Wean to formula, keep nursing, or something in the middle (exclusively pump, combo feed)?

[Anonymous]

This was me except it sounds like you have more supply than I did. It was such a relief to wean and go all formula. If I had to do it again, I would do it sooner. It was SO nice, after all that stress, to simply NOT worry about it anymore. You’ve done a great job, you did all you could for 5 long months, give yourself permission to just stop. Wean and go all formula.

[Anonymous]

Just wean. Carefully and slowly.

The immune benefits are real but overstated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why don’t you try the exclusive pumping with maybe morning and dream feed, like you said towards the end of your post? It sounds like you don’t have any major reasons not to do that, and maybe it would work for you.

OP here. Thanks so much for your thoughts, everyone, this is helpful.

I think this would be my preference. Except right now I’m pumping with a “traditional” pump, so I have to hold the flanges (I tried a pumping bra and couldn’t get it working). So it’s a huge time suck. If I were to exclusively pump (or pump for all but two feedings every day) I’d want to invest in a Willow pump. But it’s $500 and non-returnable. So I’d really need to commit to it.

I don’t know if you are in DC area or not, but it might be worthwhile to go to the Breastfeeding Center of Greater Washington or somewhere similar if not local. They have a store that will fit you for a pumping bra. I was nearly ready to throw in the towel and get a Willow but stopped there on a whim and have put off the $500 investment by buying a great fitting pumping bra (Dairy Fairy brand is great) and extra pump parts. Just a thought-something cheaper than a Willow to try in the interim.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just wean. Carefully and slowly.

The immune benefits are real but overstated.

+1. Exclusive pumping is just another way for moms to torture themselves, sorry. Formula will get YOU more sleep. And it's fine. My formula-fed daughter is crushing her milestones, if you care about that.

[Anonymous]

OP here! Thanks so much everyone for your thoughts - this thread was really helpful. Especially the person who said "what do you want to do?" That actually really helped me. Framing it that way made me realize 1) I wanted to stop most nursing sessions. 2) I wanted a Willow. 3) I didn't want to be losing my mind about exactly how much milk was in the fridge and whether I would have enough for her bottles.

The Willow is a lot of money, yes, but once I was able to really say "This is what I want" it became clear it was worth the money. My FIL wrote us a check for Christmas, and we decided to use some of it on the Willow.

Anyway, I'm now nursing first thing in the morning and for the dreamfeed, pumping 4x per day every day (11am, 2pm, 5pm, 8pm - with the Willow, it's a breeze!), and the baby is getting three bottles of pumped milk a day. I'm not quite making enough, so the bottles are all 4 oz of breast milk mixed with 2 oz of formula, which gives me an oz or two of breast milk left over at the end of the day so I can rebuild a bit of a freezer stash (I completely used mine up with all this drama, and having no back up was adding to my stress). The baby has adjusted to the bit of formula she's getting, my stress is gone, and this feels really sustainable. If I need to up the formula content of the bottles, so be it. If pumping gets tiring, I'll wean off it. If my supply slowly dwindles, such is life. I'm willing to do a little power pumping occasionally (essentially just longer sessions) to maintain my supply, but I'm not willing to increase my number of pumping sessions - she'll get what she gets from 4 pumps.

Thanks again for the support!