stopping pumping at a year

LittleDucky

Hi ladies,

My son will be a year old in a little over a month and I am starting to dream of the day when I can stop pumping!  I plan to nurse as long as DS is interested in doing so, but I have no interest in continuing pumping after a year.

I was wondering how those of you who have stopped pumping have cut back.  I only pump about 6-10 ounces a day, total, so it is not like I am getting that much anyway.  On daycare days, DS nurses at bedtime, once overnight, and sometimes but not always in the morning.  On days when I am home with DS, he'll nurse about 3-5 times per day (always at bedtime, always at least once during the night, sometimes but not always in the morning, and 1 or 2 more times during the day), and when DS is in daycare, he takes about 6 ounces or so at daycare.  I also mix breast milk into his cereal each morning (about 2-3 ounces).  I currently pump in the morning and once or twice during the day (on the days we are apart - when I am with DS on weekends I do not pump).  Which pumping session would you recommend dropping first?

Also, after you've stopped pumping, have you found you have enough milk to nurse your LO on weekends, or does LO drink cow's milk on weekends?  DS also loves cheese and yogurt so he will get calcium from those sources, too.

 Sorry if this is long.  I have been so fixated on getting to a year BFing that I hadn't really thought about how to go about stopping pumping!  I am really hoping that I can keep BFing part time for a good long time, even once I have stopped pumping altogether.

Kitty1225

Hi

Evan is 14 months and I pumped from 7 months until the thurday at work when (he turned 1 that weekend) I was BEYOND thrilled to stop pumping.  I was just like you, nnot getting much at all. I had 2 weeks of frozen breastmilk so we used that for the first 2 weeks after his first bday.  After that, we started to send in 2 sippy cups of whole milk (one for morning and one for afternoonn) to daycare.  He was fine, no issues at all.  I would NOT nurse on weekends during that time because I wanted him to follow his weekly schedule.  I nursed morning (before work) and bedtime and that is it.  Just this past weekend, he didnt nurse int he morning (had whole milk) and said "no" 2 days in a row to the nighttime so i am officially done breastfeeding

Now, we give him a sippy of milk in the morning (7:00) and we send 1 sippy into daycare, and in the afternoon he gets cheese or yogurt, etc

At 1, when we started sending whole milk in, we would also send some cheese in or yogurt. 

Good luck and let me know if you have any more questions!  Good Luck...not pumping is great, LOL

mie

When I stopped pumping, I slowly increased the time between pumping sessions and dropped the second session first (I pump 3x at work).  I never had an issue of nursing any of my girls at home/on the weekend. 

cchill01

I stopped pumping at 1 year and we're still nursing at 21months.  It's magical how easy it is.  I let her call the shots on when and how much we nurse. 

To wean from pumping......First, I dropped my bedtime pumping session.  Then, I stopped visiting her at lunch.  Then, I replaced my 10am and 3pm pumping sessions with a single noon pump.  Then, I dropped that one.  The only time I pump now is if I'm not going to see DD for over 36-48 hours.  

LittleDucky

Thanks everybody for the responses!  I think I will drop the first thing int he morning session first and maybe move my midday session a bit earlier.  I am so excited to be done with pumping!  One more month....