Why do some nurses hate it in others pump at work?

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I was working tonight, when a traveler nurse literally walked off the floor when she was asked to watch out for another nurse while she stepped away to pump. There were words exchanged and pretty much, the traveler absolutely hates (for whatever reason) nurses who pump at work. Doesn't make sense to me, but I'm wondering if anyone else has ever seen anything like that?

If smokers can go outside for 10 breaks on a 8 hour shift with no one saying anything about that then please, pumping for ones baby should be minor. It's an essential part of a womens life and it should be accepted by any facility. Anyways it's not like it's a long term thing. The baby will get bigger and the mother would not need to pump anymore. But smokers will keep leaving the floor, making the unit short and not to mention unsafe. The travel nurse really needs to be considerate, especially being a woman.

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Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
If smokers can go outside for 10 breaks on a 8 hour shift with no one saying anything about that then please, pumping for ones baby should be minor. It's an essential part of a womens life and it should be accepted by any facility. Anyways it's not like it's a long term thing. The baby will get bigger and the mother would not need to pump anymore. But smokers will keep leaving the floor, making the unit short and not to mention unsafe. The travel nurse really needs to be considerate, especially being a woman.

It's not about whether someone is leaving their patients for a smoke break or a pumping break or a nap or because the burrito they ate for lunch didn't agree with them . . . it's how long they're gone, how often, and how considerate they are of their coworkers. People often leave the unit for 30 minutes or longer three (or more) times a shift to pump -- and without rounding on their patients to ensure that their needs are met for the next thirty minutes and without considering what is going on in their coworker's assignment. (Codes, trip to CT, large poop cleanup.) Also, they don't ASK -- they TELL. "I'm going to pump now" -- and then disappear before you have a chance to say "I'm going to CT -- I can't watch your patients."

And what makes you think that no one says anything about 10 smoke breaks on an 8 hour shift?

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If smokers can go outside for 10 breaks on a 8 hour shift with no one saying anything about that then please, pumping for ones baby should be minor. But smokers will keep leaving the floor, making the unit short and not to mention unsafe.

Nope. Not on our unit. Nobody but nobody leaves for a smoke break. It is absolutely forbidden.

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It's not about whether someone is leaving their patients for a smoke break or a pumping break or a nap or because the burrito they ate for lunch didn't agree with them . . . it's how long they're gone, how often, and how considerate they are of their coworkers. People often leave the unit for 30 minutes or longer three (or more) times a shift to pump -- and without rounding on their patients to ensure that their needs are met for the next thirty minutes and without considering what is going on in their coworker's assignment. (Codes, trip to CT, large poop cleanup.) Also, they don't ASK -- they TELL. "I'm going to pump now" -- and then disappear before you have a chance to say "I'm going to CT -- I can't watch your patients."

And what makes you think that no one says anything about 10 smoke breaks on an 8 hour shift?

Well I definitely understand your argument on this. I was not trying to be mean. As I do understand the timing part. I'm only speaking on my experience at my job where the majority of nurses get special privileges for multiples smoking breaks at work. The one nurse that wanted to pump had a hard time because the smoking supervisor gave the smoking nurses more privileges to take More breaks over her pumping for her new born baby. She only took 30 minutes the while shift to do so. But yes I understand where your coming from as well.

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Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.
Thanks for the help. I don't know why it posted so large! How do you do multi quotes in one reply please? I haven't figured that out yet. Thanks.

Rose_Queen knows probably the best way, but I do this:

Use the Quote button and edit post to your liking, deleting superfluous parts. Highlight post and push the control and C button simultaneously to copy the post. Go to the next post you want to copy again using the Quote button. Place cursor in area you want to paste the post and push the control button and V button simultaneously. The copy post will be pasted there. From there you can add your text or continue copying and pasting.

I hope you get all this wondern, because there will be a test on the material that will judge your worth as a contributing member of society!

Davey Do likes making extra work for himself. There's a multi-quote option that needs to be checked under site settings.

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Then, you will reply, quote, and " under each post- selecting " will turn the button red and then when you click on comment (not post comment under the quick entry box), all the posts you clicked on will be quoted.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]25531[/ATTACH]

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OMG I love you RoseQueen! I couldn't for the life of me figure it out.

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I have to say posts with sentiments "not my problem you had a baby" are really disappointing. I didn't think this thread was about those who abuse breaks (anything can be abused), and of course no one is defending those women. But to say those things as blanket statements... yeah. Not surprised women cut back in the workforce, get paid less, have less upward mobility, etc. Women are seen as liabilities and annoyances in the workforce. And yes, that applies to all women. If we don't have young children, we certainly have older family members to take care of. Instead of supporting other women with very ordinary needs-- or more importantly, improving the work environment so that we can accommodate ordinary needs--, we choose to think of it in terms of how much it inconveniences us for those 15-20 minutes. Very short-sighted, cut off your nose to spite your face-type stuff.

Sorry to rant. Just hate the "mememe" attitudes.

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Specializes in Peds Critical Care, Dialysis, General.

My babies/children were grown when I became an RN. I'm also an non-smoker. I have covered for nurses that needed to pump. More often than not, I got left with some sort of "mess" to clean up or found the patient needed interventions. Getting same nurses to cover my lunch breaks (or even a potty break)I l was useless and often met with the excuse of having pump again. l learned to make myself unavailable.

Smoking Supervisor....you have got to be kidding!

I'm with Ruby Vee ... Crusty Old Bat

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Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
I have to say posts with sentiments "not my problem you had a baby" are really disappointing. I didn't think this thread was about those who abuse breaks (anything can be abused), and of course no one is defending those women. But to say those things as blanket statements... yeah. Not surprised women cut back in the workforce, get paid less, have less upward mobility, etc. Women are seen as liabilities and annoyances in the workforce. And yes, that applies to all women. If we don't have young children, we certainly have older family members to take care of. Instead of supporting other women with very ordinary needs-- or more importantly, improving the work environment so that we can accommodate ordinary needs--, we choose to think of it in terms of how much it inconveniences us for those 15-20 minutes. Very short-sighted, cut off your nose to spite your face-type stuff.

Sorry to rant. Just hate the "mememe" attitudes.

I think you've got it backward. The "Me! Me! Me!" attitudes seem to come from the pumpers who are abusing their coworkers, not from the coworkers who put up with the abuse a few times, then decide not to continue to put up with it. The "not my problem you had a baby statements" come from those of us who have been abused a few too many times. It's not JUST the pumpers, of course, but things become much more obvious around pregnancy and having children.

I had an orientee I'll call Nancy because that is her name and although I'm sure she wouldn't recognize herself, I think her current coworkers will have no problem recognizing her. She got engaged about the time she started working in our ICU. It was a very exciting time for her, and she needed time off for her engagement party, to meet parents, etc. Then she needed time off to meet with certain vendors (because apparently they were always unavailable on her scheduled days off) and the wedding planner. She went to the head nurse and asked for the days off, but she didn't want to suffer through more than one preceptor, so she also asked that my schedule be changed to accommodate her wedding planning. Then the pre-wedding festivities -- apparently she needed every single weekend off for a month before the wedding, but by now she was off orientation so no one caught on (except me because I was watching for it) that she made a series of trades that ended up with her working no weekends for the month before and the month after the wedding.

When she got pregnant, people began to catch on that she was shirking her work, always with the excuse "Because I'm pregnant." "I didn't give him a bath because I'm pregnant and I thought it was important for my baby that I sit down and eat something." "I delayed the CT because I'm pregnant and didn't want to go to Radiology with him." "I had my assignment changed because I'm pregnant and that patient smells nasty and makes me vomit." "I had my assignment changed because I'm pregnant and I shouldn't have to take infected patients." "I can't take that patient because my pregnancy hormones make it too hot for me in those isolation gowns." "I can't get my patient up because I'm pregnant, and no, I can't help you with your poop cleanup because it smells nasty and besides, I can't lift."

Then she had the baby and she was pumping . . . The long, frequent, and suddenly announced pumping breaks were an imposition and inconvenience to all of us.

Meanwhile, Cynthia's adult son come home from Iraq for the holidays, and Nancy could not make a switch to enable Cynthia to spend any part of Christmas with him. My elderly parents needed care, and Nancy didn't think that was as important as her newborn. My Dad's imminent demise and my need to take care of my demented (Alzheimer's) mother wasn't nearly as important as her toddler's play dates. Sheila's husband's health crisis didn't inspire any compassion or willingness to cover shifts or even breaks to check on his condition or speak to his doctors. Sean's wife's cancer and need for child care, transportation to and from chemo and radiation treatments, etc. didn't move her to cover extra breaks while he fielded phone calls from his overwhelmed parents and parents-in-law who cared for the kids while he worked and she wasn't willing to switch shifts with him when his wife was hospitalized.

Abusing your coworkers isn't necessarily a female thing, although pumping is. The question addressed in this thread was "Why do some nurses hate it when their colleagues pump?" The answer is, some colleagues are abusing the pumping thing, and we may not wish to continue being abused. Of course, that could also be a male coworker who abuses us with frequent and prolonged breaks to have phone sex, or someone who is constantly demanding switches in patients, schedules, or whatever for any other reason that is theirs and theirs alone but unwilling to accommodate the coworkers who have accommodated him.

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Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.

To those educating the rest of us about the importance of breast milk for babies; yea we already know that. I know that as an OB nurse who has held lactation and childbirth education certs. That isn't the point. Your choice to pump ends right where you are. You are not entitled to take 30 minutes every 2 hours to pump. If you do that, it should be UNPAID after the allowed break time everyone else gets. It never took me that long to pump and I did so for 2 years. As the baby got bigger, it took less and less time to get it done. I did not inconvenience my coworkers in the process of pumping.

You see, my choice to have kids was not my coworkers' issue. I chose to. They did not. When pregnant, I pulled my weight and trades chores with non-pregnant coworkers. When my baby arrived, I pumped during what would be lunch and other breaks. I did not take extra breaks to do so. My daughter breastfed 2 years so my pumping only every 4 to 6 hours did not mess up the nursing.

I agree with those who say your choice to reproduce is not anyone's problem but your own. Those of us who have grown kids also have things we would like to do. We deserve equal consideration for PTO as anyone who has younger kids. Kids don't stop needing their parents when grown, and you will discover that some day. My son lives 2000 mi away and I have to wait to see a new grandbaby til I can get the time off work and not inconvenience all the other nurses. I chose my profession and all it means, and being an adult and waiting my turn is part of it. I will resent anyone who thinks their choice to have a baby and wanting special consideration in their schedule and break times. You're not that special, sorry.

You should pump when you have breaks scheduled. OR if you need an extra break to pump, you should reciprocate and give your coworkers equal down time. If you are resented d/t abusing the kindness and understanding of others, don't be surprised when it bites you in the butt and they stop being so kind and understanding.

Smoking is an entirely separate issue that should be addressed by management. It has nothing to do with you taking too much time to pump, leaving your coworkers in the lurch.

Your baby is not more important then my grown children, nor less. Nor is he or she more important than single non-parents' concerns. I have been working my entire adult life, over 30 years. I have seen more and more of a sense of entitlement among new moms that really is a burr under my saddle.

It's not all about you.

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. Her son is now 15 months old and has transitioned to baby food, etc. but she is still pumping at least once per shift because she's donating her milk. Which is awesome, but really an undue burden for the rest of us. I wholeheartedly support breastfeeding, but I do wish people would be considerate. I already had to change assignments many times when these people were pregnant for various reasons and couldn't take care of certain patients. At one point I had to take several patients down for scans for other nurses because they couldn't go. And with one pregnant nurse, it's not so bad, but our unit is FILLED with pregnant and nursing ladies and it DOES get stressful having to take on extra work all the time for your co workers when I don't get anything in return. Maybe it's time to switch jobs ������

I'm not sure how I feel about the continuing to need pumping time because she is donating. If it's to donate for a specific baby with a medical need that's one thing but to a general milk bank I think that is an undue burden on a unit. How long will that go on for? What if I want to donate one hour each work day at my kid's school should I be given the time off during my shift for that.

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Specializes in Psych (25 years), Medical (15 years).
Thanks for the help. I don't know why it posted so large! How do you do multi quotes in one reply please? I haven't figured that out yet. Thanks.
Found it!

First, you have to enable multi quote.

Click on your username in the upper right corner of the webpage and click settings in the drop down menu.

attachment.php?attachmentid=20717&stc=1

Scroll down to where you see "Site Settings" and check the box for "Enable Multi-Quote Feature on Every Post"

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Then, to use the multi-quote, click on this button at the bottom of each quote:

attachment.php?attachmentid=20719&stc=1 which will then turn red: attachment.php?attachmentid=20720&stc=1

Once you've selected the posts you want to multi-quote, click the green "Leave a comment" button at the bottom of the page.attachment.php?attachmentid=20721&stc=1

Now, you can type your text where you want: in between the various quotes, before the various quotes, after the various quotes.

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