Breast pumping in an ICU

[Stacyalexisk]

An ER nurse came to visit her mother in the MICU and asked me if she could breast pump in the room.. I said no and didn't think I had to explain myself.. However the ER nurse replied that she does this all the time in her ER! Sorry this isn't a joke but my co-workers and I found it funny/sad

[Here.I.Stand, BSN, RN]

I would like to respectfully ask what is a reasonable number of breastfeeding breaks in a 12 hr shift?

We have nursing mothers who are always present and the ones who are always disappearing for up to an hour without reporting off to anyone.

How do you handle this in your facilities. Thank you.

As long as she's not exceeding legally entitled break time or hospital policy, it's reasonable. Myself I go once as I only work 8-hour shifts, but when I worked 12's I went twice. The place I worked 12's at officially let us have a lunch and 3 15-minute breaks; I preferred not to take all of that break time (same as I don't generally take 15-minute breaks on my 8-hour shifts at all) b/c I prefer not to get further behind in my work. And I'm able to maintain a milk supply enough to nurse my babies all they want when I'm at home (we do supplement w/ formula while I'm working).

That said, if my colleague wants to take all of her legally entitled break time to pump, that's her right.

Leaving an hour w/o reporting to anyone would NEVER fly though. Our policies have always stated that we can't lump our breaks into one long one. And you can't just leave w/o telling anyone.