Attachment Parenting

If you pumped at work, did you stop at one year?

I know this question might be more geared to the BF-ing board, but I feel like I "know" you ladies a little better...

Liam's going to be a year old in 20-something days, and I want to keep nursing in the morning and at night, but it would be nice to not have to keep lugging the pump to work every day for perpetuity. I'm just wondering how you handled this transition.

 

MacAndCheese
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Re: If you pumped at work, did you stop at one year?

  • I stopped pumping when he was 13 months old- I needed the prep time back at work! He was transitioning to soy milk (dairy allergy) then anyway and doing fine with it so it seemed like a logical choice. He still nurses to this day so it definitely didn't impact our nursing relationship. ETA: depending on your supply, you might want to just cut back on sessions gradually. I never had issues with engorgement while dropping the pump but have heard of other moms who have.
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  • I stopped at 11 months simply because I was producing so little that it was more stressful for me to try to get 3 ounces out of two 20 minute sessions than nothing. I started giving Zoe almond milk, which has a really good nutritional setup and I wasn't really keen on cow's milk. She got about two bottles per day at this time and continued getting bottles (about one per day) until she was 16 months. I just kept nursing morning and evening and still do. We are just starting to wean now because I am going away for a week in May. If not I think I would just continue, nursing is so nice and simple after 1 year, so keep going :-)
    Single mom of DD (2010), TTC #2 since June 2013.
    Occasionally I'm blogging about my life with flybaby.
  • DD is almost 14 months old and I am still pumping at work.  We are not doing WCM so they give her BM in a sippy.  I am hoping to continue at least till 18 months and then I will reevaluate.  It helps that I have my own office.  
  • I stopped pummping because I dropped my morning session with him and only kept evening and night nursing...if you want to continue your morning session, i'd recommend to continue pumping.

     

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  • I stopped pumping around a year as well, as DS was getting cows milk during the day.  He was still nursing several times a day..and sometimes nursed more on the weekends.  He self weaned at 22 months, so stopping the pumping at work at one year was not a problem.
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  • I very gradually dropped sessions starting around 13 months and dropped my last session between 14 and 15 months (just a few weeks ago).

    So far, so good on supply. DS looooves to nurse and will do it as much as I'll let him, so we nurse a lot on weekends and days off and it really pumps up my supply.

    The only downside is that DS does drink quite a bit of cow's milk by day--which taken to the extreme can cause anemia issues, but we're also working on getting him to eat more solids. He's still well within the limit the pedi gave us for how much cow's milk he could drink per day and he eats a lot of iron rich foods, so I am not stressed.

    Dropping the pump really hasn't impacted our BF-ing relationship at all, and it's wonderful not lugging all that stuff back and forth and washing all those pump parts.

    HTH! GL with your decision!

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  • You bet I did! I hated that damn pump.  I actually stopped at 11 months since I had a huge freezer stash that lasted until LO was 14 months.  I nursed in the morning, after work, and all through the night until I night weaned LO at 12 1/2 months in order to bring AF back.  I kept nursing in the morning and after work but my supply tanked at 13 1/2 months without the night nursing sessions/return of AF.

  • Thanks, Everyone. I have a pretty flexible schedule, so I figure it's not as difficult as some people's pumping situations. My issue is mainly lugging the pump around. I'm an English professor and teach Brit Lit and Shakespeare, so with my massive backpack that might have The Complete Works of Shakespeare and loads of student work in it, my pump bag loaded with my lunch, water bottle, travel mug, and purse, I feel like a pack mule.

    I've gone mostly paperless with grading, which has helped a lot, but I still feel like I'm training for the military or firefighting or something with all of my gear.

    MacAndCheese
    Mac and cheese lover!
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  • I pumped until DD was 19 months old, mostly because she was consistently nursing mid morning still (I only work 3 mornings a week). She will still do that now if we are at home but goes without it some days too. I also noticed that with every period my output on the pump would be less and less and the last couple of weeks I would get about 1.5 oz total from both sides, so it wasn't really worth it anymore.  I also had a huge stash that I would never make it through so I donated anything from May on. 

    You would probably drop a pumping session every few days I order not to get engorged although you might get away with some hand expression too to get rid of the fullness. Or maybe just pump once a day if you work a full day just in case he decides he wants to nurse more on the weekends (so to keep your supply up a bit) if you would still be ok with that. 

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