Geneviève’s Breastfeeding Story

“I’m a first responder working atypical shifts so pumping at work on a schedule is almost impossible.
I asked if I could work a day schedule, and my employer said no because of operational needs.
I knew that wouldn’t work if I wanted to continue breastfeeding, which I did.

There’s a CNESST program in Quebec called Une Maternité Sans Danger, which is generally known for protecting pregnant women in at risk jobs. But, it also applies to breastfeeding moms.

No one at my job knew about that program. I didn’t know about it either. A friend of mine who had also wanted to continue breastfeeding after her maternity leave told me about it. Essentially, you have to prove that there is danger for your milk.
It’s a lot more restricted than for pregnancy, where you simply have to prove that there’s a physical danger for your baby.

For breastfeeding, you have to demonstrate that there is a possible contaminant that can get into your breastmilk. So, I argued that I could be assaulted or be stabbed by a dirty needle, and need tritherapy. Both of those things have happened to me in my career. It’s actually ironic because it’s kind of rare that people have to do tritherapy, which is taking pills against HIV and hepatitis when you are exposed to a biological contaminant.

I had a case in 2018 where I got a tiny little boo boo after being scratched by a drug user, and I actually had to do tritherapy. And as a result I had to postpone trying to get pregnant for six months because the drugs are super toxic for a fetus.

My argument was that, that medication is not compatible with breastfeeding (which it isn’t). My job is very very very unpredictable, anything can happen during a shift. I said, ‘’Look, I don’t know if it would happen while I’m breastfeeding, but it could happen, and it has happened to me before, when I wasn’t expecting it.’’

So they retained my argument and they gave me a year of light duty. This has allowed me to continue breastfeeding. Otherwise, I would’ve had to wean my daughter before she was ready.
I’m lucky that we have a public program that supports breastfeeding mothers this way!”