Managing breaks in Labor & Delivery

babyktchr, BSN, RN · Jul 27, 2013

If your lunch breaks are not a problem, then why is getting time to pump an issue? Why not just say, I need to pump for 15 mins? Yes, there are laws, and even ones that support the breastfeeding moms out there. In many units where I have worked and on my own, getting a 'break' happens when it can happen. While the intent is to get it, it doesn't always happen that way. Some days you are lucky to get to the bathroom, let alone sit down to chart. To be fair, there is the rare occasion when little is going on and a lot of your shift is spent wondering what am I going to eat next. What was your director's response to your inquiry. Are are you being denied a break when you ask for one or are you not offered a break? There is a difference. We do not schedule breaks. Again, if you want it ask to go on break and for someone to cover your patients. I do not believe nursing is in the same realm as retail or office setting jobs where breaks are scheduled at specific times. Should it be? Perhaps.

polevaultererin · Jul 27, 2013

I almost feel like the nurses on my unit do not support pumping. I've even heard a few say, "you're an L&D nurse, there is no time for pumping!" We are never offered breaks and when i do tell my charge nurse that I am going to take my break, it's almost like an inconvenience for them to have to watch my patient(s). I mentioned this to the director of nursing a couple weeks ago and she seemed shocked, but i have yet to see any changes being made. Honestly, depending on who the charge nurse is, (some are more receptive towards breaks than others), I will just go on my 10 minute break without saying a word to anyone and cross my fingers (I keep my cell phone on me in case someone needs to get ahold of me, of course). It's either that or get denied my breaks...

babyktchr, BSN, RN · Jul 28, 2013

Totally hear you. Its a shame.

Nurse ABC · Jul 30, 2013

In our hospital, breaks are not guaranteed and you are not compensated if you don't get them like you do lunch (which is required by law). We do not schedule breaks and it IS inconvenient to watch extra patients while someone takes a 20 min break to pump, eat, call someone, etc when I don't get those breaks myself. Would you want to watch someone else's patients all the time if they never did it for you? Or if you did watch their patients but because you didn't keep up with their charting it puts them behind. I think you need to pump for your baby but until there is a unit wide break coverage where everyone pitches in to cover other patients then there is going to be some resentment there. Maybe you can help create (or have people start adhering to) a break policy so everyone gets their fair share.

anotherone, BSN, RN · Jul 31, 2013

I work in med surg but nursing is nursing. We rarely get breaks . sometimes we don't get a lin

lunch either. The attitude is that you need to take breaks when you think your pts will not need anything. This is difficult on med surg let alone LD... charge takes pts on my floor on top of other duties. leaving them with extra pts means yours are not being watched anyway. how long are these breaks? allof our pts are on q1 saftey rounds, se have had q15 mim checks of some sort .... i can see why someone wohld refuse to take on am additional burdon if s/he is behind. what works well for me is developing work "friends" .... that is the beat solution I have found to getting breaks. but there have been many times I am all caught up and know my pts will be ok but cant leave the floor to go buy food or sit in the break room for 30mims cause other nurses are so far behind and bed alarms and bells are ringing not stop. breaks in nursing are difficult to set times for unless charge doesn't have pts

Irishmidwife · Jul 31, 2013

I need advice on how your L&D departments manage breaks (lunch breaks are not the issue in my department). We NEVER get our morning and afternoon breaks and I am fed up already...especially since it is against the law not to give us those breaks. I would greatly appreciate any advice you guys have. I feel like the next step would be to go to HR or talk with a member of the nurses union since I've already spoken to our Director of Women's Services about it. It is especially frustrating for me because I am still breastfeeding my baby and I need these breaks to pump!

Wow this really makes me appreciate where I work and my colleagues! I'm working as a nurse/midwife in Ireland in labour &delivery. We do 12 hour shifts and get 4 breaks during the shift. If it's really busy we might miss a break but that rarely happens. We cover each other for breaks and managers do their best to make sure everyone gets a break. If your delivering at break time you wouldn't take a break until everything is sorted with your patient but you could take a break once your finished.i don't know how you all work I such high stress environments without breaks!!

lovemyjoblandd · Aug 2, 2013

I know it's frustrating, but honestly, it's nursing. You just got to manage your time the best you can and do your best to pump when you can. In my experience, management is so far removed from floor nursing that they honestly are little help in issues like this. They are surely not gonna cover for you when you need to pump. The "shocked" look was most likely for your benefit, but I doubt very seriously if anything is going to be done. Scheduling breaks is absurd in nursing. Pump when you can.

melmarie23, MSN, RN · Aug 3, 2013

I guess I lucked out on my unit (LDRP). I always got a break or two to pump, in addition to my lunch. Another co- worker would watch my strip or answer my bells. Obviously I wouldn't break when meds or baby vitals due, or if my pt was close to pushing or actively doing so. But in general breaks are well managed input unit.

polevaultererin · Aug 5, 2013

I'm just tired of hearing people say we don't get breaks because we're nurses...blah blah blah...We have too much to do....no one is gonna watch our patients. This is a bunch of crap IMO. This is THE FIRST nursing job that I have had where I haven't gotten my two 10 minute breaks. I don't expect other nurses to chart on my patients while I'm at break, just keep an eye on them. We need to be taking our breaks to mentally recharge...it is for our safety as well as our patients' safety. I think our nurse manager and leads should get out of their offices and cover our breaks if they don't want to allow us to have a resource nurse to cover our breaks since they are so worried about the budget. Absurd!

monkeybug · Aug 5, 2013

I pumped until my baby was 12 months old, and in our L&D we often didn't even get lunch breaks. There were a couple of nurses who supported me, but they were in the definite minority. I just decided that I was going to pump. Period, end of story. My baby was the most important thing in my world, and caring for him included pumping. I was not going to spend the money on that nasty formula just because some coworkers felt guilty about their own formula feeding, and were thus going to sabotage me.

1. Look up your hospital's policy on pumping.

2. Find out your state laws on pumping.

3. Go to management with the law and the policy, and tell her that you are going to pump, that this is not an option, it's going to happen.

4. Remind your coworkers that this is a small part of life, that it will be over all too soon, and that you are going to do it.

I found that if my attitude was "It's going to happen regardless of how you feel about it." then it did happen. I was absolutely willing to forego lunch and breaks all the rest of the time I worked, like the rest of them. On the days when I had a hard time getting someone to agree to watch my patients, I would go to the charge nurse. If that didn't help, I would call our nurse manager. Not that she was a willing helper, but waving policies and laws in her face, accompanied by comments about discrimination and hostile work environment, usually got me enough time to pump, albeit begrudgingly.