Extended pumping

I mentioned in a prior post that I’ve been pumping for a while.  I pumped for 12 months with Bug, and so far 15 months with Goose. I had a huge oversupply with Bug, so even though I stopped pumping on her birthday, she continued to get pumped milk in a sippy until she was 24 months old (not for every sippy as she had whole milk too).  I actually even still donated a bunch (since we moved 5 ½ hours away after I stopped pumping) as I was nervous the milk wouldn’t make the move.  Either way, in the state we lived when Bug was a baby, they moved to the toddler room in daycare at 12 months-ish (she moved at around 13 months just because she wasn’t ready).  And the state disallowed you to bring in your own food/drinks after moving to toddler rooms, so she could no longer have pumped milk at daycare. Now, in the big OH they move to an ‘infant 2’ room instead of direct to a toddler room.  Goose has actually already been in the infant 2 room for a bit since you know, he’s a mover and shaker (did I mention he started walking at 10 months??).  Since he’ll be there for a while I’ll be able to continue to give him pumped milk at daycare even after I start mixing in whole milk.  I’m excited about that.  And that is what will keep me pumping for a few more months instead of weaning from the pump at a year like I did with Bug. But today I went to pump for the first time at work and realized I’m really sick of pumping.  I mean, I love that he gets the good stuff, I love that I am able to share (I’m giving some of the older stuff to a mom that I’ve already donated to at Christmas time – that way I can make sure nothing ages out before he drinks it all, but that’s also why I plan on pumping a little longer), and I love that what I’m doing is so good.  But. It takes so much time.  Right now I'm down to pumping 2 to 3 times a day.  It involves getting up early and taking a lot of time out of my day to do it.  Plus all the washing of bottles and pump supplies. I’m over it. But alas, I will not quit yet.  I’ll continue to pump 2 to 3 times a day for a while longer, then cut out another session, do that for a while then cut out another, etc. I'm guessing around 17 months I'll wean completely. But My initial plan was to be weaned from the pump by the time he was 14 months and that didn't happen ha ha. I haven't started him on whole milk yet as daycare continues to give breast milk. I'm not sure when I'll do that. He actually only nurses 1 or 2 times a day during the week, and sometimes 3 or 4 times on the weekends. I just hope he doesn't self wean anytime soon. I surprise myself that I plan on pumping longer this time around.  I haven’t had the insane supply like I did with Bug and I think that’s part of it.  So I want to get rid of old stuff so that I know it’ll get used timely, but then it’ll take me longer to build the supply back up.  I don’t want to wean from the pump until I have a full deep freeze again. I will continue to do what I know is best for my little guy.  He’s (one of) my rays of sunshine, and he deserves the best. So the best he shall get.

Don't pump if you have to poop

This really goes for BFing too.  And I bet you all know this already.  But you get to hear anyways. Because what fun is it if I’m not way oversharing on my little portion of the internet? So I’ve been pumping for a total of 27 months between 2 kiddos.  I have breastfed for a total of 34 months between 2 kiddos.  I’ll pump 2 to 3 times a day for another month, and then slowly wean it down, thinking that I’ll wean off the pump in 2 maybe 2 ½ months.  I’ll breastfeed until he self weans. But the point.  We all know that BFing, and therefore pumping, causes you to have little contractions.  Most of the time I bet most of us don’t even notice them (at least not after the first days/weeks).  But it continues to happen. And for someone who is very, well, regular such as myself, these contractions can be problematic if not timed appropriately.  Let’s just say that I do not BF or pump if I gotta go.  You know?  It’s just safer that way. So the other day I was getting ready to pump at work for the first time of the day.  Which meant 1more time after that.  And I thought to myself that I should go to the bathroom first, but well, I was at work, it was the middle of the day and I was busy.  I didn’t have to really go, so I thought I was safe. Suffice it to say that I had to STOP pumping before I was done and walk as quickly as possible to the bathroom.  Hoping I wouldn’t get any questioning glances. Yeah, I won’t make that mistake again! First world problems :)