BREAST IS BEST

from Standout Magazine Winter 2021

SPOOKY BUSINESS

Is it possible to work on an event site and breastfeed your baby at the same time? Chrissie Gilbert, a live events freelancer, shares her experiences of working with LS Events, Method and Massive this summer, whilst breastfeeding her baby girl

BABY MARLOW ON SITE

Labour MP Stella Creasy’s recent appearance in the House of Commons with her three-month-old son in a sling, sparked a huge debate as to whether it is appropriate to take young children to work.

The MP for Walthamstow faced a backlash for complaining about being censured by Parliamentary authorities for taking part in a Commons debate whilst holding Pip, her baby boy. Pip, who is breastfed, has regularly attended the Commons, as has Creasy’s daughter, Hettie, when she was a baby.

The MP’s experience has raised questions about how businesses and organisations can support breastfeeding mothers who want to return to work. Furthermore, Creasy’s comments have received huge media attention, with many people commenting on the lack of family-friendly measures and facilities for new parents, a need for better parental rights, and whether babies should be allowed in workplaces.

RETURN TO WORK

This summer, the events industry faced huge resource issues; staff challenges are not expected to disappear in 2022. So, is there anything that the events industry can do to support flexible working and experienced events professionals that want to return to work after they have had a child, and in particular, breastfeeding mums?

Chrissie Gilbert has worked in the live events industry for 17 years. In February, Gilbert gave birth prematurely to Marlow, a baby girl, who is combination fed [meaning she takes breast milk, expressed breast milk (EBM) in a bottle and formula from a bottle]. But has breastfeeding stopped Gilbert from returning to festival sites? In a word, no.

Since August, Gilbert has been facilitated by LS Events, Method, LFX Events, and Massive, which have worked with Gilbert to support her return to work on festival sites.

Gilbert explained: “My daughter Marlow was born in February. She was seven weeks early. Marlow had a short stay in the newborn intensive care unit and then we both spent a month in hospital together. She was born before she had the suck, swallow, breath reflex needed for breastfeeding so needed to be NG (nasogastric) tube fed for 24 days whilst I recovered, and she learned how to breastfeed! There was a lot of emphasis put on the importance of breastfeeding Marlow, as she was premature, so it became something I was keen to do to help her.”

Gilbert knew she wanted to return to work. Equally, she knew she would have to express [pump] milk whilst on an event site. She continued: “Pumping/expressing breast milk isn’t as easy as turning on a tap. You must be in the right head space, milk production is all linked to hormones, feeling happy and safe. In hospital I was advised to find a nice warm, comfy space, have photos of my baby and videos to watch whilst I pumped.”

REASONABLE ADJUSTMENTS

Gilbert is an experienced events professional, with a background in touring and site/event management. This year, however, all Gilbert’s roles saw her taking positions within event control rooms as event controller/manager; roles which fitted her needs perfectly as a new mum. So, how did organisers and production companies react to Gilbert’s request for a safe and comfortable space that would allow her to breastfeed Marlow?

“This is the first time we’ve had the opportunity to support a mum on site in this way,” commented Steve Reynolds, operations director at LS Events. “We have great people working for us and it’s important that whether they are working for us on a permanent, fixed-term or freelancer contract they are comfortable to have families. We want to ensure we retain the amazing people in this industry so it’s important we make reasonable adjustments to support our team.”

CHRISSIE GILBERT, MARLOW AND ASH WHITEHEAD

BREAST MILK STORAGE

Gilbert worked for LS Events on All Points East (APE) and Mighty Hoopla. The live event management specialist talked to Gilbert about her specific needs and provided Gilbert with an accommodation buy out so that Gilbert could bring her mum and Marlow to London, provided site passes for her mum and Marlow so that Marlow could have her mid-day feed, supplied a fridge for storing expressed milk, provided a clean space for washing up breast pump equipment, provided a comfortable chair for feeding Marlow when she came to site and gave Gilbert access to a private space to put breast pumps in.

Gilbert explained further: “My main requests for working on site this year have always been to have access to a fridge and facilities to wash my breast pump.

“Because Marlow is combi-fed, I can be away from Marlow at length, but what that means is I need to express for comfort and to keep my milk supply in for when I return home. On site, I would aim to express roughly every four hours whilst I was separated from her.

“I chose to invest in a set of Elvie Breast Pumps, which were central to my ability to return to work with minimal changes. These pumps slot into your bra and are almost silent. I’ve expressed during ELT meetings, egress and even an aftershow! But not all pumps are like this. The pumps I chose to use for work meant I only needed a space to pop them in and take them out.”

HASSLE-FREE

Gilbert talked to all her clients before going on site and made a few requests; maximum 14-hour days, accommodation buyouts, site passes for her mum and Marlow, a comfortable space to feed Marlow in, support in ensuring she got fed regularly [breastfeeding burns a lot of calories], and plenty of drinking water.

John Tasker, a partner at Massive, the mass participation specialist, also worked with Gilbert this summer on the Great North Run. He said: “We’ve provided breast feeding facilities at lots of events, but Chrissie was our first breastfeeding mum working in our on-site team. Looking at the age profile of the people in the teams we work with, it’s something we’re expecting to see a bit more of. The experience just reinforced what we suspected – it was a simple, hassle-free way to support one of the team and selfishly meant we could keep working with the best person for the job.”

Massive had to make few changes to Gilbert’s working arrangements. Some flexibility was required to start times on “non-live” days. Tasker continued: “We wanted to work with Chrissie and to make that possible we had to make it work for her. It wasn’t a big deal. We don’t have any issue with supporting people to perform any other natural bodily functions at work, so I don’t see that breastfeeding should be any different.”

Gilbert concurred: “Most normal bodily functions are supported – eating, drinking, and going to the toilet – expressing breast milk shouldn’t be a big deal, nor should you be embarrassed or feel guilty for the accommodations you might need to make this happen!”

ASK QUESTIONS

James Dutton, director of Method, employed Gilbert to work on a series of shows at The Drumsheds. He said: “This is the first time we’ve had a breastfeeding mum as part of our core delivery team. We had not considered that breastfeeding could be a barrier to work in our industry for new mums, but we have learnt it’s not difficult to offer the facilities and support required to make it happen. It’s been a new area of staff accessibility and welfare that we are keen to learn from.

“Chrissie is a real asset to our event management team. It’s her skillset and experience that make her so great for the role. We didn’t want the fact that she’s breastfeeding to hold her back.”

All Points East was Gilbert’s first event after giving birth. LS Events supported her by carrying out a risk assessment and minimising manual tasks, ensured catering and water were delivered to her in event control, minimised shift length, and minimised time on her feet. But what advice would Reynolds give to other event and festival organisers, or production companies, that are looking to support breastfeeding mums?

© Haydon Perrior

He said: “Talk to them. They know their situation best and everyone will be unique. If you talk regularly and make them feel comfortable then any issues get ironed out.”

Tasker agreed: “I think it’s like anything else when it comes to supporting the people you work with when their situations change – ask the questions, have the conversation, and be prepared to adapt or make small changes to how things work or have always been done. That way you ensure people can still do the jobs they love to do and still be brilliant at doing them.”

GREAT SUPPORT

According to Gilbert, breastfeeding Marlow and returning to work on site was much harder than she ever expected. She commented: “It’s possibly one of the hardest things I’ve done this year and I’ve had a pretty challenging 2021!

“I think the biggest thing is how little people know about breastfeeding. I thought I knew what to expect but there was so much I didn’t know. I’d had a lot of support when Marlow first arrived and felt confident around breastfeeding and all the potential complications, but to be on the safe side I engaged a lactation consultant for some support before returning to work.

“When I go too long between pumping, my whole body lets me know. I get pins and needles down my entire back, and if I’ve really gone too long, I end up feeling sick. One day, I went too long but the medical team at APE were great. I sent my partner [Ash Whitehead], who also worked on APE, to ask for some ice packs. As soon as he turned up and asked for them, they sent him away with enough for that day and the next! Walking around with two ice packs shoved down my top wasn’t the most successful look I’ve had but I know more now. I am confident in the teams around me, supporting me, as it means I can do the work I want to do.”

LISTEN AND LEARN

At APE, Gilbert’s mum brought Marlow in for a mid-afternoon feed. This was scheduled to work around the regular ELT meetings and the event director was aware of the time frame, so if Gilbert was busy in ELT, the event director would be present. It meant that Gilbert could step out and feed Marlow. By communicating, Gilbert was able to balance both roles, her role as a new mum and her role as a freelancer.

“We only took our daughter on site if I needed to be on site, and feeding was desirable or preferable, and we tried to keep it to a minimum. My mum is used to the rules of site after having come to jobs with me over the years. She did her homework, did a site induction, was shown where she could and couldn’t go and wore a hi-vis, so did Marlow. We tried to limit her time on site as much as possible. At the end of the day, a festival site is a construction site, and is not designed for children.”

So, how should organisers manage specific childcare requests? “Having a safe space where children and their care givers can access would be ideal,” commented Gilbert. “If there were more children on site with somewhere to go would, I’m sure, mean more new parents stayed in work.”

According to Dutton, organisers should listen, learn, and do anything possible to ensure that breastfeeding mums are able to undertake roles at events. Tasker agreed and concluded: “Would we do it again? One hundred per cent. We’re only as good as the people we work with, so if a very small adjustment means we can keep a great team working together we’d do it every time.”

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