How Hard Is Pumping?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I nursed 2 kids until 18-20 months and I pumped 3-4x a day from 4-12mo with each. Pumping made me feel like an athlete, and not in a good way. I had to be really careful with my water, supplements, eating enough fat and calories, etc. to keep my supply up and I was a slave to my pumping schedule.

I enjoyed nursing, so it was worth it to keep nursing when not at work. If I did not enjoy nursing, I don’t think it is worth al the trouble.

Im an EP PP and didn't do any of this. How is the water and food intake any different than with nursing?

[Anonymous]

I EP’d my first. It becomes harder when they become mobile and sleep less, because you lose opportunities to pump during the day. Consider getting wearable pumps so you can move around with them.

[Anonymous]

My first refused to eat on tap. Totally refused. I EPed. Generally had enough supply although I had to start supplementing with formula around 6 months. Child was also a bad sleeper and the worst was both feeding him and then pumping again late at night/in middle of night. If you have figured this out/it doesn't bother you, great. Fwiw, second kid breastfed with no problem. Pumping was somewhat more comfortable than breastfeeding at the beginning. Also, weaning was easier with EP. I gradually decreased the duration and frequency. At some point, I stopped producing milk. I was just as happy to be done, although surprised it just stopped. With a child.breastfeeding, it took longer to stop. Also, I feel like my nipples got a different permanent shape from breastfeeding . Pumping did. It have that effect. That could be my imagination though so, some benefits.for sure IMHO.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I nursed 2 kids until 18-20 months and I pumped 3-4x a day from 4-12mo with each. Pumping made me feel like an athlete, and not in a good way. I had to be really careful with my water, supplements, eating enough fat and calories, etc. to keep my supply up and I was a slave to my pumping schedule.

I enjoyed nursing, so it was worth it to keep nursing when not at work. If I did not enjoy nursing, I don’t think it is worth al the trouble.

You have to eat enough calories and drink enough water with nursing too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I nursed 2 kids until 18-20 months and I pumped 3-4x a day from 4-12mo with each. Pumping made me feel like an athlete, and not in a good way. I had to be really careful with my water, supplements, eating enough fat and calories, etc. to keep my supply up and I was a slave to my pumping schedule.

I enjoyed nursing, so it was worth it to keep nursing when not at work. If I did not enjoy nursing, I don’t think it is worth al the trouble.

Im an EP PP and didn't do any of this. How is the water and food intake any different than with nursing?

+1. I did EP with first and nursed my second and had to eat the same calories, drink the same amount of water, and take the same supplements.

[Anonymous]

EP is hard. Breastfeeding is hard. Formula is hard! It is all hard. If you want to make EP easier I highly recommend getting an extra set or two of pump parts to cut down on how many times a day you do dishes. It’s also nice to get a mini fridge or cooler in your bedroom so at night you can pump in bed and not have to get up and go to the kitchen. See if your baby will drink fridge temp milk. Some are fine with it cold and that will save you some trouble!

[Anonymous]

I EP'd for 7 months with DS. I would never do it again and would go right to formula if I have another child. My reasons are:
- How much time EPing took. Sitting connected to the pump, washing pump parts and bottles (yes, I had multiples sets of parts and lots of bottles). During maternity leave and anytime DH wasn't around it got super difficult to tend to the baby's needs while pumping as much as I needed to to maintain supply.
- So much time connected to a machine was an emotional drain for me. It felt clinical and gave me less time to actually connect with my baby.
- Formula is great and I think a lot of us are too quick to sacrifice our own needs bc it's so "easy" to pump. I have several friends who have EP'd and we all say we would never do it again. Of course, there are also lots of people who don't mind it and would do it again, but that hasn't been my experience or that of most people I know who tried it.

[Anonymous]

I pumped exclusively for over a year. It’s not easy but that should discourage you from trying. I pumped many times a day to establish a supply- like every 2-3 hours- and then dropped from there. I ended up having an oversupply and freezing a huge stash for my LO after I weaned at 14 months. Expecting my second and but sure I could do it again while managing and infant and a toddler but we’ll see. There are a lot of good websites out there with pumping schedules and tips (like leaving pieces in fridge in a ziploc bag to avoid washing at every pump session.) also invested in an additional spectra s9 so I could do a few “portable” pumps a day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I pumped exclusively for over a year. It’s not easy but that should discourage you from trying. I pumped many times a day to establish a supply- like every 2-3 hours- and then dropped from there. I ended up having an oversupply and freezing a huge stash for my LO after I weaned at 14 months. Expecting my second and but sure I could do it again while managing and infant and a toddler but we’ll see. There are a lot of good websites out there with pumping schedules and tips (like leaving pieces in fridge in a ziploc bag to avoid washing at every pump session.) also invested in an additional spectra s9 so I could do a few “portable” pumps a day.

Shouldn’t* discourage you from trying

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Pumping is a huge PITA and a waste of time. Just FF.

This x 1000000000000000

You will look back and ask yourself why you didn't just FF to begin with and saved yourself the stress (and time).

[Anonymous]

I EP'd for my first and only made it 12 weeks. He had to take bottles in the beginning bc he was premature and had some glucose issues. I was super lax about getting him to the breast in the early weeks and it just never clicked, so that's why I ended up EPing. It was really hard, stressful and time consuming - you spend all of your time pumping, then feeding, then washing parts. I remember him waking up from sleeping and being mid-pump session soooo many times and feeling so frazzled because I needed to finish/ lacked the mobility to soothe him.

With my second, I honestly assumed I'd just pump in the very beginning and switch to formula before driving myself crazy. BUT, I am four months in and have been breastfeeding this baby and just pumping when we're apart. I still supplement with formula, usually in the evening when baby wants to cluster feed before bed and I don't have anything left to give. My advice is to try really hard to get the baby to latch to the breast (if you want to give breastmilk! formula is great too!) or just know when to wave the white flag if pumping gets to be too much for you. It is really hard. Breastfeeding has been lightyears easier and I'd like to continue doing it as long as baby wants it and my body will allow.

I'll also add that those hands free pumps would have made my life a lot easier if they'd been around with my first. So if you have the resources, maybe give those a try? They are expensive.

[Anonymous]

Hi OP I pumped exclusively for 10 months starting from day 1 (my daughter could not physically breastfeed) and did not find it to be difficult. This website is a great resource:
https://exclusivepumping.com/

I worked towards dropping pumps so I only pumped 4x a day and got about 36-40 oz a day. Because I was in the office working it wasn't that different than being a mom who breastfeeds and pumps 2-3x a day at work. I had a schedule where I pumped 7am, 12pm, 4pm, and 9pm. I a rented Medela hospital grade pump, kept a free one at work and was lucky to have a great spot to pump.

Some thing to consider if you EP is the aspect of transporting breastmilk with you, some people find that annoying since it's more involved than carrying powdered formula. I used a small freezer bag/lunch bag and didn't mind. I also kept milk unfrozen in the fridge so I didn't have to defrost daily, and froze my backup. I also never warmed bottles, which made it easy to just grab milk and give it right to baby.

There are times I wonder if it would have been easier not to, but overall it worked for us and I didn't find it to be a burden.

[Anonymous]

I didn't like nursing, and I didn't like pumping. Pumping seemed worse-- I hated being stuck to a machine.

Stopping both was the best thing for us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I didn't like nursing, and I didn't like pumping. Pumping seemed worse-- I hated being stuck to a machine.

Stopping both was the best thing for us.

oh I wanted to add-- I also tried it all. We spared no expense. The Spectra, the Elvie, that funny squeezie thing, the name of which escapes me? Anyway. I had all the best pumping technology and gadgets, and I still hated it.

I will say-- overall, the Elvie was my favorite because I could at least move around--but you still can't move around TOO much.

[Anonymous]

Do you pump during the evening/very early morning hours? The worst pump of the day for me was when she was between 4-6MO and had a 5am wakeup before her 7am up for the day— that was my best pumping time and getting out of bed to pump in the Jan-March dawn was awful. But I got so much at that pumping session I never felt like I could drop it until she naturally outgrew the 5am wakeup.