Returning to School/breastfeeding

Good for you for having the conviction to do this.

I don't know much about nursing school, sorry. But, I will say this: Go to your instructors and talk to them. Don't _ask_ if you can have time to pump. Very politely go to them, and tell them that you'll need to pump every 3 hours, and ask them if there is anything they would like you to do in advance to arrange that. Also have a plan in hand to let them know how to will learn anything that you missed during your pumping time. Or, go to them with the schedule and say (again, with courtesy and a smile), that with your new baby you'll need to take pumping breaks, and here is the schedule you'll need to keep (and hand them a piece of paper with the schedule).

I'm a supervisor of a nursing/pumping mom at work. I am fully supportive - I did it myself. But I also can't remember when she needs to take her breaks. I have to much going on to keep that info in my head. It helps me a lot that she gave me a set schedule, written down. I keep it on my desk so that I can remind myself of where she is, in case I'm looking for her because I need to ask her a question.

Added: I would just like to say that the person who said just give formula on those days and forget about trying to nurse has obviously never nursed a child. You can't just not pump for 8-12 hours when you are a nursing mom. It would be incredibly painful, you'd be leaking everywhere, and you would end up with clogged ducts at best, and possibly mastitis. I'm not upset at the person who wrote that, but frustrated with our society about the lack of education surrounding breastfeeding!

I just want to say good for you in sticking to your convictions and good luck. I hope that you are able to work it out with the school and hospital to allow you to do what you know is right for your child.

A mother's right to pump for her child is in no way discrimination to other works! People need to get real and realize our country is way behind in mother and children's rights. Most other countries support new mothers in being home with their children for 6 months or more because they know this is what is best for all babies.

Employers are legally required to provide nursing breaks as needed to nursing mothers for 1 year after the baby is born. I would assume since you are on clinical rotations, they would treat this the same as an employed nurse. I would present it as Diane C recommends so that that your supervisor is aware and works with you.
http://www.dol.gov/whd/nursingmothers/#.UOmwo-Q0WSo

It is two days a week. Nurse him before you leave, have your husband supplement with formula, then nurse when you walk in. Nothing terrible will happen from giving him some formula. This way you do not have to stress out while doing your clinicals. I do not think your plan of taking time every three hours to pump will go over we'll with your supervisor and other students. If you only have eight weeks left, give him formula, finish your degree and be done with it all. If you go back when he is six months, you will run into the same problem. So I say finish now n then sit back and enjoy your son.

I do think that the nursing profession is different. They are training their students to deal with life and death situations. So they can expect you to be at your station for extended hours without taking any breaks.

Let's say you were actually employed at this hospital right now during the same time frames as your clinicals. Ours are every tues and thurs from 7am-11pm, they get them done in half the time and since they travel to different towns to get more hospitals they only drive a few weeks instead of a couple of months.

If someone you are responsible for is crashing and all staff has to be there during this time you can't just say "Oh look at the time, I get my mandatory break to go pump now, bye". You have to stay and work on the patient. So if they expect you to be at your duty station and not take extra breaks they can do this. it's not none support for a nursing mother, it's expecting a nurse to fulfill her duties in life and death situations.

I think they can count off on your work during clinicals if you are not on the floor when you're expected to do so. I would simply ask the school person in charge, who will be there during clinicals, what they plan on letting you do. If they have strict rules about times away from your stations and you won't meet the criteria for passing them then you have to sit out. They don't have to let you pump. That is not fair to the other students who are not nursing a child. They should get the same amount of time away from their duties no matter what anyone does with their time away.

If I worked along side you and you got to go every 3 hours and take a 20+ minute break I would want the same thing and just because I am not a nursing mother it would make no difference. That's discrimination to me. So if they say no it's not because they don't support your pumping, it's because they don't want a bunch of other students demanding they get the same time away from their duties too or get sued for discrimination.

That's what it really comes down to. They have to give everyone the same consideration. So if they give you these breaks they MUST give the same breaks to each and every person. What anyone does during that time frame is entirely up to them.

Perhaps you can divide your lunch and any other break times up into smaller increments. That's the only way I can see them letting you take excessive breaks.

I assume you are saying the actual pumping takes 15 minutes so walking to the place to pump and hooking up, doing the job, cleaning the area, storing the milk, etc...then walking back to the job would take more than 20 minutes.

Just to clarify, the rights of a nursing mother only come in to play in an employment situation. If you are still in school, I am not sure that they are required by law to accomodate you. Obviously, you should talk to your instructors and request the time to pump. I truly hope that they will work with you on this.

I'm not sure I understand - how long are the pumping breaks that you need? 3 hour breaks sounds like you'll be pumping for 3 hours. Invest in a DUAL pump or see if the hospital has it, and get the dual pumping bra - it's hand's free and works. I would think that would cut down the pumping breaks to 20-30 minutes total. A LOT more manageable. Talk to a lactation consultant about making this work and do your best to schedule WITH them - demanding they stick to your planned schedule probably isn't reasonable, but working around each others is. Good luck!

(pumping bra - this one looks a little crazy, but you get the idea :) http://www.onestepahead.com/catalog/product.jsp?productId...