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Extended breastfeeding and pumping at work

hamburgeruniversityhamburgeruniversity member
in Breastfeeding
My son will be a year old in June (how is that even possible?) and is still nursing like a champ. I was hoping to make it to a year, and now my new goal is two years. I currently work full time and pump in the morning before work, twice at work, and then nurse him twice before bed (and occasionally at times throughout the night). I work at a school so I will have the summer off, and I plan to avoid the pump as much as possible during that time. My question is, should I continue to pump just as much when I return to work in September, or could I possibly drop a pump session? I am assuming his intake will slowly go down, and I am wondering if my pump schedule should change accordingly. My supply has been pretty good thankfully, and I don't want to do anything to jeopardize that.
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Re: Extended breastfeeding and pumping at work

  • MyaflowersMyaflowers member
    I started gradually dropping pumping sessions when my DD was about 11 months old. My last pumping session was when she was 13 months old. I was pumping 4 times a day, so I dropped a pump session about every 2 weeks, and then for the last session, I gradually reduced the time by about 2 minutes at a time. I was very cautious because I have recurrent mastitis. I've actually had 4 episodes since I stopped pumping, but I think it's just one infection that won't clear up. I'm not engorged and haven't had any plugged ducts, so I don't think it's from not pumping. Other than that, I've had no problems with not pumping and just nursing DD when we're together. My supply seems good enough for her at this point! Good luck with whatever you decide to do!
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  • vvvvvfeevvvvvfee member
    by the time my DS was 1, i was down to 1 pumping session per day at work. i stopped pumping when he was 14 months. i am still working f/t and nursing my DS, who is now 20 months. he still nurses 3-5 times a day.

    so yeah, you definitely don't need to still be pumping if your LO is going to be 15 months when you're back at work. you might want to have your pump available in case you get a little engorged your first few days back- you might want to pump just a little to relieve the discomfort. otherwise you should be fine.
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  • hamburgeruniversityhamburgeruniversity member
    vvvvvfee said:
    by the time my DS was 1, i was down to 1 pumping session per day at work. i stopped pumping when he was 14 months. i am still working f/t and nursing my DS, who is now 20 months. he still nurses 3-5 times a day.

    so yeah, you definitely don't need to still be pumping if your LO is going to be 15 months when you're back at work. you might want to have your pump available in case you get a little engorged your first few days back- you might want to pump just a little to relieve the discomfort. otherwise you should be fine.
    When you stopped pumping, I'm assuming you also stopped sending breastmilk with him to daycare, correct? 
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  • vvvvvfeevvvvvfee member
    I still had some frozen BM when i stopped pumping, so i mixed that with WCM for a couple of weeks, and then started sending just WCM.
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