how long to pump at work?

[vermontmomma]

dd is just over a year and i'm working part time outside the home where i can pump once a day only and have to use my boss's office when he's not there because i don't have an office of my own and there isn't anywhere else to do it. the situation just really isn't working for me because some days i end up having to wait until 3:00 (i work 9-5 2 days a week) because the office is tied up and i've been walked in on while pumping which is very awkward as the only woman working there.
since i often have to wait almost all day anyway and dd nurses right away when we get home could i possibly not pump at work while continuing to nurse the rest of the week?

[PGTlatte]

I was able to quit pumping when DS1 was 10 months old (I wanted to because I had a huge freezer stash and he was hardly drinking any MM at daycare anymore). I did not have any problem continuing to nurse in the morning, evenings, nights, and weekends. Because I went from pumping 3x a day to zero, I worked it down gradually, to avoid mastitis and see how if would effect my supply - but if you are already down to once a day and very late in the work day, you may not need to be as careful. You could try every other day and see if there is any change in your supply, and if not, then be done pumping. When I quit pumping for him I was worried it would affect my supply and cause him to wean, but he kept nursing for a looooong time (years) afterward.

[karika]

There were outlets in the bathroom where I worked, so I just did it there. I only had 20 min breaks every hour or two, so I did it twice while there on a 10 hr shift. If your pump has a battery option, you can use that if there are no outlets in the bathroom. I just stood at the counter, or sat on it. Women (customers) came in to use the bathroom while I was there and I liked being able to talk about how I was pumping for my child. I worked when dd1 was 12 mo until she was about 18 mo... sometime in there I cut it down to one pumping to ease my fullness only, because she had adjusted to the schedule, only having bm from the source when I was home (I was off for 3 days a week). The stuff I was pumping got used in other ways because she stopped drinking it from her cup...

[Ava's Mama]

My DD is 15 months. A month or so ago I started questioning whether I should keep pumping or just provide her with some other milk alternative for daycare four days a week. I was so torn because I didn't want to "give up" on her. She was only drinking 3 or 4 ounces at daycare so I started to just pump once or twice a week just to cover it. Anyways, my point is that I shouldn't have stressed about when to stop because my baby told me! Yesterday she just decided not to have any milk at daycare and she was very happy with just water. Then we nursed at home etc. I wish that people had reminded me to just trust my body and my baby and it would have saved me a little bit of stress!

[mokey4]

I work 2 days per week (was 3 days per week until recently) and I stopped pumping completely around 14 months. I think if your daughter is getting breastmilk most of the time it probably doesn't hurt for her to have whole milk on the days you're not with her.. but that's just my self-serving opinion!

When I stopped pumping I did it gradually. Like you I was only pumping once a day for a while (and ended up supplementing with formula 1-2 bottles a day when I worked), and after that I only pumped on days when I felt discomfort. I think it was around 14 months that I could go a whole day without feeling much discomfort at all from not pumping.

Now DD is 16 months and she still nurses a whole lot 5 days per week and gets whole milk for the 2 days that I work. She is fine with this situation , and it hasn't hurt my supply at all.

[Baby_Cakes]

When DD was 14 mo, I stopped pumping and gave her an alternate milk for her days w/MIL. I worked 3 days a week and she was having 1 6 oz bottle for naptime. It was so great to finally stop pumping! No problems whatsoever - she would nurse when we got home, and I didn't feel any hit to my supply. Still had plenty of milk for nursing on demand. I'm happy I pumped for the full year, but after that I cut myself a little slack and it really made a huge difference.
Now, she's 20 months old and still going strong!

[indigosky]

I also pumped at work for over a year (I think 14 months?) and then realized I didn't need to anymore. DD is still nursing just fine at 31 months, and I probably could have stopped the pumping earlier. No one ever told me that at some point we could continue to nurse but stop the pumping! My supply was really decreasing at that point -- I wasn't pumping that much, and DD was never that excited about drinking milk from a bottle. By that age, water in a sippy cup was fine as a replacement.