Firsthand Accounts of U.S. Teachers Pumping Milk at Work: A Poetic Inquiry

Abstract

This article uses poetic inquiry (Faulkner, 2016; Leavy, 2015; Prendergast, 2009) to foreground the firsthand experiences of K-12 teachers expressing milk at work in the United States. The poems illustrate a fundamental irony for the predominantly female-identified teaching force: Teachers are expected to nurture other people’s children without proper time, space, and resources to nurture their infants via pumping milk while at work. The poems demonstrate a need for additional time and space to express milk and a need for clear policies and practices to support pregnancy, birth, and bodyfeeding for teachers. More universally, the poems speak to the regimented nature of schools and the impact on teacher’s bodies. The first four poems were each written from four individual participant interviews, and member-checked with each participant. The last three poems are a compilation of direct responses from 20 participants describing the feelings, sensations, and emotions related to pumping at work.