If you're not planning to pump in between, your milk supply will most likely dry up at this point. It is possible as baby gets older and weans themselves but that usually happens around a year.
If you're trying to breastfeed AM/PM and formula between, it is very unlikely that you'll have enough milk for full feeds at those times, so you probably need to decide if you want to wean completely or not at all.
There are plenty of older babies that will drop down to a couple sessions a day, but they're over a year and supplementing their diets with other food/milk and don't *need* those seasons to be full feeds like an infant does, so I dont think it's feasible to just nurse those two sessions a day.
To wean, start by giving BM bottles (you'll have to pump), then start slowly mixing in part formula until it's all formula. You will need to pump for a bit until your supply dries up enough to be comfortable. Start decreasing the amount of time you're pumping by a few minutes each day, and start spacing the pumps out more. I think they also make some teas to help dry you up?
Interested to hear why exactly OP wants to do this.
Maybe she doesn't want to/can't pump at work.
I never knew that you couldn't really do that until so much later on! I guess ya learn something every day. (ETA I also rarely pump because I only work a few days a month.)
Interested to hear why exactly OP wants to do this.
Maybe she doesn't want to/can't pump at work.
I never knew that you couldn't really do that until so much later on! I guess ya learn something every day. (ETA I also rarely pump because I only work a few days a month.)
Employers are legally required to give you a private (non-bathroom) room to pump in and unpaid breaks to do so. I don't know if it's an issue of not wanting to pump but I just hate for people to have the misconception about pumping at work
Interested to hear why exactly OP wants to do this.
Maybe she doesn't want to/can't pump at work.
I never knew that you couldn't really do that until so much later on! I guess ya learn something every day. (ETA I also rarely pump because I only work a few days a month.)
Employers are legally required to give you a private (non-bathroom) room to pump in and unpaid breaks to do so. I don't know if it's an issue of not wanting to pump but I just hate for people to have the misconception about pumping at work
Yes, I realize that, but unfortunately not everyone has an employer who makes it easy to do so.
Yes I am going back to work and although they say they will give me a place to go they really are never good. My friend was put into a room where the door didn't lock and someone walked in on her! I was hoping to be able to not have to pump at work.
I would like to only do morning and night but if I have to do it once during the day I would. Right now I would have to pump 3 times at work which would be impossible since I'm a teacher and have kids in front of me all day. I'm lucky I have time to go to the bathroom
Unfortunately that will probably kill your supply this early on. My friend is a teacher and she pumps at recess breaks and lunch which gives her 3x a day. She just locks her classroom door.
I wish the timing would work out! Im at an intermediate school and when my kids aren't in my room, others are in my room for other services. I only get my room free on my lunch.
You have to decide how important it is to you. If you want to continue breastfeeding, you will have to put in the effort/battle to get the pump breaks you're legally entitled to. If it's not worth the effort to you, then you probably want to start weaning a couple weeks before you go back.
No judgment with whatever you choose, but you will likely need to choose one or the other.
If you're interested in making it work, What about the freemie cups? Seems like you'd only need a few moments of privacy to get the cups on and off and then just wear them under your shirt while pumping. I had a friend use them and she raved about how great they were. https://www.freemie.com/index.html
Mathtutor444
member
Re: How to ween??
There are plenty of older babies that will drop down to a couple sessions a day, but they're over a year and supplementing their diets with other food/milk and don't *need* those seasons to be full feeds like an infant does, so I dont think it's feasible to just nurse those two sessions a day.
To wean, start by giving BM bottles (you'll have to pump), then start slowly mixing in part formula until it's all formula. You will need to pump for a bit until your supply dries up enough to be comfortable. Start decreasing the amount of time you're pumping by a few minutes each day, and start spacing the pumps out more. I think they also make some teas to help dry you up?
I never knew that you couldn't really do that until so much later on! I guess ya learn something every day. (ETA I also rarely pump because I only work a few days a month.)
which would be impossible since I'm a teacher and have kids in front of me all day. I'm lucky I have time to go to the bathroom
No judgment with whatever you choose, but you will likely need to choose one or the other.
Thank you everyone for all of your info!