I hit my goal today, and I had to share!
My beautiful boy turns one tomorrow. I cannot believe he is a year old! I went back to work full time when he was 4.5 months old, and set my goal to pump for him until he turned 1. I did it!
It was not an easy road. I never had great supply. There were many days when I was away from him for 9 hours, and in 3X pumping I got only 9, or 8 or 7 ounces. I am insanely jealous of mothers who at one session can bottle up 4 or 5 ounces. I would pass out from pure joy if I ever got that at one session! So it was a lot of compress, stroke, shake, pump pump pump, and there were many days when I was really stressed about having enough milk for him. The freezer stash I struggled to build while I was on leave disappeared a lot faster than I expected, and I struggled to keep up.
I was very lucky to work somewhere with a nice lactation room, and an understanding boss who didn't mind my 3 breaks a day. (I did work in the lactation room -- pump horns on my breasts and laptop in my lap! LOL!)
It's a stressful job, and it definitely did affect my supply. Despite more milk plus and oatmeal etc. we ended up starting solids a little bit early (5 months) -- he was showing signs of being ready, and based on info from my IBCLC I decided I would rather supplement my milk with avocados and sweet potatoes and bananas than with formula. It worked great -- he has been a fantastic eater from day one. I know lots of moms say that any food before age 1 is just for play, but that wasn't true for my babe -- he eats a ton. (Maybe those moms all have great supply!) Anyway, this is what worked for us -- and it allowed me to get to 11 months on my milk and solids alone. In the last few weeks my supply has really dwindled, and a friend gave me a bunch of bags of her milk which was an amazing gift. And now we've started cow's milk, which he enjoys (we had long been doing dairy -- cheese, yogurt, in oatmeal, etc.)
Anyway, I just wanted to share my success story. I felt like a million bucks carrying my pump bag home for the last time.
We're going to keep nursing when we're together, but I'm hanging up my horns very pleased that I met my goal. And now when it's time for the next baby I will be so much more confident that I really can pump to a year!
I don't post in this forum much, but I read all the time, so thank you all for your wisdom over this year. It has helped so much!
My beautiful boy turns one tomorrow. I cannot believe he is a year old! I went back to work full time when he was 4.5 months old, and set my goal to pump for him until he turned 1. I did it!
It was not an easy road. I never had great supply. There were many days when I was away from him for 9 hours, and in 3X pumping I got only 9, or 8 or 7 ounces. I am insanely jealous of mothers who at one session can bottle up 4 or 5 ounces. I would pass out from pure joy if I ever got that at one session! So it was a lot of compress, stroke, shake, pump pump pump, and there were many days when I was really stressed about having enough milk for him. The freezer stash I struggled to build while I was on leave disappeared a lot faster than I expected, and I struggled to keep up.
I was very lucky to work somewhere with a nice lactation room, and an understanding boss who didn't mind my 3 breaks a day. (I did work in the lactation room -- pump horns on my breasts and laptop in my lap! LOL!)
It's a stressful job, and it definitely did affect my supply. Despite more milk plus and oatmeal etc. we ended up starting solids a little bit early (5 months) -- he was showing signs of being ready, and based on info from my IBCLC I decided I would rather supplement my milk with avocados and sweet potatoes and bananas than with formula. It worked great -- he has been a fantastic eater from day one. I know lots of moms say that any food before age 1 is just for play, but that wasn't true for my babe -- he eats a ton. (Maybe those moms all have great supply!) Anyway, this is what worked for us -- and it allowed me to get to 11 months on my milk and solids alone. In the last few weeks my supply has really dwindled, and a friend gave me a bunch of bags of her milk which was an amazing gift. And now we've started cow's milk, which he enjoys (we had long been doing dairy -- cheese, yogurt, in oatmeal, etc.)
Anyway, I just wanted to share my success story. I felt like a million bucks carrying my pump bag home for the last time.
We're going to keep nursing when we're together, but I'm hanging up my horns very pleased that I met my goal. And now when it's time for the next baby I will be so much more confident that I really can pump to a year!
I don't post in this forum much, but I read all the time, so thank you all for your wisdom over this year. It has helped so much!
