How long will you EP?

THD7580

DS will be two months tomorrow and I'm trying to hang in there til he at least starts eating cereal but I don't know if I can and I feel guilty. We have had quite the adventure so far with EP. I have had clogged ducts, mastitis, we both have had thrush which I still have, cracked nipples from day 1, you name it. So for me this hasn't been a walk in the park. I'm am so very glad I can give him breast milk but I'm just over it. My supply sucks if I don't take 12 fenugreek a day, drink a beer and 70 oz of water. So how about you?

letal316

I have FF since day 1 Gotta do what works best for you and your family, no guilt!!

Lizmullen

I stopped at 6 weeks. I have a much happier baby. Wonder if it's cause I'm happier than when I was EP!

kym1242

I'm stopping now and LO is 7 weeks tomorrow

RachelCA29

I only recently started and I'm having a pretty okay time with it. At this point I'm hoping to go to at least 6 months with it, but we'll see how it goes. No matter what I do (pump more, longer, etc) I can pump 24 oz in a day (I make an ounce an hour) so we have to supplement with formula one meal a day right now.
I'm EPing because BFing was going really badly and my LO basically refuses my breasts. I'm holding out hope that since I'm EPing I am keeping my supply and might be able to work on LOs latch and reestablish BFing. I get him on my boob about once a day with it breaking down into a screaming cry-fest. So its a slow process.
We'll see how it goes!

sws684

Goal is 6 months to a year.. We shall see!

THD7580

Thanks everyone that helps a ton! I think gonna try to do it for a couple more weeks and then if I'm really over it then we will make the switch. I feel like I can't enjoy him as much because of it and always having to lug my pump everywhere and make sure I'm somewhere I can pump when I have to and also someone watch him if we are out. It's becoming a hassle. Now if we were EBF that would be a whole different ball game!

ama7165

I have been EP ing for 3 1/2 months now and my first goal was 3 months. I made it to that and I have decreased to pumping six times a day which has made it more tolerable, but I still don't think I will make it to six months, which was my goal. I also have supply issues, so I am going to try a few more suggestions to try to increase my supply and if that doesn't work I will work on slowly quitting. I really hate it and it's a pain to pump everywhere and find somewhere to pump...so I am thinking I will pump until 4 1/2 months

firebelle26

DD had latch issues, I saw 2 LC's...I tried. I had to FF from the first week while my supply came in. Turns out my supply sucks. I took Fenugreek, drank a ton of water, and pumped every 2 hours for 20 minutes. That lasted 3 weeks. We are now EFF, and we're all happier. I feel like I can spend more time with DD, and I love every minute of it! I had many breakdowns of feeling guilty and like a failure. I realize now that it was a waste of time. Good luck, there is no wrong way to feed your baby. You have to do what's right for you and your family.

Sam0905

My little guy is 2 months and we basically EP but I still attempt to nurse several times a day (he is a super fussy nurser and prefers the bottle). Luckily I've had a great supply so far and have only dealt with clogged ducts a few times. Hopefully my LO will learn to nurse, otherwise I'll EP as long as possible- my goal would be 1 year. I'm afraid my supply will drop when I go back to work so hopefully I can keep it up.

SweetTea420

My ultimate goal is to make it to a year, but I'm just taking it one day at a time. I just dropped to 6 pumps per day in preparation for going back to work and I'm trying not to stress over my supply. Any breast milk I can give my son is awesome!

Jennyinheaven

I pump and supplement, question, how long can I realistically go between pumping sessions? I am starting a part time job this weekend will work two 8 hour shifts were I will not be able to pump, can I stil maintain any supply and not die of pain? Sorry to hijack but this will depend a lot on how long I stay with it.

THD7580

Well I stopped taking the fenugreek and my supply has pretty much cut in half. It was irritating my stomach and making me nauseous with the 14 I was taking. I knew it would happen even my nurse said I was gonna lose it. We are trying good start sensitive because the enfamil he hated and it smelled awful. So I guess by next week we will be EFF which is ok. I'm having a hard time letting go but I will survive and get my sanity back.

RachelCA29

Jennyinheaven said:

I pump and supplement, question, how long can I realistically go between pumping sessions? I am starting a part time job this weekend will work two 8 hour shifts were I will not be able to pump, can I stil maintain any supply and not die of pain? Sorry to hijack but this will depend a lot on how long I stay with it.

I think it depends on your body. I have been blessed with a great supply and I always make sure I pump until empty, and there have been a few nights that I meant to pump after a 2 am feeding but passed out asleep so by the time I pumped at 5 am it had been 8 hours and my boobs were bursting (literally milk running down my stomach).

The longest I have gone is 8 hours, but I know some women pump like 3 times day and get enough. I consistently make 1 ounce per hour - if I pump every 2 hours I get 2 ounces, if I wait 4 I get 4 ounces, etc. I usually pump about ever 4-5 hours. I've been trying to up my supply this week because we have to supplement a couple of ounces of formula per day, so I figure if I can squeeze out a bit more it would save trips to buy it. 

I've been really massaging my breasts while I pump to make sure they are completely empty each pump (again, 4-5 hours in between pumps, closer to 8 at night), and I seem to be able to get an extra ounce out per pump.

Again, it depends on your body. Some women MUST pump every 2-3 hours to keep up their supply, others can maintain it as long as they are pumping efficiently and somewhat consistently.

kalette

I did it for 16 months with DD, so im hoping for at least that again this time. It works out well for me though. 3x a day for 10-12 oz per time. I had a horrible oversupply initially so I've got over 900 oz in the deep freeze already. Idk if ill use it or not though. I didn't with DD...

bookishnerd

I'm going to pump until my supply doesn't meet demand and then formula feed. Bottle feeding has been so much better for both baby and I. I had to use a shield because of flat nipples and she never was a great nurser anyway, so BF'ing was a battle and stressful.

RachelCA29

kalette said:

I did it for 16 months with DD, so im hoping for at least that again this time. It works out well for me though. 3x a day for 10-12 oz per time. I had a horrible oversupply initially so I've got over 900 oz in the deep freeze already. Idk if ill use it or not though. I didn't with DD...

Did you always just do 3 pumps a day? My supply is super consistent so I am hoping to drop a few pumps but I don't want to screw it up.

yvanehtnioj

DS was just not a great nurser. Letting him feed for 30 minutes per side and it still not being enough was testing my sanity. Not to mention the pain. So I switched to pumping and I'm much happier.

I still supplement 4-6 oz formula a day, although I'm averaging 23 oz a day of pumped milk. I do 4 sessions a day, I just started trying to get in a 5th so I can pump a bit more.

I plan to keep up this routine until I go back to work. At that point I will probably drop down to 2-3 sessions per day. Waiting longer between pumps does give me more milk but not enough to make up for the dropped sessions, so I'll see an overall decrease but it is what it is. My friend's pediatrician told her that babies can still get the benefits of breast milk with as little as 5 oz a day. I haven't verified that yet but it makes me feel good to think it

MinaE01

DS2 was born 4/18 at 36w. We tried nursing, but it just did not work out. So I've been EPing for almost 11 weeks now. My supply sucks - the most I ever got in one day (8 pumping sessions) was 20oz. Now I'm down to 4x a day. Tomorrow I'm moving down to 3. With a 20 month old running around, I just couldn't do it anymore. Plus, DS2 has a milk sensitivity so we switched completely to Nutramigen to see if it helped. I've been freezing all my milk, so I have a nice stash for when he's ready.

I EPed with DS1, and it sucked. I made it 4 months with him. I really don't feel as guilty for stopping this time around. If momma is happier and less stressed, then everyone is happier and less stressed!

kalette

RachelCA29 said:

kalette said:

I did it for 16 months with DD, so im hoping for at least that again this time. It works out well for me though. 3x a day for 10-12 oz per time. I had a horrible oversupply initially so I've got over 900 oz in the deep freeze already. Idk if ill use it or not though. I didn't with DD...

Did you always just do 3 pumps a day? My supply is super consistent so I am hoping to drop a few pumps but I don't want to screw it up.

I started with 4 ppd this time around in an attempt to avoid oversupply like I had eith DD. It didn't work so I dropped to 3. With DD I was able to drop to 2 ppd around 6m without issue.

I would give it a go if I were you and see if it works out. You can always add the pump back in if your supply dips.

sws684

@RachelCA29‌ I could've written that.

charley0624

Long time lurker...I know this post is a couple weeks old but if it will help...I am EP and my supply seemed to dwindle around the 6 wk growth spurt. I am now renting a hospital grade Medela pump and OMG what a difference. In the last 3 weeks, I've frozen probably 30 bags of milk between 3-5 oz each, and have plenty in the fridge for the day (it's 1am now and I still have 11 oz fresh milk that i pumped today and that's after feeding every 2-3 hours and freezing 6 oz). It's been a life saver, is much more comfortable and quiet, and I'm down to pumping every 4-6 hours with no nighttime pump because I'm producing so much. Considering donating! Hope this helps.... Edited to add more info: I also went from pumping 1/2-1 oz per breast each pump to 1 1/2-4 1/2 ozs pumped per breast...

RachelCA29

charley0624 said:

Long time lurker...I know this post is a couple weeks old but if it will help...I am EP and my supply seemed to dwindle around the 6 wk growth spurt. I am now renting a hospital grade Medela pump and OMG what a difference. In the last 3 weeks, I've frozen probably 30 bags of milk between 3-5 oz each, and have plenty in the fridge for the day (it's 1am now and I still have 11 oz fresh milk that i pumped today and that's after feeding every 2-3 hours and freezing 6 oz). It's been a life saver, is much more comfortable and quiet, and I'm down to pumping every 4-6 hours with no nighttime pump because I'm producing so much. Considering donating! Hope this helps.... Edited to add more info: I also went from pumping 1/2-1 oz per breast each pump to 1 1/2-4 1/2 ozs pumped per breast...

I'm curious what pump you had before. I started with a hospital rental before I knew I was going to be EPing (just to pump to help my supply come in when I first came home). When I realized I would need a pump long term to EP we returned the hospital pump and I bought a medela in-style which was partially (although not much) covered by my insurance. A hospital rental would have only been covered for 3 months.

ETA: I did not notice a difference in my supply after I got my new pump, but I never had supply issues to begin with, I had over-supply somewhat when breastfeeding and once I started EPing I had very steady supply. My hospital pump was a medla symphony.