WOHM's ... How long did you pump/breastfeed?

[CityChic]

I am heading back to work next week. Our little guy takes a bottle without issue (has been getting it every 3rd day for two weeks). I hope to extended breastfeed. How realistic is this? Is pumping such a drain that you just quit after awhile?

[wawap]

I pumped for 14 months and nursed for 2.5-2.75 years.

Edited to add that I went back to work at 6 weeks.

[DandeCobb]

my son turns one TOMORROW!!! and is EBF (well, he eats solids now but no other milks) i just cut down to pumping once a day and plan to continue that for as long as i can take it. pumping does get tiresome but just keep trucking! you can do it!

[stefka]

I pumped for about 12 months and nursed for 2.25 years. Didn't fully go back to work until DS was 15 months though, so my pumping experience wasn't that intense.

[CatsCradle]

I pumped at work for about 4.5 months (until DD was 6 months old). I now breastfeed at home only. Sometimes it was very hard to maintain a consistent pumping schedule at work, especially if I was out of the office often on other business, but I promised myself I would keep it up until six months. I noticed that pumping sufficient supplies seemed to be harder if I was a little stressed or tired. If there was a drain - it was purely psychological - as I was feeling pressured by work or worried that I wasn't pumping at the right times, etc. Whenever I did it, though, I would go into the "zone" and would feel so much more relaxed after pumping. It was worth it! DD nor myself had any problem adjusting to evening/nighttime and weekend only feedings.

[SiValleySteph]

I pumped until DS turned 1.

He is now 32 months old and shows no signs of weaning. Seriously, the kid is super addicted to his nay-nays.

When I did decide to stop pumping, I knew I would be okay with it if it led to weaning. It didn't. I was even more okay with that.

Blah, I was soooo tired of pumping at the end of 8 months of pumping 3x a day.

[nonconformnmom]

I pumped for 8 months and am still nursing at ... *counts on fingers* ... 30 months. With my second, I pumped for 6 months and nursed to 14 months.

[mom2talus]

I pumped and breastfed until he was 8 months old, at which point he decided he wanted nothing to do with nursing, sadly enough. It took me a while to use up the stash, though!

[2Sweeties1Angel]

I went back to work when India was 8 weeks old and pumped/nursed until she was 8 months old. She was supplemented with formula because I couldn't pump enough. I had to wean at 8 months because I'm bipolar and absolutely had to take some meds that weren't yet approved for BF. Of course now Dr. Hale's decided they're ok, so I weaned for nothing... Oh well, I did what I had to do.

[wahlmn]

I went back to work when DS was 3 months old. At that time I had built up a 100oz freezer stash to hold me over if I ever needed to make up a shortage. I ended up just rotating through that so that nothing was ever frozen longer than 3 months total

For the first few months I pumped three times a day at work. Luckily I worked only 4 days a week, and one of those was from home, so I only actually had to go into the office on M/W/F. I still sent DS to daycare for a portion of the day I worked from home, but that meant less bottles for that day.

I had a hard time finding enough time at work to keep up with the 3 times a day schedule, so I added another pump session in every night (even on the weekends, yuck..)after DS was in bed to make up the difference. I pumped 2 times a day at work from the time DS was about 6 months until he was a year, and dropped down to one time a day and slowly weaned by pump at about 14 months.

I continued to send bm to daycare with DS until I used up my stash and at around 15 months he was totally drinking cows milk when away from me but still nursing 2-4 times a day until we weaned right around 18 months.

Good luck! I can't say that pumping is fun, but it did give me a huge satisfaction to know that I was able to exclusively bf my son his entire first year and beyond and still work nearly fulltime.

[Igraine]

I pumped for 10 to 12 months with both babes.

I nursed my ds until he was 18 months old and am still nursing my dd who is 20 months.

[TryingMommas]

I guess this is a commom concern for us WOHM - I just started a thread about it on the "Breastfeeding past infancy" board this week, too!

My son is almost a year, and I have been pumping anywhere from 1-4x day since I went back to work FT at the end of my leave almost 10 mos ago. I never had more than a day or two "stash" in the freezer b/c i didn't pump unless I was away from Em in the beginning, so I am amazed when I hear mamas say they have 100s of oz frozen! I wish I had realized early on (when I had so much milk!) that eventually i would be getting less in a pump than he would eat in a feed. But I was so intimidated to start pumping in the first place. So i know that for #2!

It is totally realistic to extended bf and work - I am committed to it, and so are tons of other moms here! Pumping gets old, but it isn't that bad once you're in the routine of it. I am just now considering how/when/if to reduce pumping and introduce another kind of milk. Check out the thread I started for more tips from other moms about pumping and extended bf.

Rachel

[natesma]

I went back when DS was 12 weeks, and pumped 3x/day until he was 12 months. Then over the next 1 1/2 months slowly cut down to twice, than once, and now (14 months) just nursing at night.

[lisac77]

Went back to work when DS was 6 weeks, pumped until he was 1 year old, and he weaned himself at 17/18 months.

My mother pumped @ work for four kids for 10 months each, and all of them BFd for at least 2.5 years.

[Defenestrator]

Pumped for about a year for both kids. Weaned at 4 years with first son, still nursing 3-year-old second son.

[canadianchick]

I pumped for 12 months and nursed her for 16 months.

[Oonah]

went back to work at 4mos old, pumped until 10 months old, still nursing at 19 mos

I wanted to pump longer but my pumping supply was getting low 4oz or less and I had a huge stash of frozen bm so I stopped pumping

[Aliviasmom]

I went back to work at 8 weeks post partum. Alivia wouldn't take a bottle for the first month (my mom fed her with a medicine dropper) or so. I pumped at work (part-time 20 hours/week) for about 6.5 months, until I quit. I continued to pump while I went to school (for about 4 months). I stopped pumping when she was a year (or maybe slightly over). By the time she started daycare at 14 months, I had quit pumping, but was still nursing. She nursed until 27 months, and NEVER had formula.

[mamatoablessing]

I pumped 4 times a day until DD was a year. I continued to bf mornings and evenings until about 20 months.

[bluets]

i went back to work at 14 weeks postpartum. pumped 2x per day until ds was 13 months old. ds is almost 2.5 yrs old and is still nursing strong.