I am a nurse in a hospital setting.  I have always been allowed to work up to
40 hours per week.  I have usually worked about 38-39.  I am not allowed to
work any overtime.  Well, things have changed even more.  Now I can only work
36 hrs (not good as a single mom with a daughter in college and supporting a
small house).  The two part time LC's can only work 24 and the perdiem LC is
almost nearly off of the schedule.  Just helping now with two 6 hour weekend days
and one 6 hour evening over a month long schedule.  When I go on vacation in
October it will be difficult because by then I expect our perdiem LC will be
working elsewhere.  So things are difficult.  Budget cuts unfortunately happen.
 Just makes me ill to see things that need to be cut but aren't.  My
suggestions fall on mute ears.  And to top it off we have three Nurse Managers now.
The third one was hired for Mother/Baby.  We have a L & D Manager and
NICU/Transtional Nursery Manager also.  The new Manager for Mother/Baby is CLUELESS
about breastfeeding and normal newborn behavior.  I don't even know where to
start.  We had a friendly BIG argument today.  She accused me of not allowing
these poor mothers to get rest.  They are so drained and how can I tell them they
need to breastfeed when they need sleep in order to mother their babies. After
I refuted her with lots of info and ways to help them sleep during the day
she shook her head and said so you don't even allow these moms to have any kind
of a choice, it is so sad, what you are doing to these moms.  (I can hear the
gasps out there!)  I have to check my blood pressure because I have been
seeing red all day.  I promised her that her desk will be full of info she needs to
read over the next week or so because she is going to set us back 20 years!
I gave her our policy, she just shook her head.  Right now she is not my
direct manager but she could be one day.  And like I said, it was a friendly loud
disagreement.  But the nurses were afraid to interject!

Pam Hendrix, RN, IBCLC
S. Florida Hospital Based

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