Ruth  asks:
 

Our hospital is trying to decide how many more breast pumps are  needed
for our inpatients.

We have 4500 - 5000 births per year. We  also have a level 3 NICU. How
many hospital grade pumps are recommended for a  facility this size? We
currently have 11 pumps on the postpartum unit, 4 in  NICU and 1 in
Pediatrics. 
**********************************************************************

Might I politely  suggest:  LOTS MORE!!  You need to get an average of how 
many mothers  in postpartum are pumping or need to pump routinely (that 
would be all the moms  that have babies in the NICU, all the moms that have 
babies that can't/won't  latch for whatever reason, all the moms that have 
chosen to pump instead of  breastfeed (sad face here), all the moms that have 
such severe sore nipples that  they can't/won't put the baby to breast.... Each 
one needs their own pump -- not  sharing between umpty other moms.
 
For the NICU, how  many babies do you have in the NICU?  How many of them 
need  breastmilk?  Look at your averages.  You need at least one pump per  
mother/baby dyad.  At least enough to accommodate the moms that are pumping  
routinely when they come in.  The last thing a stressed mom needs in the  
NICU or on PP is to have to wait to pump because another mom has the pump, or  
she has to wait for the RN to find it, or the stress of the RN having to 
find  it.
 
And, if you have  5000 deliveries/year, you need to have at least 2 or 3 
pumps in L&D so that  the mom whose baby goes to the NICU and she can't 
breastfeed immediately can  pump in L&D so she can get that lovely bolus of 
colostrum which can then bet  sent to the NICU.
 
Peds?  How many  of your moms need to pump for their babies?  How big is 
your Peds  unit?  Seems to me that given the number of deliveries you are 
doing with a  level 3 NICU, your peds unit is also fairly large.  What is the 
average  number of moms pumping in Peds.  I don't think you need as many pumps 
there  as you do in the NICU -- they can share a bit more freely, but I 
think 1 is not  enough.
 
My Not So Humble  Opinion.
 
Jan Barger, RN, MA,  IBCLC, FILCA
Wheaton IL, USA


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