slowly stopping the pump

[LHcj2008]

DS is 13 months and I've been pumping since going back to work FT when he was about 8 months. I leave on average about 8 oz. of EBM for him when I'm away. There are days when he'll drink all of it and days when he'll drink maybe half, depending on whether he plays outside that day and is distracted. He always nurses right when I come home, even if he just drank milk. I haven't seen a difference in his nursing frequency on days when he only drinks 4-5 oz all day. 

I'm down to pumping once a day as of a week or two ago. I can't yet make it through the entire 8-9 hour workday at this point w/o pumping once, but would slowly like to work towards not pumping at all. My concern is whether DS needs anything to drink while I'm away. I am not too comfortable with the idea of him drinking any other milk other than my own. However, pumping (even once a day) has just become a nuisance as my work demands have increased. I'm also finding I'm forgetting about it until I suddenly feel like I'm about to explode. I'm sure I can suck it up and keep on pumping a few more months until the summer when I'm off work, but I'm wondering- is it necessary for him to have some sort of milk while I'm gone? He is a tiny guy and is still nursing several times a day when I am home, and briefly nurses 2-3 x a night. Or should I try just not leaving any milk and seeing how he does? I'm just mainly worried about him nutritionally and calorie-wise; emotionally, I think he could probably adapt without milk until I got home.

[Anna Phor]

I quit pumping when my son was about that age, and it was months (like at least 6-8 months) before he would reliably drink any other kind of milk. So even though we were actively trying to get cow's milk into him, he wasn't having any of it. 

His weight stayed on track, and there were no other ill effects to speak of. He did (and does) get dairy from other sources, though--he eats cheese and yogurt.