Highschool Teacher Pumps Breast Milk During Class - Says Students Handled It Maturely

 

Imagine standing before a row of high school students, lesson plan in hand, as the quiet whirr of a breast-pump hums beneath your sweater. That’s the reality for Kayla Kipley, a high school English teacher in Arizona who decided that motherhood wouldn’t mean stepping away from the classroom. She returned to teach mere weeks after giving birth to her second child, determined to keep teaching and continue breastfeeding.

The Challenge

Kayla’s schedule left no room for conventional “pump breaks.” There were no planning periods, no escape away from the lesson. She recognized that stepping out for a full 30-minute interruption could impact her students’ learning—and that wasn’t an option for her. So she got creative. Instead of waiting for the “right time,” she pumped while teaching. She researched wearable, discreet pumps designed for working mothers, and rearranged her routine: pump at 10 a.m. during second period, again at 1 p.m. during fourth, and then finally nurse at home after school.

The Classroom Culture

What might feel awkward in theory became something entirely different in practice. Kayla told her students at the start of the year: “You might hear a light buzzing… here’s why I wear this cover.” The students, aged 13–14 in her freshmen classes, accepted it without incident. She found they were far from immature, they asked thoughtful questions, showed curiosity, and treated her with simple respect.

Why It Matters

This isn’t just one teacher’s story. It’s a micro-cosm of a broader question: how do working mothers balance professional identity and parenting identity, especially in spaces where the expectation is one role or the other? Kayla didn’t wait for a perfect solution—she created one. By doing so she challenged traditional boundaries and changed the narrative about what a “teacher” or a “mother” looks like.