Breast pumping in an ICU

Published

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 :sarcastic:

I think everyone is missing the point. It has nothing to do with pumping itself, more the location of doing it.

I do see it as odd that anyone would want to pump in an ICU room (especially a nurse). Most ICU's don't allow visitor food or drink in rooms for multiple reasons. It just does not seem sanitary to me (I know it is). Then you have th issue of what to do with the milk. Does she have a cold bag to keep it in, does she plan on you keeping it in the patient fridge. In the employee fridge?

In our ER we have had quite a few employees who pump at work, but not in any public place. Most went to our supervisors office or an unused room in the back (with a sign on the door). Nobody had an issue with them doing this (or at least nobody said anything).

Our L&D floor has 2-3 pumping rooms with fridges in them for employees or patients/visitors, I know and ER NP went up there to do it.

If this was not the OP intent of the post, then sorry, but that is how I read it.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Pediatrics, High-Risk L&D, Antepartum, L.

I'm not sure what you found funny. I wouldn't have even asked. I would have pulled out my pump and pumped.

There are many reasons pump sessions can't be missed. So she may have truly had a very valid reason for wanting to pump at that moment.

There are so many reasons a woman would want to spend as much time as possible with her mother in the ICU. So going home to pump and coming back may not have been ideal.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Nurse Scientist-Research.
It just does not seem sanitary to me (I know it is). Then you have th issue of what to do with the milk. Does she have a cold bag to keep it in, does she plan on you keeping it in the patient fridge.

I used to see this squeamishness about human milk even amongst NICU nurses. It's not just sanitary, it actually has antibacterial properties ( Bioactive proteins in breast milk - L[]nnerdal - 2013 - Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health - Wiley Online Library).

Also, most of the pumping moms I know carry a insulated bag, often with frozen reusable ice packs, at most they might ask for directions to the ice machine so they can stick the bottles in ice.

I say if the OP's unit is one of those where no visitor food & drink is allowed then she might have grounds to ask the visitor to go elsewhere.

Gosh, I'm not even one of the breast nazis and this bothers me.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Short Term/Skilled.

No outside food or drink? I don't get it. Is there a risk that a patient is going to drink the visitors breast milk?

My immediate thought (because I am not yet a nurse, so I'm unsure how this works), was that it had something to do with sanitation, etc. Infection risk, somehow? Cross contamination? Otherwise, I can't imagine anyone having a problem with a woman using a breast pump in a building full of medical professionals in the presence of her own mother.

I didn't take the OP to mean that the visitor asked to borrow a pump, but perhaps OP can come back and clarify. That just seems like an overly insane request, but I suppose it wouldn't be the strangest thing I've heard.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in NICU, Trauma, Oncology.

I wish OP would come back and clarify Bc I don't quite understand the situation.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
I used to see this squeamishness about human milk even amongst NICU nurses. It's not just sanitary, it actually has antibacterial properties ( Bioactive proteins in breast milk - L[]nnerdal - 2013 - Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health - Wiley Online Library).

Also, most of the pumping moms I know carry a insulated bag, often with frozen reusable ice packs, at most they might ask for directions to the ice machine so they can stick the bottles in ice.

I say if the OP's unit is one of those where no visitor food & drink is allowed then she might have grounds to ask the visitor to go elsewhere.

Gosh, I'm not even one of the breast nazis and this bothers me.

\

I know the milk itself is sanitary, I was referring to the pumping in the ICU room itself. While the chance of something from the room getting into the milk and being transfered to the baby is very small, why risk it?

While I know the rooms are cleaned between each patient, I know many nurses (me included) that would not lay on a hospital bed.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Pediatrics, High-Risk L&D, Antepartum, L.

Nothing is going to get into the pumped milk...just not an issue.

My goodness women pump everywhere. Heck we breastfeed everywhere. How many times have you heard of a woman pumping or feeding in a bathroom? I don't agree with doing it in a bathroom but it's the norm (sadly) for many.

Pumping in an ICU room is just a non-issue.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
No outside food or drink? I don't get it. Is there a risk that a patient is going to drink the visitors breast milk?

No outside food or drink because many of our patients are NPO or on a fluid restriction. People bring in their Big Gulps and either drink it in front of the patient (which used to be considered so rude it just wasn't done, but times have evidently changed) or give some to the NPO, fluid restricted or carbohydrate controlled patient. Or they sit in a C. Diff room, chowing down their finger-lickin' good chicken bucket . . . .

So, no outside food or drink. And yes, there is a risk that the patient might drink the visitor's breast milk. It wouldn't be the first time I've seen it.

The first thing I'd want to know is will it bother the patient? How about the patient's roommate? The patient's roommate's visitors? I think the patient's and the roommate's rights come before the visitor's, and if it's going to bother them, then it shouldn't be allowed.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Pediatrics, High-Risk L&D, Antepartum, L.
No outside food or drink because many of our patients are NPO or on a fluid restriction. People bring in their Big Gulps and either drink it in front of the patient (which used to be considered so rude it just wasn't done, but times have evidently changed) or give some to the NPO, fluid restricted or carbohydrate controlled patient. Or they sit in a C. Diff room, chowing down their finger-lickin' good chicken bucket . . . .

So, no outside food or drink. And yes, there is a risk that the patient might drink the visitor's breast milk. It wouldn't be the first time I've seen it.

The first thing I'd want to know is will it bother the patient? How about the patient's roommate? The patient's roommate's visitors? I think the patient's and the roommate's rights come before the visitor's, and if it's going to bother them, then it shouldn't be allowed.

I think we need to stop acting like she wants to do some vile act. The fact is many states protect a woman's right to breastfeed anywhere she is otherwise allowed to be...pumping isn't any different. It's sad we act like pumping breastmilk is some vile act. If the visitors don't like it? How about too bad?

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Nurse Scientist-Research.

So, no outside food or drink. And yes, there is a risk that the patient might drink the visitor's breast milk. It wouldn't be the first time I've seen it.

The first thing I'd want to know is will it bother the patient? How about the patient's roommate? .

Oh dear Lord!!!

Seriously with the "patient might drink the breast milk?" I guess a confused patient might consume anything brought into the room by a visitor and in that case all visitors should be frisked for the presence of any edibles or really even non-edibles, I mean: if they're so confused and all (which the OP didn't elucidate).

And I know they probably exist but I haven't personally seen a semi-private ICU room in my entire career of 21 years and probably been in about 20 ICUs across 5 States. Just saying, not likely, but granted, the comfort level of non-related (and related) fellow visitors & patients should be considered.

Though if mom the patient is going to chug the breast milk down the second it's bottled then the pumping process probably isn't going to disturb her.

I have a feeling though that the only people that were uncomfortable with the pumping were the ICU nurses and that's why the visitor was addressing concerns to the nurse.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in ICU.

Providing the visitor with privacy to use her electrical or manual breast pump means closing the blinds.

Then I can not monitor the patient and THAT makes me very uncomfortable.

This visitor's right to be a breast feeder does not give her the right to disrupt pt care.

Out of politeness the docs and other consultants would have to see the pt when the breast pumping was over.

Or do the visit when it's all hanging out and really who wants to see that? Or even risk having some kook say 'he was staring at my breasts.'

I think it's incredibly rude and selfish.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Critical Care.

I'm by no means a 'lactivist', I'm as uncomfortable with public boob sucking (whether natural or mechanical) as any other middle aged man, but I have absolutely no problem with a patient's daughter pumping in their mother's room, so long as it's a private room and so long as they follow the common rules of doing so. I know plenty of people who pump wherever they go and even though some of them are the kind of people who would have no problem going au natural while feeding/pumping, none of them do, they all carry come sort of cover so that feeding/pumping can be done modestly.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Join the Discussion