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November 2011 Moms
For those who BF for a year...
This may be a silly question but do you actually physically breastfeed your baby until they are year old? Or do you start exclusively pumping when they get to a certain age and bottle feed them breast milk? If you go with the second option, at what age do you/did you start exclusive pumping? Thanks for putting up with all my clueless breastfeeding questions lately. 
This discussion has been closed.
Re: For those who BF for a year...
I'd say most women who can continue to breastfeed do, rather than switching to pumping. My DD started refusing the breast when she was 9 months old after she bit me and I yelped - it scared her and from then on she wouldn't nurse. I was heartbroken but determined that she'd have my milk for the first year, so I EPed after that. IMO pumping stinks - it is a lot of work and in uncomfortable, while nursing for us was pretty much effortless (the milk is always warm and ready, there is no cleanup, and by that point both DD and I knew what we were doing).
I did pump at work starting at 10 weeks, and also pumped extra in the morning and at night, even when DD was still nursing, so my DH would give her bottles on occasion and we'd have our MIL babysit for us every Saturday and give her bottles.
I think its all personal preference. I plan on exclusivley breastfeeding then pumping on days like Christmas and New Years when I want to have a couple drinks or maybe even once in a while when I want to sleep all night and let my hubby get up and do the feedings.
I physically breastfed him for 13 months. No need to start exclusively pumping unless you want to at some point (although I'm not sure why you would- it's so much more work!)
You really just need to figure out what works for you. I have a good friend who after trying nursing for a couple months decided that it wasn't for her, but she continued to exclusively pump for 16 months. There is no right or wrong way
A Little Bird and a Monkey Butt
I agree with others that pumping is just too much work!
I pumped for the first year while I was at work and did not even want to look at my pump when I was home on the weekends. I only used my pump at home in the beginning when I was on maternity leave and if for some reason I needed more milk than I had produced at work.
I had only planned on going a year with BF, but my son was not ready to stop so I finally weaned him at 19 months. After 12 months hit, he was doing whole milk most of the time and just nursing in the morning and at night. I had no issues with my breasts being too full during the day.
~Working Mom~Breastfeeding Mom~Cloth Diapering Mom~BLW Mom~
Blog - No Longer on the DL ~ The Man Cave
Shawn and Larissa
LO #1 - Took 2 years and 2 IVFs ~ DX - severe MFI mild PCOS homozygous MTHFR (a1298c)
LO #2 - TTC 7 months, surprise spontaneous BFP!
A related question. For those who pumped just for daycare, did pumping while you were at work produce enough milk, or when else did you pump? How much do you need to send to daycare anyways? Thanks!
I can't remember when we switched from 4oz to 8oz bottles, but it wasn't too long after he started daycare at 3 months old. At the peak, I sent (3) 8oz bottles for a 7:45am to 5:15pm day and it went down to 2 bottles once he started eating more solids. I was typically always able to produce enough at work during the day and I only pumped twice during the day. I also found its a good idea to build up some reserves before you going back to work so that you don't have to stress if you don't produce enough one day.
I did this too. I did not respond well to the pump. I could feed him just fine, but in 7 pumping sessions a day I would be lucky to get 6 oz of milk. I opted to not pump at all after I had a very small freezer stash because it was so frustrating. I am hoping I respond better with this baby because I will have to go back to work when he is 9 months old and I want him to ebf for a year.
Woah! I could have never kept up with that.
Typically BF babies do not increase intake, the caloric content of the breast milk changes to satisfy their needs. I sent three 4 oz bottles per day from 8 weeks old until we stopped sending bottles. I was never able to keep up when I was exclusively pumping, but when I was only pumping bottles for daycare it was not an issue. DS ate 3 times, so I pumped 3 times and 4 oz was pretty typical output for 1 pumping session. Most nights I added an extra session before bed, but that helped build up a little extra. Actually nursing helps keep your supply up.
~Working Mom~Breastfeeding Mom~Cloth Diapering Mom~BLW Mom~
Blog - No Longer on the DL ~ The Man Cave
Shawn and Larissa
LO #1 - Took 2 years and 2 IVFs ~ DX - severe MFI mild PCOS homozygous MTHFR (a1298c)
LO #2 - TTC 7 months, surprise spontaneous BFP!
DD1 nursed for 2 yrs and self weaned. Nursed whenever I was around and I pumped at work-- which was up to 80hrs/week with 24hr in-house shifts, until 16-17mo. We did reverse cycle and co-slept x9mo. I think I inappropriately started worrying about supply when she started sleeping more so would get up and pump 0200 when she slept through that feed. Never sent more than 5oz in a bottle, send BM until she stopped daycare at 15mo, and my frozen stash which had been as large as ~1200oz was used up by 18mo when she started 2% when I wasn't around.
Pumping sucks, literally, and I would never encourage EPing unless you really wanted to. It's hard to maintain a good supply this way and you would miss the bonding to be replaced with dishes.
I know it seems like a strange thought to nurse an older baby/toddler, but when they are yours and you have that relationship already it is not weird. It also seems strange to think I will have a teenager one day, but that too will happen.
This is exactly why I asked these questions! As a FTM, it DOES seem strange to me and just thinking about it, I'm not sure I would be comfortable with it. If I decide to BF, I will have to pump no matter what because I have to return to work after 8 weeks. Maybe my thoughts on BFing for a longer period of time will change once I start doing it. If not, my goal is to BF for 6 months, then maybe pump.
Someone already mentioned support being a big thing. I can already tell that may be an issue at work. I work in a small doctors office with my SIL and MIL and one other girl. While my SIL and the other girl would probably support me in any decision I make, I'm not so sure about my MIL, who is actually the office manager. She is very negative and when I first mentioned to her that I was thinking about BFing (I had been planning on using formula until a couple weeks ago), and that I would have to pump at work, her response was a very snotty, "Well that's convenient". Ugh, I would love to punch her sometimes.
WTH? What an obnoxious thing to say.
The bad news with this is until your milk supply is really well established...you have to pump for missed feedings anyways. So you don't really get a break.
I physically nursed my son for 2 years. He's never had a bottle in his life!
I'll breastfeed exclusively until 6 months, then continue breastfeeding for as long as I'm able.
My child will be in daycare as of 1 year old, so most likely will have to send a bottle or 2 of pumped milk during the day, but I would still breastfeed at home.
Of course, this is the beautiful plan, we'll see in reality.
With my first we had some major issues early on that led to mostly pumping. But she physically also would nurse a little bit. I stopped pumping at 12 months and she continued to physically nurse till 15 months.
With my second she physically nursed when I was with her until she was 22.5 months old and was fed pumped milk when I wasn't there until she was 13 months old. After 13 months she had cow's milk when I wasn't there and even when I was, but still nursed on demand as well.
It's really not weird to nurse your child to 12 months or beyond. It might seem weird to you now, but it probably won't be when you get to that point. Besides it's so much easier than pumping!
I also never sent that much milk to daycare. First, there's no way I could have kept up with that and second, that's almost the entire day's needs for the baby. I never went above like 5oz in the first bottle and around 3-4oz in the other two bottles. For me I just served what I pumped so if I pumped 5 oz in the first session she got 5oz in her first bottle the next day. If I got 3.5oz in the second session she got that in her second bottle. They don't necessarily need to eat the exact same amount of milk every time they eat, and they don't if they are nursing. But I responded pretty well to the pump and that worked for my kid. Daycares do tend to overfeed BF babies so it is something to be aware of. I had a huge freezer stash that I built while on maternity leave, but never did I have to dip into it for daycare bottles. I actually ended up donating a lot of milk to the milk bank because I had too much that I could never actually use it all.