Possible to Pump Breastmilk at school/clinicals?

[peds4now]

My youngest child is now 4 months old and still breastfeeding exclusively. When I start Nursing School she'll be only 7 months and probably won't be doing more that tasting food. I have a good pump and all, but will pumping even be possible? I've done it in bathrooms during breaks in classes in the past (yuck!), but am I asking for trouble during hospital hours if I try to take 15 minutes to pump every 2.5-3 hours or so? Do you get breaks? Is that even remotely possible? My only other option would be to give formula while I'm gone and just nurse her when I'm at home. But I'd really like to avoid formula altogether. Will I just be putting too much stress on myself even trying to pump?

[peds4now, RN]

1. Don't bet the farm that any nurse thinks breastfeeding is important or knows anything accurate about it - you'd be very SHOCKED to hear some of things I have heard come from the mouths of nurses about breastfeeding. Even postpartum and NICU nurses. (Who by the way have been given lots of goodies and free dinners from the forumla companies)

I agree with you there, just from my experience having 5/6 of my kids in hospitals. I think things have gotten a lot better than when my first was born 10 years ago, when I had found sugar water bottles and pacifiers in her bassinet every time they brought her back from checking her vitals despite my bright homemade signs banning them (how I screamed!) To me it seems so strange, but I think maybe nurses are just often more comfortable with medical/artificial interventions in all areas of life beause of the how often they see them-desensitization. The few nurses I know, for instance, are the ONLY people I know who have had elective surgeries.

LeiaT, thanks for the Link. ParentsPlace actually also has a fantastic FAQ page linked to their nursing and working page.

[Jolie, BSN]

I have never been a clinical instructor, but I have precepted student nurses in OB and NICU. I do believe that it is possible to continue pumping and nursing your baby during clinicals, if you are highly motivated and well-organized, but don't expect it to be easy.

Please don't misunderstand my next statement. I am a NICU/OB nurse of 11 years, the mother of 2 breastfed preemies, and I fully support your efforts to do the best for your baby. But insuring your breastfeeding/pumping success is not going to be high on your instructor's priority list. As you know, you and your fellow students have a limited amount of clinical time in which to develop your knowledge base, clinical skills, time management, organization, prioritization, communication with the other members of the healthcare team, and a host of other skills. Your instructor should make every effort to see that you receive the support necessary to do these things, along with having meal breaks. Making time for additional needs may be difficult. While pumping is vitally important to you, you may have a classmate who believes it is equally important for her to leave 1/2 hour early every day to attend to a sick family member, and another who believes it is equally important for him to make a scheduled phone call to a child every day. It simply is not possible for an instructor to take every student's personal needs into account, especially in the clinical areas.

If you plan to pump during clinicals, I would recommend speaking to the instructor before your rotation starts to work out some of the logistics. (Where can you store your pump? Is there a place you can pump privately? How do you anticipate handling your absences from the unit? Are you willing to take 2 short pumping breaks in place of one longer meal break? If so, you will need to eat and pump at the same time, so a sack lunch will be needed.)

If you demonstrate to the instructor that you plan to take responsibility for your time away from the unit, you will probably gain his/her support. On the other hand, if the instructor feels that you have an sense of "entitlement" about time away from the unit to pump, it is unlikely that s/he will be supportive.

Good luck.