So, LO just turned 11 months old, and my goal has always been to breastfeed for at least a year. I'm so proud that we're still going strong. As we're increasing solids, he's starting to drink less in his expressed daycare bottles (18 oz now to 12 and sometimes only 9 oz/day). As you can imagine, I'm most excited about stopping pumping at work. I've been doing 3/day since I've been back. In the beginning it didn't cover his daycare bottles. Now it will. In fact, I think I can cover his bottles with 2 pumps at work. Do you have any advice for dropping pump sessions so that I'll still be able to nurse am and pm and not get too engorged and uncomfortable at work? I also have maybe 160 oz in freezer. And I plan to transition him to cow's milk at one year. Is it too soon to regularly drop a session? Help!
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Bump!
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I think you are fine to start dropping. Just go slow so you dont leak or get engorged.
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I don't have any experience with this yet, but I plan on dropping a session one time a month. I want to be down to only 2 sessions a day by October. I'm currently at 5-6x a day. In August I'll drop down to 4. 3 in September, and then be down to two by October. And then she'll turn 1 in November, which is my goal. If we are both cool with the 2x a day thing we will stick with that, otherwise we'll wean entirely.
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Thanks for the replies
I'm just so excited. I decided to try not doing my lunch pump today and actually left the building for lunch. Freedom is amazing! I'll prob stick with this for 2 weeks then drop another. Wheeeee!
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@pregnantbee: Good luck!
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@highwire: Thx! And to you, too. It's so challenging.
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@pregnantbee: I'm so glad you wrote this! I have been super worried about intake because we went from 18oz to about 12oz and now down to 9/10oz! I even asked Nancy Holtzman about it because I was so freaked out!
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@littlebittyhouse: Glad I'm not alone! Our babies are growing up. As long as they're eating and gaining, I'm not too worried about LO's intake. I just hope he's cool with cow's milk at 1 so I don't have to seek out special milk just for him
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Start by decreasing the amount of time you pump for the session you want to drop first. For example, if you usually pump for 20 minutes, do 15, then 10, then 5, then eliminate it.
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Yeah, I have totally stopped pumping at work now. I wasn't engorged at all. I dropped each pump at 3 day intervals with no problem. I now nurse AM an PM and on weekends and haven't noticed any supply issues.
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@mrs. tictactoe: Hmmm. So maybe it wasn't the best idea to just not pump at lunch today. Will see how it goes and then add it back in for a shorter amount of time if needed.
@plantains: Yay! And good to know. Thanks. And can you believe our Junebugs are almost 1 year old?? Crazy.
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@pregnantbee: It is insane! I still remember us all obsessing over our u/s pictures wondering what our babies would look like and now they are in the last month of their first year. I get teary just thinking about it:)
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@pregnantbee: i love seeing his pics! those dimples!!!
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@plantains: @littlebittyhouse: We'll have to do a Junebug update thread -- maybe toward the end of June after bdays? And thanks, @littlebittyhouse.
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@pregnantbee: yes, we should! Are you posting in the Junebug First Birthdays thread?
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@plantains: I didn't know there was one!
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I really should tag everyone so they jump in with the chitchat. I'm on my way out but will def try to do it when I get home.
I'm just so excited. I decided to try not doing my lunch pump today and actually left the building for lunch. Freedom is amazing! I'll prob stick with this for 2 weeks then drop another. Wheeeee!
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