Breastfeeding and working...was I out of line?

Nurses General Nursing

Published

Ok so I"m quite annoyed with my unit right now.

I'm over half way thru my orientation and I"m about to switch to nights. My son is 3 months old and still nursing quite often. I have already dropped down to 2 pumping sessions in 12 hours (which is painful let me tell ya) to better work around me working.

Yet somehow I keep catching crap about me pumping. I had 4 patients yesterday 1 admit, 1 surgical and one returned from a procedure within 20 minutes of each other. So needless to say I was busy!

It had been more than 6 hours since I pumped and I was starting to leak all over the place. So I told my preceptor I needed to go pump and asked if she could help me by giving one pain med to a patient for me.

Her response : "Nope, I'm not supposed to help you"

My response: "Wait you mean I can hang blood for other nurses, pass meds for them and when I get 2 brand spanking new people at one time and NEED to pump I cannot ask for help?"

her: "fine i'll do it"

wasi out of line? this isnt the first tiff we've had about me pumping...i was in tears yesterday when asking night manager if they are more accepting of pumping on nights (i switch next week) lol and she happened to be in break room when i went to get pump supplies.

BTW it taes me 15-20 min for pumping between setting up and cleaning...was only 10 min or so when i pumped more often but have to pump longer now that i go longer in between

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WOW!!!!! How uncaring can someone be? I'm sorry you have to deal with such nonsense. I don't think you were anywhere close to be out of line. Pumping is a protected right and as a nurse, your preceptor should know that!!!! If you were a smoker and needed a smoke break or else her head would be ripped off, I'm sure you would get it. I am wishing you will experience more compassion when you switch to nights.

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Specializes in CVICU, Burns, Trauma, BMT, Infection control.

No of course you're not out of line,your clueless preceptor was however. It should be better on nights.:redpinkhe

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Specializes in NICU, PICU, educator.

Geez, as long as the "big" things were done, then it shouldn't be a problem. Do you get your breaks during the day? Our girls will take their snacks and go to the pump room for their breaks and lunch! Just stand your ground!

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Specializes in nursery, L and D.

I am so sorry you are having this trouble, and I wish I could speak with your coworkers for a few min., lol. They really wouldn't like it if you had to be out 2x-3x more with a sick child if you didn't breastfeed, maybe you should mentioned that next time.

Also, for a 3 month old you should at least be pumping as many times as he would nurse in 12 hours to keep your supply up. Don't forget to drink either!

Of course, you are trying to get everything done before you go to pump, but sometimes it is not possible. As long as you aren't leaving a long list of things to do, then it should not be a problem. They sure wouldn't like it if you wouldn't give a med for them to go pee, right? Or go to lunch, or to take a smoke break, etc, etc. Those guys need to learn some team work, and how to take care of each other! I hope nights treats you better than days.

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I come from a place where you get one years maternity leave, so we don't have to deal with mothers who need to pump. Many of our nurses who return after their year, return to 8hour shifts rather than 12 due to child care issues.

My thoughts are yes, you were out of line. Once you are no longer being mentored, you will only be able to leave if your co-workers are willing to cover your patient load. Patient safety has to come before your need to pump.

I remember being in labour (back in the dark ages before we got long leaves) when a nurse informed me she was leaving me now as she had to go nurse her child (her husband brought him in every evening at 1700), so I was left alone. I was not impressed, nor was the nurse who popped in to check on me, it was almost like I was being told not to progress in my labour because it was inconvenient to staff.

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Specializes in NICU, PICU, educator.

I dont' think she was endangering anyone....as long as her work was done except for this one pain med, which she asked someone to give, she wasn't endangering her patients in anyway. She is entitled to her breaks first off, and should take them to go pump, so someone would be watching her kiddos. She may not be able to get out every3 hours, but 6 hours without a break is not acceptable.

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I wish I could pump as often as he nurses lol but i'd be in there every 2-3 hours :p THankfully my supply seems to be handelling pumping twice and I'm actually pumping more than he eats in a day :D

I do not take breaks at all. I get a snack and drink when I'm pumping and go do my thing. I cannot be on the floor without preceptor so she takes an hour lunch and there I'm stuck with needing her to be there. I left yesterday at 30 min on the nose... I went and did paperwork that I didn't need her to be present for. So this way there is no argument about how many breaks I"m getting a day.

anyways thank you ... i wonder how this will come acrossed on my 6 month review. I'm currently an "at will employee" until my probationary period is up so I'm kinda paranoid that i'm going to get into trouble for it.

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My thoughts are yes, you were out of line. Once you are no longer being mentored, you will only be able to leave if your co-workers are willing to cover your patient load. Patient safety has to come before your need to pump.

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I'm sorry but my children come LONG before anything else in this world.

And I wasn't endangering any patients.. I had everything done except my one surgical pt needed something for pain.

Its not like this is something new to anyone... i hired in while pregnant. I was very up front with my intentions... and I have no issue quitting because they aren't willing to hold up their end of the agreement.

And as for having coverage while pumping on my breaks.. we have 7 new moms all that delivered in month of may like myself. So there is plenty of help to go around... just she was told she's "not allowed" to help me. Because she was doing things for me that I didn't know about (paperwork for discharge) and she was told to stop when my ADM overheard me telling her to stop I need to do it myself so i can learn ( a few days prior)...

I didn't see giving one IVP med being a huge deal so I could pump.. because its very unfair to my pt to be left in pain.. yet I literally was leaking all over the place. Hence I don't think me and body fluids should be in with patient either.

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I don't think you were out of line at all....GOOD GRIEF your need to pump is perfectly reasonable. Where's the flexibility and willingness to help each other out in your co-workers? I hope night shift works better for you :heartbeat

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Unfortunately your superior was such an uncompassionate and uncaring person. I can fully understand the inconveniences you are facing as you have to be away from your nursing baby. It can be painful when your breasts become engorged and you just have to pump the milk out.

When I returned to work 2 months after I delivered my baby, I had this problem. What I did was I put 1 or 2 leaves of cabbage inside my bra and it helped greatly. Though my co-worker teased me that she might find my cabbage on the floor...lol. I continued to breastfeed my child for another 8 months after I returned to work. The first couple of weeks were the most difficult. After that it was fine.

Read this.

http://www.hamiltonhealthsciences.ca/PEDL/upload/policy/9030-1.pdf

http://parenting.ivillage.com/baby/bbreastfeed/0,,3wxk,00.html

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Wouldn't putting cabbage leaves in bra be counter intuative? I don't want to not have a supply while I"m at work... cabbage leaves can decrease your milk supply. I had to do it with both of my children because of huge over supply issues.

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