Pumping at work is such a complicated issue.  At the hospital where I work, a
nurse in our intermediate intensive care nursery is diligently pumping for
her 5 month old baby. She works 12 hr. shifts and pumps in each of her 15
minute breaks (she legally gets 2) and during 15 minutes of her 30 minute
lunch break.  She takes her breaks and lunch when it is feasible to get
someone to cover for her (the same as the other staff does) and pumps in the
communal break room at the same time the rest of the staff is taking their
breaks. No one is inconvenienced and she gets no grief about this.  Because
mothers pump at the bedside in this particular unit, it doesn't seem strange
to her co workers to see her pump during their lunch breaks and, of course,
she does it discretely. I think she is a wonderful model for her co workers
who have not yet had children.  I suppose she could have demanded a couple of
extra unpaid pumping breaks but this would have inconvenienced the rest of
the staff. In hospital units where staffing is stretched to the limit, having
to cover an extra 30 minutes for a co worker would be a real imposition.  Our
hospital does have a pump room for staff but she would lose 10 minutes of her
break going to and from this room.  I know, though, that this nurse has
influenced a good and accepting attitude  among her co workers about pumping
by accomplishing it without affecting her work.  Another nurse in the unit
who swore she would never bf, watched Gabriella and others in the unit bf and
pump and is now breastfeeding her own baby.  She claims she is only doing it
because "the baby likes it" but I know her consciousness was raised as she
watched her coworkers combine work and breastfeeding.

Physicians have unbelievably tight schedules. If their children remain
healthy   because they receive breastmilk others in the practice benefit.
Accomplishing pumping in a way that will work for the rest of the practice
will make it easier for the next woman in the practice to pump. I know none
of this is easy but to quote someone from this list we change attitudes "one
nipple at a time". I look forward to the day when pumping at work will be the
norm, policies will support it and no one will blink. Meanwhile it is our job
to help each mom work out a way to pump and not jeopardize her job and
working relationships.  When impossible barriers are erected we need to fight
them, but otherwise flexibility will change attitudes.

Kathy Boggs, RN, IBCLC
Mountain View, CA

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