EPing Weaning Questions

BootsOrHearts · July 2014

I am trying to wean completely off the pump by the time LO is 9 months old so we can prep for our FET. He's currently 7.5 months. I've been EPing since he was born, failed attempts to breastfeed aside.

At my peak I was pumping 9 (or even 10) times per day. I settled into 7 per day at about 4 months and that was enough to get me 28-30oz/day which met LO's needs and gave me a few extra ounces a week to put in the freezer.

About a month ago I cut down to 6 sessions/day and about 2 weeks ago I cut down to 5 a day. The amount of additional free time I have is staggering. The volume I make has gone down a little bit to maybe 26-28 oz/day but I'm still making too much for LO because he's cut back quite a bit since he's been eating 3 meals a day. I'd guess he's only eating 22-25oz/day now. He lurvs his solid food!

So I guess I'll cut back again to 4 pumps a day and see what happens, it's just weird that my supply hasn't done down much. Maybe it just takes more time before a change happens? Or is my volume staying the same because a baby BFing would normally start to eat fewer, larger meals at the breast and my body thinks that's what's happening? I mean really, if I could have cut back to 5 sessions a day months ago and maintained this volume, I'm kicking myself now for not having done that!

Anyone weaned off EPing and have any stories to share about how it all went down?

Guennie · July 2014

I decided to wean at 6 months and I did it by dropping one pump each week. My supply did go down a little each time. I have always had low supply though so maybe that has something to do with it. I actually regretted it after I dropped the last pump and realized I wasn't ready to stop. So now at 7.5 months I pump twice a day.

I suspect your body will get the message and adjust if you keep dropping pumps slowly. Good luck!

VickyTGAW · July 2014

I EPed with my first son. I was able to sustain a pretty full supply with 4 pumps a day. It wasn't until I went down to 3 pumps a day that my supply started to drop. This is what I ended up doing. I tapered off very slowly. It wasn't planned-- just what was happening naturally with the rest of life:

1) Shortly after he turned 1, I dropped down to 3 pumps a day. I did that for about 7 weeks.

2) For the next 2 weeks, I did a mixture of 2 pumps per day and 3 pumps per day. No pattern there-- just depending on how my schedule was.

3) Then I went down to 2 pumps a day for 4 weeks.

4) Finally I did 1 pump a day for 6 days.

5) I skipped a day, pumped once that second day. Then I skipped four days. On that fifth day I pumped and only got 19 mm.

And that was it. That was the end. : )

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