Pumping after LO stops nursing at one year?

Julias Table

Does anyone pump milk after LO is done with nursing and give it to them in a sippy cup?

I hope to breastfeed until LO is one year old, maybe a little older depending on how he does.  Then, I was hoping to keep up the milk supply by pumping and giving it to him in sippy cups.  I thought this would be beneficial to him to keep getting my milk, and also for me (the calorie burn and other benefits of BF).

Are there any guidelines about this or anything I should know about how to succeed with this?

 

carrotcake06

I'm a little confused. If you want LO to get BM past one year, why not continue nursing? You can certainly pump & give LO BM in a sippy even before a year but the easiest way is to nurse, esp if that's what you had been doing. I pump at work & BF at home & will stop pumping around 1 yr but continue to nurse as long as he likes. I'll replace his 2 daycare bottles w sippies of whole milk.

Julias Table

carrotcake06:

I'm a little confused. If you want LO to get BM past one year, why not continue nursing? You can certainly pump & give LO BM in a sippy even before a year but the easiest way is to nurse, esp if that's what you had been doing. I pump at work & BF at home & will stop pumping around 1 yr but continue to nurse as long as he likes. I'll replace his 2 daycare bottles w sippies of whole milk.

 Sorry..I didnt explain...what i mean is...once LO stops showing interest in nursing on my breast (i was just assuming it may be around the year mark, maybe later) I wanted to still give him breastmilk.   Do most babies stop wanting to nurse at some point or do they keep going until the mother tries to wean them? ( Ireally ahvent doen any research on this as we are only at the 3 month point)

I assume some babies never want to stop and want to keep going which is good. But if my LO were to wean himself, I guess I could just pump and give it to him in a sippy when that happens. 

carrotcake06

Oh okay, I gotcha now! I think it really depends on the kid, but if they wean themselves earlier than you'd like, you can definitely continue pumping as long as you'd like. You'd be EPing at that point, which a fair amount of pple do.

snicksnack

Once I got close to the 12 month mark I stopped responding to the pump as well and during the day I was lucky to get 2ozs.  At 12 months I still pump when i get up  and get around 4 or 5oz.  While I am at work the BM is mixed half whole and half bm for two 4 oz servings.  I nurse morning and night.  Right now she is still getting bottles and I am slowing switching her over to sippys. My pedi said not to worry about having her fully weaned from the bottle until she is 18 months but at the rate we are going I think she will be done by 15 months.

KelliLynee

If you want to nurse past a year, that is great. If baby weans but you still want to provide breastmilk, you would probably have to pump right along or else the pump might not do much for you.  But dont worry about that far into the future... set small goals & dont stress yourself out.

I nursed at home & pumped at work. I had to work REALLY hard to keep up with DD's needs towards the end of her first year, because I didnt respond that great to the pump. She would still nurse contently, but I was thisclose to not making it to my goal of one year based on my pumping output. Once I hit my goal of one year, I stopped pumping at work and just continued to nurse when I was with DD. She would take a sippy of milk from my small freezer stash, and I would pump on the rare nights when I wasn't home when she went to bed, more to stimulate my supply, not so much to actually get any significant amount.

I had a D&C in September (missed miscarriage) and couldn't nurse DD that night so I pumped instead & didnt get one single drop. She was 15 months at the time. Like I said she would contently nurse other nights but the pump just stopped doing it for me.

For me, I think DD weaned (at 16 months) because I had slowly been cutting her back from 4 to 3 to 2 to 1 nursing session a day (which I now regret) because I was pregnant again and wanted a bit of a break. She sort of went with the gradual weaning and stopped altogether, shortly after my miscarriage.  

dulcinea03

I'm still nursing my girls several times a day, but my pumping output has cut in half in the last 4-6 weeks, and the amount they'll take when I'm at work has also dropped. So I'm not stressing about it, pumping for comfort when at work, and giving them what they'll take from me. I can still give them antibodies, comfort, and a little bit of nutrition as long as they'll let me.

KelliLynee

dulcinea03:

I'm still nursing my girls several times a day, but my pumping output has cut in half in the last 4-6 weeks, and the amount they'll take when I'm at work has also dropped. So I'm not stressing about it, pumping for comfort when at work, and giving them what they'll take from me. I can still give them antibodies, comfort, and a little bit of nutrition as long as they'll let me.

Julias Table

Thanks everyone! Great info!