I work in a 46 bed NICU at a Children's Hospital and need help from the group in regards to washing breastpump equipment, silicone bottle nipples, nipple shields,etc. According our Infection Control dept, anything that contains even a drop of breast milk should not be washed at a handwashing sink, due to the chance of transmission of blood-borne microorganisms. After an in-depth discussion with the Infection Control nurse specialist, our hospital still "treats" breastmilk as a body fluid capable of transmitting blood borne viruses, even if OSHA and CDC do not. Where and how to wash silicone nipples used for bottle feeding was the original issue in question. Our unit is 80% breastfeeding/breastmilk. We have 2 "pump rooms" which are busy with waiting lines. To offset this, we have 4 additional pumps that can be taken to the bedside. Thus when mothers are finished pumping they will wash their equipment at the bedside at sinks "designated" for handwashing. In addition, the nurses feed babies breastmilk with reusable silicone nipples that need to be cleaned with soap and water between use. The infection control specialist states that breastmilk(and thus potential viral proteins) can survive and grow in sinks/drains, if not properly disinfected between handwashings, thus be splashed back into the hands of all those washing at the sink. Has anyone heard of this ? Barring long discussions of promoting more actual breastfeeding (a topic of greater priority and ultimately more inherent merit) as opposed to bottle feeding the pumped milk, does anyone have experience with this issue in their NICU? Where do the mothers or nurses wash equipment that contains breast milk? All suggestions are greatly appreciated, Cathy Carnaby, RNC, IBCLC NICU Children's Hospital Omaha, Nebraska *********************************************** To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest) To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet All commands go to [log in to unmask] The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(R) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html