Weaning Week: Breaking Free from the Pump {Guest Post}

Welcome to Weaning Week. A mini series dedicated to weaning a child from breast milk! If your just now joining us, you can catch up by checking out our first post, Weaning Week: A Look Back!

Yesterday we had talked about the Stages of Weaning, and the emotional side weaning can have on women. After hearing some feedback from you guys I know I’m not alone who went through these stages. But what happens if you can’t breastfeed or don’t want to. Some women want to give their baby breast milk but don’t actually want to nurse. This is exactly what my sister in law did and I was thrilled when she said she would share her experience with all of you. Erin is a relatively new blogger. She actually blogged throughout her pregnancy with my niece Audrey.  I was a little disappointed when she announced her last blog post after Audrey was born. I enjoyed her humor and view on life. Her writing style is definitely one of a kind. Apparently I wasn’t the only one who thought this and I am beyond excited that she decided to pick up blogging again. She now blogs over at Momsomniac. So without further ado, here’s my sis and her story on weaning and why she decided to go the route she did.

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In the great debate of bottle versus breast-feeding, I chose the noncommittal route smack dab in the middle and pumped exclusively for 6 months.  I had not decided ahead of time to breast-feed, pump, or go straight formula but chose to maturely ignore the issue until it presented itself with a hungry newborn baby girl!  I come from a family of bottle feeders and didn’t have any family that had breast-fed so the whole idea terrified me.  But then on the flip side, nearly all of the moms I work with were all breastfeeders so I was torn on what to do.

I did not register for a pump but decided that should I choose to breast-feed I would rent one from the hospital.  That way I wasn’t tied to a $250-$300 decision should breast-feeding/pumping not be for me.

So when that adorable bundle of joy arrived in our arms in July and they asked me if I wanted to try breast-feeding I gave it a very terrified try.  As soon as we were home from the hospital, I quickly realized that I did not want to be the only one feeding our hungry little one and I had my mom go pick up the rental pump from the hospital.  I broke the breast-feeding commandments and had my husband give her a bottle of expressed milk at 5 days.  EGADS, THE HORROR!  Yes, I know and we all lived!  And quite happily!

I was soon pumping multiple times a day and found that I really preferred it as our munchkin had a hard time staying latched on.  (more on that later)  I am also a virgo and a self-proclaimed control freak and I liked knowing exactly how many ounces she was getting at each feeding.  As I mentioned earlier, she was having trouble staying latched on because I was hyperlactating.  AKA making too much milk.  I know, what a problem to have some say!

Well, with hyperlactation the milk comes out so fast that the baby can’t keep up with it and doesn’t stay latched on.  So, they often pull off sooner which means they are getting more fore-milk and not the nutrient rich hind-milk.  This can mean that a baby doesn’t really fill up at a feeding, and is hungry and fussy more often.  It can also affect their digestion.

After only a couple of weeks I stopped breast-feeding and went to pumping exclusively.  At our daughter’s one month appointment my doctor confirmed that it our plan was working out just fine!  And our little girl was growing at a healthy rate!

Pumping worked out amazingly for us.  I not only loved providing breast-milk for our baby but I loved the freedom that I wasn’t the only one that could feed her.  I also loved being able to “get ahead” and store extra milk.  We were even able to go away for a weekend for a friend’s wedding when our little one was only 3 months old because we had so much frozen breast-milk stored.  In the first 3 months, I would pump 4 times a day:  8 am, 12 p.m., 4 p.m., and 8 p.m..  From 3-5 months I pumped 3 times a day:  8 am, 2 p.m., and 8 p.m..  Some people would ask, what was she doing while you were pumping.  I always tried to time it so that she was napping, but sometimes it was a juggle and I’d be holding her on my lap and trying to keep two pumps attached too.

Then, at 5 months, in early December I decided to wean her.  It was Christmastime, and I would be returning to work in a month and did not want to continue pumping once I was back at work.  Following the advice of friends and my doctor, I started cutting out a pumping session about every four days.  Soon I was down to one session, and then from there every other day until I was done.  It took a total of two weeks to wean her and for me to stop producing milk.  It was a bit uncomfortable at times especially when first cutting out a session.  But it soon passed.  A surprising result once I had stopped producing milk was that I missed it and was a bit sad that it was over.  I’m sure you’re all thinking, “Seriously?  Get a grip!  You have 1.5- 2 hours a day of your life back!”  I know, but I did…

The nice thing was I had so much milk stored up that she had breast-milk only for the first 6 months and then I was able to mix it with formula to introduce that.  We have been very blessed with a very laid back go with the flow little lady and she adapted to all of the changes without a hitch.  It was also nice to be able to turn that pump back into the hospital and not have to worry about storing it.

So, my advice would be.  Do what works for YOU.  There are no first prizes or blue ribbons to mommies that breast-feed exclusively or to those that formula feed or to those that do a combination of both.  Don’t put any pressure on yourself to keep up with the Jones’s because chances are the Jones’s are having the same struggles you are too.  It’s what works best for your baby, your family, and you.

If you have any questions for Erin please feel free to comment below and don’t forget to show her some love over at Momsomniac!

Tomorrow we have another awesome guest, my good friend Jessi shares her experience on Weaning Cold Turkey!

Tagged as: guest post