Extended pumping at work?

PumpkinAndThePeanut

I'm pretty sure I'm the only person ever who doesn't mind pumping at work, so I probably won't get many responses, but here goes. LOs will be one in April and I'm thinking about continuing to pump at work if they are still nursing during the day (I'm not sure how much they take in while nursing, but I'm still pumping about 21-24 oz/day at work, which is only a little less than before they started solids at 6 months). I'm having a real problem with the idea of cutting them off in a couple of months and would like to wean them more naturally. When I spoke to the LC who works with my company, she suggested I could cut down to 2 sessions /day but still continue to pump for another 6 months or so. She said the law says one year but that some of her moms extend it and that my company has never said anything about it. I'm a little concerned my boss won't like it but I don't think he'd say anything...

Is anyone else planning to do this? Or am I crazy? I'm just not ready to be done and I don't think they are either.

CNJ4EVA

There are plenty of Moms that go past two years, so I don't think you're crazy. Personally, I was counting the days till being done, but there were major supply issues causing me to feel that way. I may have gone past a year if my supply was sufficient (and I hadn't gotten pg again).

emmy236

My company doesn't have a set cut off time. If you want to nurse till their in college you can use the nursing mothers room. Usually any really personal questions like that is a HR nightmare so they don't even bother trying to regulate it.

PumpkinAndThePeanut

LOL, @emmy236. I'm kind of thinking my company would be the same way, not wanting to get involved in something that could get them in trouble. I was more concerned about being a "strain" on the system, with already 28 moms sharing our 6-pump room, but the only one who would care about that is the LC and she told me I could use the room as long as I want.

And @KateRN08, if I had to pump at home I'd want to burn mine too. It's just part of my daily routine at work now and our facilities are so good that it really doesn't bother me.

I was always planning to do extended BFing (morning, evening and overnight) but I had just assumed they'd be done nursing during the daytime by one year and at this rate, it doesn't look like that's going to happen.

MauLoaM0M

I'm also jealous of your supply! I plan to BF until LO weans but I'm thinking that I will also continue to pump after he's 1. Unless my supply contines to tank, then I might decide to be done. So I guess it's really a wait & see. :-/

surpriseaddition

@pumpkinandthepeanut I don't think you're crazy. I'm planning on doing the same thing. My LO will be a year on April 30th. I plan to keep pumping at work (but dropping down to one pump) and continue until I get out of school on June 13th (I'm a teacher). I want to keep my midday supply up so I can nurse during the day over the summer if she still wants to nurse. I nursed my son until he was 18 months. That was my second, and I was a SAHM then so pumping wasn't an issue. But with my first, I had gone back to work, and finished nursing around 10 months. My DD didn't seem to want to nurse as much at that age...and I also wanted to TTC at that point too. GL!

jayro10

A friend of mine at work still pumps once a day, midday. Her baby was a year old in January. She is going to let her LO self-wean and she still nurses during the day when they're together, so dropping to just one pump at work has been all she needed.
I would do the same except my LO will be one in early June, a week before summer break. I'd like to let her self-wean so I imagine I will still be doing one pump at work when I go back in the fall.

PumpkinAndThePeanut

Thanks ladies. Yeah, that's why I don't want to stop pumping, because id like to continue nursing during the day on weekends (if they want to nurse). So I'll probably drop to 2 pumps a day, then 1 and see how it goes. Thanks for letting me know I'm not crazy.