Mothers In Medicine Podcast · Mothers In Medicine

Breastfeeding at work: Dr Hollie Hearfield

·24 min·1 clip

30% of doctors were expressing in toilets, and 15% in broom cupboards.

A doctor joins Dr Scholler for a conversation about breastfeeding while working in medicine. It starts with numbers that are hard to ignore. The discussion points to doctors expressing in toilets, broom cupboards, photocopy rooms, under stairwells, and even by patient bedsides. These are not edge cases. They point to a wider workplace problem. The episode also sets those experiences against the public health message that breastfeeding should be supported. That contrast gives the conversation its weight. The gap between recommendation and reality is wide. Scholler and her guest stay close to lived experience rather than drifting into abstract policy talk. A memory of supervision and maternity leave brings the issue into sharp personal focus. The episode sits with humiliation, tears, and the feeling of not being able to go through the same thing again. It then broadens into research findings gathered from women across specialties and regions. Many of those comments describe ridicule, eye rolls, whispers, and a lack of support. Some of the hardest moments come from women judging other women. The conversation notes how often working mothers were told, explicitly or implicitly, to follow the same timetable someone else had used. It also includes a story about threats to maternity leave pay if someone returned to work and breastfed or expressed at work. From there, the tone shifts toward reflection. The guest talks about confidence, age, and experience. She describes a decision not to put herself or her child through that kind of situation again. The episode closes with practical advice about speaking up, taking opportunities, and owning professional value instead of shrinking around it. The result is a conversation that is candid, uneasy, and useful.

As heard by us

A blunt, humane look at how work still fails breastfeeding doctors.

The episode treats breastfeeding at work as a question of dignity, time, and basic institutional respect, not a private parenting choice. It moves between hard figures, research, and lived reality, from expressing in toilets and broom cupboards to photocopy rooms and under…

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You want an honest look at why breastfeeding at work in the NHS can feel so hard.

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