How long to pump for EBF babies?

[moxielou]

Hi All, I returned to work when DS was 3 months old; he is now 6 months and it is going well. He's home with DH during the days. He's EBF and just starting to play with foods, but still 99% of his intake is breastmilk. Pumping is going well, I get more than enough and DS has never had a problem taking a bottle, for which I am grateful. 

I work at a school and will have the summer off  so I will put away the pump. I'll return to work in August when DS is 10 months old, and I assume I will still be pumping. But if we do extended nursing (which I did with DD), and plan to do with DS, when can I stop pumping during a work day?  

Once he's a year, he'll be eating a fair amount of foods, so I won't need to have as much expressed milk for him at home, but I don't want to lose my supply. 

TIA!

[justKate]

Gosh, who knows? 

See how you feel when 10 months comes around.  I pumped for DD for 12 mos., and I was hugely relieved to stop at that point.  Some people continue pumping until 2 years, or beyond.  That wasn't going to work for me--I was done at 12 mos. 

You'll just have to see how you're feeling when the time comes.  And hooray for no pumping over the summer! (Unless you want to, of course.)

[LittleBirdy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by justKate 

Gosh, who knows? 

See how you feel when 10 months comes around.  I pumped for DD for 12 mos., and I was hugely relieved to stop at that point.  Some people continue pumping until 2 years, or beyond.  That wasn't going to work for me--I was done at 12 mos. 

You'll just have to see how you're feeling when the time comes.  And hooray for no pumping over the summer! (Unless you want to, of course.)

Can I ask how long you continued to BF?  I would love to stop pumping at 12 months but I'm worried about supply as I work FT.

[justKate]

It's kinda funny--DD was "dayweaned."  So at 12 mos., I stopped pumping and she started drinking goat milk at daycare.  She still nursed frequently through the evenings, nights and weekends until she was maybe 16 months.  Around then I started cutting back, because she became less interested and I was feeling done.  We weaned at 18 months, but it wasn't a supply issue--I was just done.  But of course everyone's experience is different.  I know some people do have supply issues when the stop pumping, but I can't speak for that.

[Evergreen]

I stopped pumping at 12 mos with both kids and weaned off bottles. They still nursed in the mornings, before bed, and on the weekends on demand.

[Altair]

I stopped pumping at 12 months and he's still nursing now at 25 months.  I work FT also.  From 12 months until now, he did cut back his nursing and now he's only interested about once a day.  It does lower your supply a bit, but I was ok with that as he still nursed frequently at home. 

[Skippy918]

I stopped pumping by his first birthday and he nursed in the evenings and before bed till he was 16 months.  He drank the frozen breastmilk I had for a few months after I stopped pumping.

Can you pump over the summer to build a stash so you don't have to pump when you return to work?

[JudiAU]

I pumped until 18m with my first because he was slow on solids. He never transitioned to cow's milk. My supply totally tanked after I stopped pumping and he weaned within two months I think? I was heartbroken.  

I am pumping longer for my second because I don't want my supply to tank. And also, I've decided I can. It is simple as that. I don't like pumping, it stinks, but I think bm is better than cow's milk for a toddler. 12-18m is still a baby to me.  My choice. At 20m LO only ever has bottles when I am at work and when I am done pumping we will get rid of bottles. If she'll drink cow's milk out of a cup, that is fine. But at that point I don't really care nutrition-wise.

I work because I have to but I don't want to deprive her and us of a bf'ing relationship and the perfect food for her species and age  if I can help it.

At the same time, I think stopping after 12m is reasonable. I do think that it encourages weaning, wanted or not.

[moxielou]

Thanks for your thoughts. 

I'd like to continue breastfeeding well into toddlerhood, if DS is interested. I nursed DD until she was 3 1/2, though from the age of 2 she was nursing just once a day, at bedtime. 

I know after 12 months he won't "need" that much milk and that we  can make up for it nights and weekends. But I don't want my supply to dip, so I may well still be pumping just to keep my supply up. 

I'll wean him when he's ready, but I don't want to wean early because my supply drops because I stopped pumping because I was working....

[HeckedyPeg]

This is a great question, I'm so glad you posted! My DS is 10 months now, and I've been going to school again, mostly nights, and DS nurses all day. I've been pumping, but I was starting to wonder when I could cut back- of course, DH still relies on a bottle of milk to get him to sleep so I might have to pump for a while yet! 

[1stTimeMama4-4-10]

I stopped pumping at work around 10-11 months because DD weaned herself off bottles at that point.  She drinks water in sippies and eats solid food when I'm at work. I nurse her before I leave, usually at lunch, and then once or twice in the evening before bed.  Then she nurses ALL NIGHT.  We still have a big stockpile of frozen milk - that will soon go bad =(, so it didn't make sense to pump any more, especially because after 7 months of pumping 3x a day at work, leaking through my shirts, freaking out if I can't pump since my boobs would hurt soooo badly, I as more than happy to stop pumping.  I don't know for sure since I haven't done a before and after feeding weigh, but it does not appear to have affected my supply.  Good luck!