How Hard Is Pumping?

[Anonymous]

I breastfed through maternity then pumped when I went back to work and was EP by 5 or 6 months until 12.

I had a good supply so I didn’t have to pump that often. I kept a pump at home and at work. One was rented medical grade from the hospital, the other my insurance pump. I had wipes at work to clean my equipment and pumped into freezer bags that went right into the freezer at home (kept them on ice at work in my office). I’d pump in my private office under a pashmina. I had glass windows. I kind didn’t care and only once or twice someone else was embarrassed.

I should have quit sooner but I did infinitely prefer pumping to breastfeeding esp as DD got teeth and old enough to talk. Breastfeeding grossed me out but pumping was on.

[Anonymous]

^ oh and I would not base a decision on cold and flu season. It’s something like a breasted get will get 9.8 colds for every 10 colds a formula fed baby gets - look at eye real studies. Whether they get sick depends on whether they are in care (mine was) and tubes help a lot of kids in care who are sick often.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All the moms I know who had severe PPD/mental health issues after pregnancy were exclusive pumpers. It can be incredibly draining (ha, literally). My advice is to just use formula.

Many nursing moms had the same issues.

Yes, but as my pumping friends said, they at least got the cuddly bonding part. Pumping can make you feel like a factory farmed dairy cow on a milking machine.

I had horrible PPD/PPA and I nursed exclusively. It's a brain chemistry/hormonal thing, and has nothing to do with how much you do/don't cuddle your baby.

OP, if pumping works for you, great. I pumped at work only, and if I have another baby they are getting weaned before I go back to work because I hate the pump. I know other people who liked pumping. It's very individual.

My advice would be to consider combination feeding so you aren't getting up every 3-4 hours in the middle of the night to pump. Your sleep and health is really important (I co-slept once my son could control his head so I slept while he nursed...that's not an option while pumping).

[Anonymous]

I exclusively pumped for a year because my kid was premature. It was easier for me because I had a schedule and pumping was pretty quick as well. After dd was about 4 months old I found I could drop a pumping session because my supply was established. I was pretty much able to make enough to feed her. We had some formula because we had had to supplement at the very beginning, so we occasionally used that as a back up (I tended to dip in supply for a couple of days when my period would happen). I hadn't necessarily planned to go to a year, my original goal was 6 months, but by then it was pretty easy and my supply was solid. Around 11 months I was pretty tired of it, but you can't stop cold turkey anyway, so I started to taper off by dropping sessions, used up the remaining formula samples we had, and then transitioned dd to cow milk.

[Anonymous]

It made me utterly (udderly?) miserable. I had the fancy portable pump that you wear in your bra too, which made the whole thing somewhat bearable. I'd recommend combo feeding if nursing isn't an option.

[Anonymous]

I pumped first baby and nursed next two. Nursing was way easier and less time consuming. But if it’s a choice of pumping or formula then yes pump of course.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It made me utterly (udderly?) miserable. I had the fancy portable pump that you wear in your bra too, which made the whole thing somewhat bearable. I'd recommend combo feeding if nursing isn't an option.

Same. I had a really hard time with nursing, and an even harder time with pumping. I was such a wreck those first few weeks. I ended up supplementing with formula after about 4 weeks, then gave up entirely after 8 weeks. I was an emotional wreck because of all the noise out there about how important breast feeding is, which lead me to a lactation consultant, who then directed me to a therapist. I'm still a good, loving mom. My kids are healthy and smart, and I think we have a nice relationship.

[Anonymous]

OP here. I did know this thread was still active. I’be been exclusively pumping since I wrote this post and still going strong. It hasn’t been as bad as I thought. My baby is a very good sleeper through and I’m able to pump when he naps and then have milk for him when he wakes up to feed him. I’m still pumping 7 times a day but plan to drop pumps starting next week and plan to be down to 5 pumps by 4 months. I will probably stop pumping at 6 months but I have been able to freeze a large supply of milk and plan to use that and formula after I stop pumping.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I did know this thread was still active. I’be been exclusively pumping since I wrote this post and still going strong. It hasn’t been as bad as I thought. My baby is a very good sleeper through and I’m able to pump when he naps and then have milk for him when he wakes up to feed him. I’m still pumping 7 times a day but plan to drop pumps starting next week and plan to be down to 5 pumps by 4 months. I will probably stop pumping at 6 months but I have been able to freeze a large supply of milk and plan to use that and formula after I stop pumping.

OP here. I did start off doing 8 times a day but my baby started drop one of the night feeds and I didn’t want to wake up to pump. He dropped another night pump but I’m keeping that one until I drop it next week. I’ve still been able to make about 40oz.