Weaning - pumping

[bennieangel]

Those of you who Ep - how are you planning on weaning & how far in advance?

I need to be done pumping by like the 20th of March since we will be going on a trip & I don't want to pack all of it.

[jjsmom80]

I only pumped for 4 months, BF never worked out for us, but i basically cut back one pumping session every three days till i was down to one per day. So if you pump 5 times per day, take 15 days to wind down. Once I stopped pumping i made it three days and i got engorged and a clogged milk duct so i had to pump just a bit to unblock it. You might want to leave your self an extra week in case this happens, it would suck to be in a place without your pump and get an blocked duct. It feels like a big lump in your breast but two minutes of pumping softens it up and makes it less painful.

[mrssmith613]

With my first i EPed and what worked for me might not for everyone but I just did my night pump one night and that was it. I was only pumping twice a day by then and I just quit cold turkey. I am big chested and had some uncomfortableness for about a week and then I was fine. I plan to do the same this time.

I quit last time about three months before his first bday and we had enough on the freezer to get us until about a week before. I have enough in the freezer now to get us pretty close to LO bday so I am also thinking of quiting soon and whenever we run our we would just use WM.

This worked for me so just some insight on my experience!

[babycaps]

I've gone from 4 to 3x a day to then just twice a day in about 2-3 weeks. Would and could have been faster.
Today was the first time I only pumped once and it was fine. No real engorgement.

[kbmac613]

I stopped pumping about a month ago. My plan was to slowly cut back my length of each pumping session. So if I pumped for 20 min I reduced it by 5 min and did that for a few days and then reduced to 10 min and so on. I also cut out a pumping session at work. My supply was already dropping so I was able to drop a session pretty easily. I ended up getting a stomach bug so I didn't ease into weaning as planned and stopped much sooner than I anticipated. Not an ideal way to end but I haven't pumped since and luckily didn't have any issues.

[Deleted]

When I weaned DD I started two or three weeks before her first birthday. I started by cutting one pumping session at work every 3 or 4 days. Then I cut her morning nursing session, then her dinner nursing session. The last thing to go was her bedtime nursing session.

As I cut out pumping and nursing, I replaced those meals with WCM so that she was gradually incorporating it into her diet

[bennieangel]

Thanks for the tips!

I cut out my mid-day pump at work the last week so I'm down to 4 & most weekends I only pump 3x so I guess I'll wait until March & then start trimming those back. On the days I only pump 3x I am super uncomfortable by the night pump so I'm sure I'll have to deal with that some.

We already supplement formula and I'm not transitioning to WCM until we're back from Puerto Rico so he'll get formula that week & any short fall leading up to it. I am super excited that I found a stash in the feezer to help with the transition

[babycaps]

I think i'm officially weaned off the pump and just nursing morning and night. I will only pump now if I miss a feeding due to work!

[bandteacher]

When I quit pumping (in April), I was weaned within a week of deciding to stop. It was pretty abrupt but I had no issues.

[fishbulb]

babycaps, Can you keep us posted on how this goes? I'm looking to do this pretty soon too. I'm not pumping enough to send to daycare and I'm going to start supplementing with formula soon. If he tolerates it I may quit pumping altogether.

[bennieangel]

So I have been skipping a pump the last few days (I cut down from 5 to 4 a week ago & just this weekend tried cutting down to 3) and now I'm pretty sure I have a clogged duct. It hurts!

[jtizzay]

Hi ladies. When I cut back my massive overproduction the LC I saw had me cut 1 oz at a time. So I did 1 oz less at one session.

I'm going to cut the one mid day pump I do now by March. My plan is to do it slowly and pump 4 oz then in two days 3 oz then 2 oz etc. I'm sure I could go faster but I get clogged ducts!

[RandomName]

Not the pump but when I weaned DD it was fast. It was about a week and we went from exclusive breastfeeding to no boob at all. I wore a fitted sports bra and didn't touch my boobs at all between feeds. I dropped feeds abruptly and it worked out for me. After about day 3 DD only nursed for a min or so morning and night to relieve some pressure (not painful) but I def didn't empty my boobs at all the week I weaned.

[zandeela]

I had to wean off breast milk when LO was 6 months, I was just not producing enough and the meds I was on I could only take for 3 months.

To get off the pump I cut out one session every 2 weeks, It took forever but I never had a problem. I cut out the middle of the day ones first to keep from having to pump at work anymore, then the morning session and the night one last. I could never breastfeed LO due to her not thriving in the beginning and having to regulate how much and supplement when needed.

Good luck, kind of jealous that you made it to 1 year...

[bennieangel]

Feb 17, 2015 9:53:54 GMT -5 zandeela said:

I had to wean off breast milk when LO was 6 months, I was just not producing enough and the meds I was on I could only take for 3 months.

To get off the pump I cut out one session every 2 weeks, It took forever but I never had a problem. I cut out the middle of the day ones first to keep from having to pump at work anymore, then the morning session and the night one last. I could never breastfeed LO due to her not thriving in the beginning and having to regulate how much and supplement when needed.

Good luck, kind of jealous that you made it to 1 year...

Almost a year....we will stop short of a year & he'll get formula exclusively the week he turns one because we're traveling & I refuse to bring my pump stuff again . BUT we've been supplementing with formula since December.