Is pumping really worth it in the end?

[Anonymous]

My twins didn’t latch and I needed to exclusively pump until 7 weeks for one and 11 weeks for the other. It felt like a lifetime and I hadn’t heard more than one personal anecdote of anyone successfully getting a baby to latch after that long. Once they latched it was totally and completely worth it. But exclusive pumping was the worst and I personally think if they never latched I probably would have regretted continuing to exclusively pump after a certain point.

[Anonymous]

In your situation, I would talk to a few doctors or other professionals (pediatrician? Lactation consultant? midwife?) and get a reasonable estimate for when your baby will be able to breast feed on her own, if she’s going to. By six weeks? Eight? 10? Certainly by then any baby that’s going to nurse will be strong enough to do so exclusively by then.

Then I would think about - assuming that baby is able to nurse by then, would it be worth it to have pumped? If yes, go to that point and not a moment longer. Exclusively pumping can be useful tool to get over an issue but it is NOT worth it long term. And you don’t want to get into a “well may next week, well maybe one more week” mindset that could linger for months.

However, I would immediately give up pumping and switch to formula if I felt stressed by it, if my mental health seemed to be decreasing, if the pumping was making it harder to enjoy this stage of parenthood in a significant way, or if nursing for the year no longer seems worth it.

[Anonymous]

For me it was worth it to pump for 4-5 months. The baby’s intestines are still pretty permeable til 6 months and so I preferred the gentler option of breastmilk, all things being equal. So, of it is manageable I think it’s worth it for up to 6 months and then provides diminishing returns after that. Ideally I would have done 6 months, but work was busy and I was not willing to overburden myself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In your situation, I would talk to a few doctors or other professionals (pediatrician? Lactation consultant? midwife?) and get a reasonable estimate for when your baby will be able to breast feed on her own, if she’s going to. By six weeks? Eight? 10? Certainly by then any baby that’s going to nurse will be strong enough to do so exclusively by then.

Then I would think about - assuming that baby is able to nurse by then, would it be worth it to have pumped? If yes, go to that point and not a moment longer. Exclusively pumping can be useful tool to get over an issue but it is NOT worth it long term. And you don’t want to get into a “well may next week, well maybe one more week” mindset that could linger for months.

However, I would immediately give up pumping and switch to formula if I felt stressed by it, if my mental health seemed to be decreasing, if the pumping was making it harder to enjoy this stage of parenthood in a significant way, or if nursing for the year no longer seems worth it.

I agree with this for sure and would add that pumping is not worth missing other quality time. I pumped with both kids. With my first, pumping started to take time away from actually holding her as much, and that was dumb and not worth it. By my second there were mobile pumps and things that made the whole process easier so I didn’t have to be tethered to the wall, away from my baby!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In your situation, I would talk to a few doctors or other professionals (pediatrician? Lactation consultant? midwife?) and get a reasonable estimate for when your baby will be able to breast feed on her own, if she’s going to. By six weeks? Eight? 10? Certainly by then any baby that’s going to nurse will be strong enough to do so exclusively by then.

Then I would think about - assuming that baby is able to nurse by then, would it be worth it to have pumped? If yes, go to that point and not a moment longer. Exclusively pumping can be useful tool to get over an issue but it is NOT worth it long term. And you don’t want to get into a “well may next week, well maybe one more week” mindset that could linger for months.

However, I would immediately give up pumping and switch to formula if I felt stressed by it, if my mental health seemed to be decreasing, if the pumping was making it harder to enjoy this stage of parenthood in a significant way, or if nursing for the year no longer seems worth it.

The lactation consultant said by 1 month but the pediatrician said it can take several months. Her baby didn’t latch until almost 3 months.

I asked more so if by say 4 months he doesn’t latch if it’s worth it to continue to pump. I’m fine pumping until I go back to work. I pump when I feeding baby or he sleeps so it’s pretty easy right now. I only pump 7-8 times a day and often use a wearable pump so I can do things while pumping. I have a great supply.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In your situation, I would talk to a few doctors or other professionals (pediatrician? Lactation consultant? midwife?) and get a reasonable estimate for when your baby will be able to breast feed on her own, if she’s going to. By six weeks? Eight? 10? Certainly by then any baby that’s going to nurse will be strong enough to do so exclusively by then.

Then I would think about - assuming that baby is able to nurse by then, would it be worth it to have pumped? If yes, go to that point and not a moment longer. Exclusively pumping can be useful tool to get over an issue but it is NOT worth it long term. And you don’t want to get into a “well may next week, well maybe one more week” mindset that could linger for months.

However, I would immediately give up pumping and switch to formula if I felt stressed by it, if my mental health seemed to be decreasing, if the pumping was making it harder to enjoy this stage of parenthood in a significant way, or if nursing for the year no longer seems worth it.

The lactation consultant said by 1 month but the pediatrician said it can take several months. Her baby didn’t latch until almost 3 months.

I asked more so if by say 4 months he doesn’t latch if it’s worth it to continue to pump. I’m fine pumping until I go back to work. I pump when I feeding baby or he sleeps so it’s pretty easy right now. I only pump 7-8 times a day and often use a wearable pump so I can do things while pumping. I have a great supply.

Having been in this position….you’ll know when it gets to be too much. Going back to work is a good time to stop. It can be hard to give it up, because it feels so final, but omg it will be amazing freedom!

A baby who doesn’t latch by 4 months is unlikely to learn. At that point they prefer the bottle flow.

[Anonymous]

Hi, I did exactly what you were doing and my baby finally latched at six weeks old. If you keep doing what you are doing, and trying to get him to breast-feed directly while keeping your milk supply up, he will latch. At least, that's so according to Dr. Jack Newman.

https://ibconline.ca/not-latching/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My short answer is no.

I fully committed to BF and pumping, and did it for a year. In hindsight I wish I had realized how hard it was and given myself permission to stop.

On the upside, I had an incredible support network through the women at work who used our nursing moms room.

I actually liked breastfeeding because once I got through the learning curve I found it easier than dealing with bottles. Though pumping when I went back to work was awful.

But there is this extent to which breastfeeding tethers you to your baby, makes it hard for others to.provide care and you to get a break longer than a few hours, and makes you feel like your body isn't your own. You worry about the meds you're taking for instance.

I found in the early days when babies are just little balls of need it gets easy to hyper focus on breastfeeding because it's pushed hard and because weight is basically the early thing you can track to see how your baby is doing. But then in hindsight you realize motherhood is much much more than that. But in the early days it's hard to see through the fog.

If you don’t breastfeed and are friends with women who do, it’s easy to see how limiting it is for women. I had more autonomy because I didn’t breastfeed. It helped make my husband more of a primary parent because I wasn’t the sole food source. The women in the worst marriages in terms of equality are the ones who breastfed kids until they were toddlers. They are the primary parent by far and it’s like the dad hardly even exists. The dads who can’t be left with a child and don’t plan or take any initiative to care for their child.

I’m convinced the breastfeeding movement is by women who want women to have as difficult of a life as possible. There are frequent posts by miserable women breastfeeding and comments to keep going, it gets better etc. Why suffer when you don’t need to? Formula is freedom.

Why’d you have kids if you want freedom. It’s not like you’re nursing for 18 years.

[Anonymous]

Both of my kids couldn’t latch properly (likely error on our part?), so I ended up pumping for 6 months each time. My supply was pretty mediocre - but what kept me going, even after returning to work, was the potential health benefit.

That said, here’s how I think about it:

- Formula is totally fine. There’s nothing wrong with it. My kids only had breastmilk for six months, and they’ve turned out just fine.

- If my supply had been better, I might have gone longer, mainly because I generally believe that natural is, well, more “natural.”

- But ultimately, it all depends on how mom feels. It didn't bother me that much. If it adds too much stress, I’m also a big believer in “take care of yourself so you can better take care of the kids." Kids are pretty resilient.
-

[Anonymous]

It’s up to you but it does get easier. We combo fed at 6 weeks because of poor transfer issues that impacted my supply and I’m glad I kept with it because she got better at breastfeeding and it’s pretty convenient to have the option to breastfeed (while traveling, to sooth). There are also health benefits for women like reduced chance of breast cancer - but not to the detriment of your mental health. I enjoyed it as a way to bond with baby.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Depends.

Is the person doing the pumping male or female?

I’m a female lol. What a weird question.

No, it is you who is weird, PP.

You are weird and obviously transphobic. Men can be pregnant, give birth, breastfeed, etc; just like women. Stop hating!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Depends.

Is the person doing the pumping male or female?

I’m a female lol. What a weird question.

No, it is you who is weird, PP.

You are weird and obviously transphobic. Men can be pregnant, give birth, breastfeed, etc; just like women. Stop hating!

What was the point of your question, other than shaming her for her response? Where were you going with that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Depends.

Is the person doing the pumping male or female?

I’m a female lol. What a weird question.

No, it is you who is weird, PP.

You are weird and obviously transphobic. Men can be pregnant, give birth, breastfeed, etc; just like women. Stop hating!

We believe very different things. I don’t live in the land of delusion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Depends.

Is the person doing the pumping male or female?

I’m a female lol. What a weird question.

No, it is you who is weird, PP.

You are weird and obviously transphobic. Men can be pregnant, give birth, breastfeed, etc; just like women. Stop hating!

What was the point of your question, other than shaming her for her response? Where were you going with that?

I don’t know why they felt the need to ask such a stupid question.

[Anonymous]

If you're miserable, or even stressed by pumping all the time, just give the baby formula. Formula is so great.

--Mom of three healthy, happy children who got about 3 weeks total of breast milk each via pumped milk and direct nursing, then straight to Similac