. If it needs to be explained, the just state you are feeding your newborn and keep it moving. Or if you don't want to turn the camera off, then you can feed before the meetings. A slight change in feeding schedule from time to time will not hurt the child in anyway. Or prep a bottle and have it ready just incase. I understand the child may not prefer the bottle, but you can put breastmilk in the bottle instead of formula. A bottle every once in a while won't hurt the child either. There are many different options. I am going to chalk it up to "mommy brain" and she forgot she was not chatting with family and friends. (Hopefully she won't do that during a client meeting)
I am a woman and understand the complexities of breast feeding. Not all rules apply but the main rule of "if you don't do it in a face to face meeting, then you don't do it while on a zoom/web meeting" still applies. Yes some children have problems taking a bottle, but that is why I suggested feeding the child a bit before the meeting as an option even if it is ahead of the feeding schedule. Before you go off, let me just say.. 3 kids.. from birth to adulthood. They were both bottle feed and breast feed. 2 of the 3 had problems taking the bottle however we kept at it little by little until they baby was fine with it. Considering maternity leave was only 3 months and eventually had to go back to work I knew it was something that needed to be done because I was not fond of formula. They only formula I was ok with at the time was/is called Isomil. It was just a matter of staying calm and keep working on it. It is difficult but not impossible.
This isn’t a problem. As long as the child was an appropriate age for breastfeeding. I was dating someone in the mid-90s and we went to eat Thanksgiving dinner with her extended family. Her cousin started breastfeeding her SEVEN year old child at the table. THAT is weird.
Otherwise, breastfeeding in public is a normal and acceptable practice.
At 7 if a child is still feeding then they should consult a psychiatrist, both the mother and child need help!
Pro
For everyone saying she could have just turned her camera off, yea sure, she could have. But she didn’t want to. And she shouldn’t have to. Quit your whining.
A new mother should be able to join in a zoom call while breastfeeding. The question is does she really need to have her video turned on for that period of time. I would say not. I have no issue seeing it in public but that mother has no choice about whether a bystander witnesses it. On a zoom call there is the capacity to be off-camera.
What next, taking a dump?