When did you know YOU were ready to wean you babies off breastmilk?

CJ71903 · August 2011

I have been EP'ing since my Babies were 3 weeks old (I tandem nursed prior to that). I feel guilty for saying this, but I'm getting tired of pumping. I have to take supplements to keep my supply up and it's just a hassle.

When did you know it was time for you to stop feeding you baby(ies) breastmilk?

howleyshell · August 2011

For me with #1 it was when he started biting.

Based on what you wrote I'd say it sounds like you're ready!

You're a champ for EP'ing for this long. There's no way I could have done it for that long.

There's no crime in wanting your body back and wanting to simplify your life. I would imagine that stopping EP'ing would free some extra time to spend loving on your little ones!

No guilt, Mamma. Do what you feel is right for you and your family.

laura&dan05 · August 2011

Good for you for making it this long EPing for twins! That must be so much work. I pump maybe once a week when I'm away from DS during a feeding or two and I think it's a huge PITA.

My situation was different since I only have singletons but with dd I EBF (she never took a bottle) for a year. I started giving her a sippy cup with WCM at 10.5 months in order to start the transition but was still nursing 3X a day. By a year she was fully transitioned to WCM in a sippy cup. I knew I didn't want to continue after a year, that was the goal I set for myself and wasn't interested in going past it. The last week of nursing her was bittersweet but when I was done I didn't look back or have any regrets. I was happy I made it to my goal and DH and I celebrated by taking a week long vacation to the carribean (DD stayed with my parents for the week).

I plan to do the same thing with DS. He will take a bottle of pumped milk which makes leaving him for more than 3 or 4 hours much easier but like I said I don't like pumping at all. My goal is 1 year and I plan to transition him the same as I did for DD.

Mouseygail · August 2011

I stopped all supplements (the only thing that was keeping my boobs afloat) around 9-10 months (odd, i can't even remember now...) and stopped pumping at work. total weaning was almost immediate...there was just nothing for him to drink anymore. I probably would have considered it sooner, because of how much I hated pumping and trying to keep my supply up, but it took until that point to find a formula that he would actually drink!! (everything else we tried sent him into all out bottle refusals for a week at a time)

mybobble · August 2011

Ds never got the hang of nursing so I ep for 13 months. Yes, I know it's crazy but I wanted him to have bm for as long as I could keep up w/ pumping. I decided at 13 months it was a good time to stop.

schmoodle · August 2011

I don't know when I would have been ready, but my body/baby made the decision for me mostly. I never made enough so always had to heavily supplement, and when I went back to work I continued nursing when home and pumping at work but then I got terrible thrush so every time I pumped at work the pump would fill with blood (sorry for horrible visual) so I had to stop pumping too (I could have tried to hand express, or started pumping again, but it was just getting so exhausting and painful I just stopped). About a month later my supply had completely dried up, in part because little man wouldn't nurse more than about 2 minutes when he realized how little was there.

I'm trying to decide if/when to stop pumping for Boodle now (right now I pump after every nursing/bottle session) and am terrified to do so because I worry it will dry my supply up again even if I'm still nursing her 7 times a day, just because she is/was an inefficient nurser (hence the pumping). Ideally I'd like to nurse/give her BM until at least 6 months, even if I can't make it to almost 9 like I did with her brother. It's so hard, best of luck!

dana316 · August 2011

I absolutely knew.

She was 14.5 months old, I was newly pregnant, and she was very quickly losing interest. We were down to one nursing session a day, and it was becoming a battle.

I can't speak to EP'ing, since I pretty much exclusively nursed. I'd pump a little bit at the beginning, and then would only pump after that if I was away from Caro, which wasn't much.

DMD1029 · August 2011

I started weaning DS at 7mos and completely weaned him at 8mos. I knew that I was ready to do it because my entire morning was consumed by feeding/pumping and I just couldn't take the stress anymore.

I would nurse him when he woke up - which took forever at that point because he was never an efficient nurser and my supply had gone down a bit so he would get frustrated - and then pump after that. I was pumping an additional 3 X at work, nursing him before bed at night, and then pumping again before I went to sleep. I was popping fenugeek like they were M&Ms and getting totally stressed and obsessed about milk supply (which wasn't helping matters).

Not nursing has made my mornings and worklife sooo much better! I was really sad the final week b/c I really enjoyed nursing, but the day I stopped I felt like I had so much time on my hands!!

I think that the first responder to your email had it right. You've done a phenomenal job. It's totally OK to move on to the next phase if that's what you want to do.

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