LO is 6 months old, pretty much exclusively breastfed. I've been back at work for a month and pumping while she's at daycare. But I can't make as much as she drinks during the day. And pumping at work is a pain in the butt. I'd like to nurse her in the morning and evening and cut out the pumping. Anyone have advice on how to do this? Im not really looking for anyone to try to talk me into continuing to pump. I feel pretty good about BFing for 6 months and would like to get my boobs and life back.
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I have no experience yet, but just wanted to say good luck and hope you find a system that works for you!
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Do it slowly so you don't get plugged ducts or mastitis but just start weaning down on how often you pump. I think cold turkey would hurt. I pump weaned at 12 months but still visit at lunch and nurse overnight. I loved the freedom I got from not pumping even though I am still breast feeding. As for transitioning to formula, we went cold turkey when we tried it and had no issues. But you can also slowly mix breast milk and formula (made) until it is all formula.
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Thanks @brownie. The transition to formula was pretty easy. We've been supplementing for a couple weeks now. If I go more than 5-6 hrs without pumping or nursing I get pretty engorged and sore. I'm so afraid of leaking at work! I guess I'll just slowly drop one nursing session and go from there.
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Anyone else have experience with weaning off th pump?
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@BeachMama: I'm down to just morning and evening nursing. Like brownie said, slowly drop when you pump. I was pumping twice at work, then it was just once and the last pump I dropped was a 10:30 pump. I was just over it. I have been doing the 2 nursing sessions since about September and baby's 1st birthday is in 1 month. I think I am going to try and make it to his birthday and then drop the evening feed and about 2 weeks later drop the morning one.
I'm actually more nervous about stopping now. Will I get engorged? How much do I feed him in place of nursing? I doubt he is getting much milk during these feedings. Its probably more comfort for me than him at this point. -
Can you just drop the amount of time you do by 5 minutes a week for a while? I was pumping just once a day, and I just quit, and that was a bad choice! I'd personally just cut down.
And I applaud your choice to combo feed in a way that works for you while still nursing some. That's a nice balance, there.
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@BeachMama: I'm very interested to hear how this goes for you. When I wean, I'd like to still nurse morning and night, but cut out the pumping sessions during the day. Please keep us posed on how it goes! Good luck!
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I'm in this situation now...I started cutting out pumping sessions when my LO was 5 months so that I'd be pretty much done with breastfeeding altogether by 6 months. I started by cutting out one session in the afternoon first, so I probably went about 6 hours without pumping. The first couple days I hurt, but by the third day I was okay. After a week, I took out another session, waited a week, and then took out another session. I also cut back on pumping sessions from 20 minutes to 15 then to 10 minutes. Now I nurse him twice a day for his AM feedings, give him bottles of mostly formula with some pumped milk for the other feedings, and then pump once at 8pm. I LOVE not being tied down to the pump and I may consider going further than 6 months with this process.
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I agree. Just slowly start cutting out a pumping session or pushing them back.
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I had to do it verrrrrry slowly. First I started to pump less at each session. When that wasn't a problem, I spread out the time between sessions. It took me over a month.
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