Exclusive Pumpers Check-In

TheyCalledHerKate

Can we do a check-in? I'm currently trying to get down to 4 pumping sessions a day from five and hoping it won't affect my supply. My goal is to make it to a year. Is anyone else still EP and planning to for the full year? My baby drinks 30oz of EBM per day and I make aboyt 34-36 oz per day.

CNJ4EVA

I EP meaning that I never nurse LO, but my baby does not get exclusively BM. She gets mostly formula due to my extremely low supply. 

My goal is a year as well, but not sure it's worth the effort anymore.  I spend about 2 hours 15 mins pumping for a total daily output of about 4 ounces (5 sessions on weekdays, 6 on weekends).

Edit typo

emmy236

I'm an EPer. I just got down to 4 times a day most days. It actually happened out of the sheer chaos of the holidays. I am putting out a little less like 28-30oz from my 36 but LO has also cut down to about 28 oz a day now that he's at 3 solids a day. I also got AF today so I think that may be a reason. I try to have 2 days a week of 5 sessions to maintain supply. My short term goal was 6 months and a year was my long term. Now it 8 months and if things are ok then it will be 10.

I'm lucky that I rarely supplement. I had to at the very beginning because R was severely tongue tied and I had to fortify what I did pump and give some formula until I got my supply up enough and he regained weight. From about 4 week until 6 months he was exclusively on BM. At 6 months I hit a wall and we give him a 2oz premade supplementation formula just in the MOTN if he's hungry just to save my sanity. I also did a few mix (maybe 10) bottles so I could make sure I had a large enough freezer stash ready so DH and I can go away for our anniversary in 2 weeks.

kelly422

Yup, still here!  I dropped from 6 pumps to 5 pumps on Christmas (my 5:30 pm pump) which has been glorious!  My supply has dipped a few ounces, but I'm also sick so wondering if that's why.  Even if I'm down a few ounces, I still have more than what LO eats and one less pump has saved my sanity, so it's totally worth it.  I make anywhere from 42-47 oz per day and LO eats about 30, so I'm able to continue to build my awesome freezer stash.  I plan on getting her to 1 year and may be able to stop in the next few months and use my freezer supply.  

TheyCalledHerKate

missk0411 said:

I'm mostly hanging in there, but about 2 weeks ago we started supplementing with one formula bottle a day (6 ounces at bedtime) because I just couldn't keep up.  She was not taking any solids, and was drinking 33 ounces while I could really only consistently get 28 with about 5 pumping sessions per day.

Now she's taking more solids so her BM intake is down a bit, too, but we're keeping the nighttime formula bottle.  I'm down to 4 pumps a day and get about 25 ounces.  Her eating is still a little erratic since she doesn't nap well at daycare--she sometimes falls asleep on the way home and stays asleep til we wake her, give her a bottle, and put her down for the night. 

I didn't really have a set goal in mind.  I would have loved to hit 1 year, but DH and I are thinking of having #2 sooner rather than later--realistically I'll be 40 and he'll be 44 when #2 comes along.  We did IVF for A, and #2 would be a FET, and you can't be breastfeeding while preparing for an FET, according to what I've read.  So I may stop in the next month or two to allow AF to come back and regulate so we can work on #2 this summer.  I had a c-section so we'll wait at least til her 1st birthday, but it would probably be good if I had a cycle by then.  I have mixed feelings about this--I feel like I am shorting A, but our ages put additional pressure on our decision. 

Don't feel bad, I would do the same thing in your situation!