What do you think about a nurse breastfeeding infant at nurse's station during break?

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what do you think about a nurse breastfeeding her infant at the l&d nurse's station during a break?

Specializes in OB L&D Mother/Baby.
ah, could you imagine!!!! I guess you never know.... my brain never went to that place with the breastfeeding infant, but I guess people can surprise you and then again... I never would think someone could steal an infant, yet you hear about it - so it's not a big leap to think about the possibility of nursing another's infant (though wet nursing was a necessity way back when.....)

Not to change the subject but years ago when one of my coworkers was going to take her nursing boards which she says was a two day test she had to leave her baby with her sil who also had an infant. She came home and the baby was very content and she inquired about how the bottle feeding went since the baby had really never been away from her. Well the sister in law goes on to tell her that the baby HATED the bottle and that she decided just to nurse her because "it was easier" We laugh about it now but she said at the time she was so mad she couldn't even look at her for months. I would be just as mad lol....

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Specializes in ER.
i think it's sad that a mother has to be away from her baby and that this should even be an issue at all.

since she apparently must work, i think she should demand a break and go nurse her baby privately. this could turn into a poster issue for nurses' rights/staffing.

vito, are you a nurse? if you are, that is the most ridiculous statement i have ever read..... :yeah:

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Specializes in ER.
Not to change the subject but years ago when one of my coworkers was going to take her nursing boards which she says was a two day test she had to leave her baby with her sil who also had an infant. She came home and the baby was very content and she inquired about how the bottle feeding went since the baby had really never been away from her. Well the sister in law goes on to tell her that the baby HATED the bottle and that she decided just to nurse her because "it was easier" We laugh about it now but she said at the time she was so mad she couldn't even look at her for months. I would be just as mad lol....

that's gross :down:

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Specializes in L & D; Postpartum.
I think it's sad that a mother has to be away from her baby and that this should even be an issue at all.

Since she apparently must work, I think she should demand a break and go nurse her baby privately. This could turn into a poster issue for Nurses' rights/staffing.

Oh, and she should DEMAND it WHEN the baby needs to eat! Obviously that isn't gonna fly. Breasfeeding, I agree, is not really the issue. The issue is doing it at the nurses station on break. Totally inappropriate and why anybody would want to bring their infant into a hospital and expose them to all kinds of unnecessary "Stuff" is beyond me.

No, in a private lactation room or not at all.

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Specializes in ED, ICU, Heme/Onc.

I wouldn't give my visiting child (my youngest is 8) a sandwich at the nurses station or anything else to eat anywhere other than the cafeteria.

The few times they've been in the hospital to visit me at work, DH has made it a point to watch that they don't touch anything and that they all wash up when leaving. They also don't get their hugs hello until I'm showered and out of uniform.

I think that a woman should be able to breastfeed whereever she and the baby want to breastfeed without any stigma. So my reasons for voting "no" on this one are the same as what keeps me from eating my lunch out there.

Blee

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Too weird for words....

I think it has a variety of issues r/t unprofessionalism and poor boundaries.

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Specializes in Emergency/Trauma/Education.

from a previous post: i mean what if someone walks up and gets the wrong idea, that this nurse is breastfeeding random infants??

:chuckle i'm sorry...but reading this gave me a picture of some wacky patient satisfaction campaign..."our l&d is full service!"

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Specializes in Telemetry, Nursery, Post-Partum.
from a previous post: i mean what if someone walks up and gets the wrong idea, that this nurse is breastfeeding random infants??

:chuckle i'm sorry...but reading this gave me a picture of some wacky patient satisfaction campaign..."our l&d is full service!"

:chuckle

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Specializes in Postpartum, Lactation.

I'm about as much of a lactivist as one can be. I've attended nurse-ins and still boycott BF unfriendly establishments. That said, I do not think it is appropriate for a nurse on duty to BF her infant at the RN station. I would find it equally inappropriate for a nurse to bottle-feed an infant or attend to her children in any other manner. It is unprofessional. If your children must be at your workplace, they should be tended to out of the patient's view.

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An excellent role model.

Just assume that work space, breaktime, etc. isn't an issue; just asking more purely from the breastfeeding viewpoint.
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Specializes in Pediatric ED.

I think this is just an issue of professionalism:

1. If you're at the nurses station you should be at the nurses station, available to patients. Even if the nurse in question was ready and willing to ditch her baby the moment I (being a patient or a fellow nurse) needed her, I wouldn't feel like I could ask her for anything because I wouldn't want to interrupt her.

2. People have issues about seeing breastfeeding in public and at work in a hospital it not the time or place to make a stand about it. As we try to battle misconceptions about nursing (as a profession) we don't need to battle misconceptions about nursing (breastfeeding) at the same time.

While I don't mind people doing it in public, I don't think it should be out in the open at work. It's unprofessional. It makes you appear distracted and your patient should have 100% of your attention. Because you're at work.

I don't mind seeing people brush their teeth (it's natural, it's necessary, it can be awfully distracting to go without) but I wouldn't dream of brushing my teeth at the nurses station.

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Specializes in Med/Surg.
tacky, breastfeeding!!! AGHHHHHHHHGRRRRRRRRRRRR - I had this awesome bib that covered up everything when it was feeding time. What do people think BREASTS are FOR anyway???? :sstrs: I think if it's done discreetly, then it's your business. I hate hearing about people catching hell for this, come ON, REALLY?

I remember nursing my son in the airport, quietly, discreetly... and this man got up and moved away with a "pffsst" as he went (in 1999(. I was appalled and so angry. His wife said "I'm so sorry about him." That made me feel better.

I have never felt sorry about breastfeeding in public, again, as long as it was discreet and there wasn't a peep show occurring. It's worse to change a poopy diaper in public and have everyone tolerate that smell and see the whole changing event... agh!... that's so rude.

I never said breastfeeding was tacky. I know how great it is for a baby, versus a storebought formula. I do feel, however, that doing this in public in front of your co-workers....at a RN station......IS tacky. :twocents:

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