A Message from Milk Stork founder
Returning to work after baby is a stressful experience for any new parent. For breastfeeding moms, those challenges are multiplied exponentially as she tries to figure out how to pump in between back-to-back meetings, take the necessary business trips, and balance her career with motherhood.
Today, 47 percent of the workforce is female, and most moms are working moms. Furthermore, breastfeeding rates are on the rise despite painfully short maternity leaves. By these measures, more breast milk is being pumped in America’s offices than ever before. Thankfully many companies have come to appreciate what a logistical nightmare it can be for moms who are trying to maintain their commitment to breastfeeding while giving their all to their careers.
Every pumping mom has her personal “survival” story about returning to work while breastfeeding. For me, it started with a blissful experience with my first son, Jackson, but completely changed when I had my twins. Breastfeeding twins is hard! And the twins and I endured countless challenges – latching issues, tongue ties, slow weight gain, and nursing strikes--not to mention tandem nursing! So, when my first business trip came up, I was determined to make sure that the trip would not derail everything that we had overcome to maintain our breastfeeding relationship.
After lugging two gallons of breast milk in Nalgene® bottles through airport security, answering countless questions about why I had “so much milk,” and almost missing my flight, I sat on the flight home obsessively checking my bag to make sure that my milk was still cold and that my ice wasn’t melting too fast. And, to be honest, I was angry. With that anger came my determination to create a solution for this very specific and very frustrating pain point that so many working, pumping moms have to face.
In August 2015, Milk Stork launched as the first-ever breast milk shipping company for business traveling moms. Since then, more than 600 family-friendly companies offer Milk Stork as an employee benefit alongside other amazing family-friendly products and services, such as Medela’s hospital grade breast pumps, Mamava’s clean and private lactation pods, and more.
We are proud to offer Milk Stork as part of the Kin - Healthy Returns for New Moms program – a customizable, single-source solution for employers – and we are thrilled to support and help empower working moms to continue their breastfeeding journey as they pursue their professional ambitions.
- Kate Torgersen
Founder and CEO, Milk Stork