weaning my darlin' pump?

535 Views 6 Replies 6 Participants Last post by shelbean91, Apr 14, 2006

wombatclay

Discussion Starter · Apr 13, 2006

Heyla mamas all!

I posted in breastfeeding, but thought some mamas here might have some BTDT advice for me...

My dd is a a year now and not terribly interested in her sippy cup of breastmilk. Add to this the fact that my workplace just announced that the lactation room will be "going away" in three weeks (to be replaced by a privacy screen next to an outlet in the restroom) and it seems like this would be a good time to wean my pump.

Obviously I plan on nursing dd for as long as she'd like, but does anyone have any advice about how to wean off the pump? I'm a high supply mama and even after a year I soak through breastpads at an alarming rate. I'm currently only pumping once each day (and getting ~6oz in ~15 minutes), but I can't figure out how to cut out that session without risking a "breastpad rupture" and some extreme engorgement!

Any advice? I don't want to try traditional "weaning" herbs like sage since I don't want to impact my at-home supply, but with the lactation room on the way out I don't have a huge amount of time.

Thanks mamas!

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ally.o555

· #2 · Apr 13, 2006

I had an ample supply as well, and it took me about 2-3 months to completely wean. But, it was the last session that was difficult to get rid of.

I pumped 3x/day, at 8:00, noonish, and around 4 pm. I dropped the 8 am session first, and just went as long as I could without pumping. When I was able to go the entire morning (about a week? it's been awhile), I worked on dropping the noon session.

Even after I thought I was completely done, I found there were days that, because ds had nursed a lot the night before, or because it was a monday, I was incredibly uncomfortable and had to use my Isis to drain enough that I didn't have to worry about clogging a duct.

Eventually, I had to distract ds from nursing over the weekend so my body could adjust. It just took a couple of weekends, and I planned errands and other activities without him, and really encouraged him to drink his sippy of soy milk. That's what finally did it for me.

Good luck!

Alicia

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Fiercemama

· #3 · Apr 13, 2006

Especially since you have an abundant supply, you don't want to wean cold turkey from this one session. Gradually reduce either your time or volume, until you can comfortably drop the session. I would leave 3 or 4 days between as your increment (ie pump 5.5 oz or 13 min for the next 3-4 days, then 5 oz or 11 min for the next 3-4 days).

If you experience engorgement or plugs, you are going too fast. With time, your body will adjust to the decrease in demand.

Any possibility of asking your employer to postpone the change til you've weaned off the pump?

I gotta ask - how come they are dropping the lactaction room?

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hannahnc

· #4 · Apr 13, 2006

ditto ^^ I would cut down on the time/volume of your one session slowly, then go to every other day, etc. I weaned off the pump at the beginning of the year and still have a hard time on Monday's occasionally (after a nurs-a-thon weekend).

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KC in KS

· #5 · Apr 13, 2006

I simply started stretching out the time between pumping sessions. I think I started delaying them by 15 minutes, then another 15, and so on. After a couple of weeks, I'd only pump if I was getting painfully full. Eventually I found some days I'd need to pump, some I wouldn't. I kept the pump under my desk in case for a couple more weeks - during that phase I'd guess you could use their restroom solution.

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wombatclay

Discussion Starter · #6 · Apr 14, 2006

Thanks mamas!

We're not sure why they're closing the lactation room...there are 6 of us using it at this time. Of course, it wasn't really a lactation room to begin with so that may have something to do with it (it was an empty faculty study in a university library, and we sort of co-opted it for our own use about a year ago since we all work in the library and all had babies within a month or two of each other). Despite the fact that Cornell has a HUGE human ecology school and does tons of research on breastfeeding and child rearing they're really not all that friendly to pregnant/nursing mama employees.

I've been trying to cut down on the duration of my pumping session... I only have a half hour break during the day (11:30-12) so unfortunately I can't "drift" my session later and later in the day. But I'm trying to pump quickly, just once on each side (I have an Isis hand pump), and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that by leaving my breasts a little full my body will get the message. I've also been doubling up on disposable breastpads, but yesterday I still managed to soak through a bit by the time I headed home to my dd milk monkey.

Thanks for the good ideas and encouragement...anyone else have BTDT advice they'd like to share?

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shelbean91

· #7 · Apr 14, 2006

What I did was drop the middle session first. I pumped at 10, 12, 2 while at work, nursed right before leaving at 7 and right at home, 6ish. So, I kept the 10 and 2 pumping, so I'd have aprox the same time btw pumpings. Once I got used to that (aprox a week), I changed from pumping at 10 and 2 to only pumping at noon. Once I was used to that (about a week again), I cut the amt of time from my once a day pumping to half (again,for about a week). Then stopped pumping altogether- but brought the pump with for a just in case for about another week. That was when dd was 13 mos, she weaned at 20 mos when I was pg w/ds1.

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