Transition to Pumping

Re: Transition to Pumping

• rasmith23 member

  October 2015

  My little guy, 13 weeks old, stopped being interested in BF about 3 weeks ago, so I started EP. I'm sad that we aren't close when feeding anymore, and pumping is more work for me at least, but it's going well. He eats from the bottle well and seems more content after feeding. Like I said, it's more work pumping in the middle of the night still, and when I'm on the go, but it's either pump or give him formula, and I didn't want to do that. I'm not returning to work until January so I thought pumping would come much later on... But stuff happens. And one thing I learned the hard way, take your pump whenever you leave the house!! Even if you think you'll only be gone for an hour....I literally almost exploded one day and it was not fun!

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• Leahauc member

  October 2015

  I was doing a combination of both, but transitioned to EP around 5 weeks because I needed to prepare to go back to work. I hate pumping, though, so I have slowly gotten to the point where I only pump twice a day and get about 17-18 oz per session. This is enough for her to get her 5 5 oz bottles every day and extra if she wants it, plus freeze 1-2 6 oz bags. It definitely wasn't an overnight transition, I basically had to extend my time between pumping sessions every few days. It's prob not the best thing, and from what I understand it'll tank some women's supplies, but with the kind of job I have, it's not really reasonable to pump every 3 hours, and it works for me. And occasionally if I forget a bottle or stay out longer than planned with LO, she still has been able to BF fine as long as I'm not past 10 hrs or so since my last pump.

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• Lynzwebb member

  October 2015

  I made the switch about 3 weeks ago and for me at least, it is so much work. I definitely don't regret it because she was not gaining weight before and she gained a pound in the first week after the switch. I try to pump as many times as she eats during the day to replicate nursing and keep my supply up. I am still on maternity leave, so it feels like all day I am either giving her a bottle or pumping. LO still wants to be held all the time so it is hard to find time to pump. At this point I am trying to keep it up until I go back to work. They are super supportive and will let me pump there, so I hope it will be easier then.

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