Breast pumping in an ICU

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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:

Specializes in ICU.
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?[/QU

Feeding a hungry kid is one thing.

Breast pumping in a public place is going to make everyone uncomfortable.

Your premise is that it's okay in any place a female can legally be.

Are you seriously saying that you would pump your breasts in a restaurant, an airport terminal waiting area or a Giants game?

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Specializes in Critical Care.
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?[/QU

Feeding a hungry kid is one thing.

Breast pumping in a public place is going to make everyone uncomfortable.

Your premise is that it's okay in any place a female can legally be.

Are you seriously saying that you would pump your breasts in a restaurant, an airport terminal waiting area or a Giants game?

I know people who've breastedfed/pumped at all three (not a Giants game specifically, but at a baseball game), although I'm not sure that your comparisons are accurate. It's acceptable to hang out in a hospital room in a backless gown with your butt hanging out, but I don't think the same level of modesty would be equally welcome at a restaurant, airport, or baseball game.

If you feel uncomfortable just because someone is breastfeeding/pumping, so long as they are reasonably covered, I'd argue that's more your problem than theirs.

It's at least a little amusing that this degree of anti-lactation comes from a group of people called "nurses" given the root of our title.

I can't help but get the impression this is more of a power-trip thing than it is anything else.

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

I missed where anyone insisted on privacy and no doctors could come in.

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Specializes in Pediatrics, High-Risk L&D, Antepartum, L.
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?[/QU

Feeding a hungry kid is one thing.

Breast pumping in a public place is going to make everyone uncomfortable.

Your premise is that it's okay in any place a female can legally be.

Are you seriously saying that you would pump your breasts in a restaurant, an airport terminal waiting area or a Giants game?

Yes, I would pump my breast wherever I was if it was time. It is no different than feeding a hungry child as pumping may be what is needed to provide that child with the food they need.

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Specializes in ICU.

I am not "anti lactation." and certainly not uncomfortable with being around nursing mothers.

I am anti visitors disrupting the workflow in an ICU by needing privacy to mechanically express breast milk in a pts room.

It is not acceptable to be in a public place exposing your breasts or your behind.

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Specializes in Pediatrics, High-Risk L&D, Antepartum, L.
I am not "anti lactation." and certainly not uncomfortable with being around nursing mothers.

I am anti visitors disrupting the workflow in an ICU by needing privacy to mechanically express breast milk in a pts room.

It is not acceptable to be in a public place exposing your breasts or your behind.

She may not feel she needs privacy. And you may not like public pumping but it isn't your world. I don't like fake nipples but there's no shortage of bottles out there. And comparing breasts to a behind...please grow up.

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Specializes in Critical Care.

If it turns out she wasn't planning on utilizing any 'covert measures' i could see the concern, but that seems like a pretty wild assumption.

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Specializes in Pediatrics, High-Risk L&D, Antepartum, L.
If it turns out she wasn't planning on utilizing any 'covert measures' i could see the concern, but that seems like a pretty wild assumption.

Her idea of covert measures could be a simple blanket. It isn't hard to pump without exposing everything.

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Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
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.

In the last 38 years, I've seen lots of ICUs with double rooms, triple rooms or even six to a room. I'm in one now. If the patients aren't comfortable with someone pumping (breast feeding isn't a consideration because we don't allow infant visitors) in the room, then someone should not be pumping in the room.

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Specializes in Nurse Scientist-Research.
In the last 38 years, I've seen lots of ICUs with double rooms, triple rooms or even six to a room. I'm in one now. If the patients aren't comfortable with someone pumping (breast feeding isn't a consideration because we don't allow infant visitors) in the room, then someone should not be pumping in the room.

As I said; I'm sure they exist, but the probability is low that this incident occurred in one of those rooms or surely the OP would have mentioned this very salient detail.

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Her idea of covert measures could be a simple blanket. It isn't hard to pump without exposing everything.

I was going to say the same thing... Lord knows I've pumped in some crazy places, including in my car, in a packed parking lot, midday. I used one of those hands free bras and a hooter hider thingie and that was that. Nothing to see. Zero exposure.

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Specializes in Nurse Scientist-Research.
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.

I agree that if the visitor insisted on closing blinds, that would compromise the patient's care. I heard no such thing. Most pumping moms manage quite well with a baby blanket or burp cloth thrown over the pump/breast interface area. I visited my best friend at her office one day and it took me a few seconds to realize she was hunched over her desk with a shawl draped across her because she was using her pump that was under her desk. No visible breast tissue! Most can completely disguise the pumping if they turn their backs to the window and cover with a blanket/burp cloth.

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

Agreed! But let's not extend "disrupting the patient's care" to include "offending the RN with the thought of milk pumping".

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

Is milk-mama going to streak through the ICU with breast flapping at the end? I think everyone will be safe if this woman is half-way modest.

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.'

That's if she even half-way exposed herself. I don't know this woman, but if she's like the many lactating women I've met, they really don't desire to expose themselves to anyone but their infant (and sometimes their significant other ;)).

I think it's incredibly rude and selfish.

I'm cutting this particular poster a break due my assumption of him being male (male symbol by his screen name) and understanding that males in healthcare must tread carefully around anything female anatomy related lest they have unwarranted accusations thrown their way.

Otherwise, I just cannot agree that what this visitor asked to do was rude. Rude would have been without any preamble, in full view of the door, God and creation, the visitor whips those puppies out and pumps uncovered for twenty minutes then "air drys" her nipples.

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