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When did you put the pump away? - Page 2

post #21 of 34
7/19/04 at 12:02pm
Oh, also I had tried to give her formula, and boy did she turn her nose up at that! Good thing she was eating plenty cause she wouldn't touch that stuff!
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post #22 of 34
7/19/04 at 4:22pm

14 months here...

I retired my pump when DD was 14 months old. She actually stopped taking bottles of EBM when she was only 4 months old. Continued pumping so that we could mix it into her food while I worked. She's still nursing at 32 months (AM and PM and sometimes once during the night). I'm glad that we've been able to continue nursing since I stopped pumping. Didn't have any perceptible drop in supply. I really haven't missed pumping at all . But I bet I will be wistful when she weans. We're doing CLW.
post #23 of 34
7/19/04 at 4:32pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by guerrillamama
i was sort of happy to see it sputter its last milky breat. i admit i even kicked it. god, i hate that thing.
Tee hee. Ever see the movie "Office Space"? They do some pretty serious damage to a printer. Now I can totally see myself taking my !#@$# pump out into a field with a baseball bat....

guerrillamama ~ how often is your baby nursing when you're together? If it's more than a couple times a day, I doubt you'll find any problems with supply when you ultimately put the blasted pump away.

My own experience was that I was pumping 12-14 oz while at work for 8 hours a day when my daughter was 10-11 months. After I stopped pumping at 13 months or so, I didn't struggle with supply. I went out of town for a couple 2-day trips when my daughter was 16 months old and I was getting about 36 oz per day. So, if anything my supply dipped by at most 25% in the 3 months between when I stopped pumping at work and when I took those trips.
post #24 of 34
7/19/04 at 4:35pm
My son is nearly 10 months and I still pump 2-3 x per day. He is finally starting to eat more solids and take less EBM from bottles. About a month ago he started some major reverse-cycling, tho, so I think that's part of why he's taking less EBM during the day.

I had hoped to drop to one pump per day around the 1-year mark, but I want to make sure he is still getting what he needs nutritionally. I don't think I will totally quit pumping until he is done nursing, because my supply is a little shaky and I think he would end up weaning sooner than I would like. He's not a very demanding eater--I've gone through periods of low supply and he would just give up when he wasn't getting much milk out .

I'm torn because I would sort of like to night-wean but I think that will impact my supply as well. I'm just going to keep hanging in there for now...
post #25 of 34
7/20/04 at 12:14pm
My son is 13 1/2 months and I pump once a day on MWF and twice a day on T-Th. We switched to a sippy at around 10 months. He usually doesn't finish the sippy and I have lots in the freezer but I would rather err on the side of caution.

Also, I pump while I read MDC and other boards, so pumping isn't a chore for me!
post #26 of 34
7/20/04 at 5:54pm
This is a timely thread, since we are pondering this now. My ds is 12 months. I work 3 full days and 2 half days each week. I've been pumping 2 times each day on the full work days, so ds has 2 bottles in day care. The half days I usually leave a bottle in the fridge for dh (who watches him those mornings), but ds doesn’t always take it. I’d like to stop pumping, or at least drop to once a day, but I wasn’t sure if we needed to replace the BM with whole milk. From other posters, it sounds like I shouldn’t worry. ds eats lots of solids and drinks water just fine. He nurses 4-6 times a day. I’m sure he’ll be ok. Maybe we’ll drop to 1 bottle each day for a few weeks, and then call it quits with the pump.
post #27 of 34
7/22/04 at 1:47pm
I stopped pumping at work when dd was 12 months, and I was thrilled to stop lugging that thing on the train, shutting my door for 40 minutes a day, planning meetings around my pumping, etc. I still pumped at night because dd took a bottle of ebm before bed (I never made enough for her at night) and I wanted to keep up my supply. I think I gave up the night pumping around 15 months, when she was happily drinking soy milk and had given up the bedtime bottle.

She nursed 2x-3x a day until she was about 20 months, and started tapering off on her own after that. Around 21.5 months, she weaned completely. I don't think it had anything to do with the end of pumping -- and I missed nursing a million times more than I ever missed pumping. It's one of the things I look forward to most about the next child, whenever we have the next one -- the chance to nurse again. Pumping, I look at a little like diapers -- part of parenting, at least for me, but not something to particularly look forward to.

Just my two cents.

-Debi
post #28 of 34
7/22/04 at 2:12pm

one month into working

I pumped the first month I worked. DD was almost 12 months. I hated pumping!!!!! I am with all you momma's/ Plus my pump had broken even before that, so I was hand expressing it. Can we say milk running down to my elbow???? PLus the bathroom I had to pump in was small and dirty. ugghhh
So I just worked my milk down from pumping three times to two to one, to none. She gets organic cow's milk or soy milk and loves it. Not as much as breastfeeding, that is still her favorite. SHe is 16.5 months now and everyhting is going good this way.


edited to add: when my pump did work it squeaked this horrible squeak that used to alwasy wake up my DH. (My dd started sleeping through the night before my boobs were ready to. )
post #29 of 34
7/22/04 at 2:23pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by jewelysmommy
edited to add: when my pump did work it squeaked this horrible squeak that used to alwasy wake up my DH. (My dd started sleeping through the night before my boobs were ready to. )
I figured out the secret to this when I was out of town a few months ago. I wish I'd figured it out while I was in the throws of daily pumping:

Wrap the unit in a towel. It muffles the sound enough to make it tolerable. I'd been having nightmares with the "whirrip-thunk-whirrip-thunk" sound as part of the nightmare.

... and if you end up expressing milk at work again, you need a better place! The bathroom doesn't cut it!
post #30 of 34
7/22/04 at 2:26pm
It was a hand pump. Squuuuueeeeeeeeeeecckk

Yeah I treid to pump in my boss' office but evryone was afraid he would come to work. lol
post #31 of 34
7/22/04 at 2:30pm
13 mos aprox- I started weaning the pump around 11 mos.
post #32 of 34
7/22/04 at 2:30pm
I had to go back to work when my dd was about 11 months old. She had never taken a bottle and was taking sippy cups but would only drink water out of them. I pumped for about 6 weeks... first hoping she would eventually give in and drink some EBM from the sippy and then once I realized she was never going to drink momma milk from anything but momma I pumped for my own physical comfort until my supply evened out.

She drank water and snacked on a few solids while we were apart and then nursed all night long to make up for it.
post #33 of 34
7/22/04 at 3:20pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by jewelysmommy
It was a hand pump. Squuuuueeeeeeeeeeecckk

Yeah I treid to pump in my boss' office but evryone was afraid he would come to work. lol
Please, please. We need a disclaimer with posts like this. Once again, I'm cleaning coffee off my computer screen. (Also, it sounds like one of the guys I work with now...)
post #34 of 34
7/30/04 at 7:15pm
i stopped pumping when dd was 1 yr and i had enough freezer stash to take her to 13mos. i slowly added in rice milk the last few weeks. i noticed she ate more solids as we weaned her off the bottle and onto rice milk/sippy cup. she was great. still nursed a lot when i came home from work. i was worried she would not want to nurse anymore.

i am 36wks preggo now and she is 2.5 yrs and still nurses! so weaning off the pump definitely did not damage our nursing relationship i am gearing up to start pumping shortly after this lil one arrives.
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