Most Challenging? Most Rewarding?

[ajacot924]

I'm so excited to see this board more active!

I'm curious to hear the following.

1. How old is your LO?
2. How long have you been EP?
3. Do you supplement with formula?
4. What do you find most challenging and most rewarding about EP?

[madalynw]

1. How old is your LO? 9 months
2. How long have you been EP? Since she was 2mo, so 7m+
3. Do you supplement with formula? Now, yes, because I am weaning. Earlier when I was on a full pumping schedule: no.
4. What do you find most challenging and most rewarding about EP? Challenging: pumping while taking care of a newborn AND another child. My older DD is 3. Rewarding: being able to provide 100% BM AND having a stash! I had low supply with my first and have kind of felt inadequate because of that ever since. So now, I love being able to say that my baby had only my milk for over 9m. I have met my OWN personal goal of BM feeding for as long as I could bear it. I'm not a lactivist and don't believe in BM being this magical liquid and cure for all ills. That said, since our society judges women so harshly for their feeding choices, I am glad I to have a retort if anyone ever chooses to say anything to me. Not that anyone has.

[ajacot924]

1. My LO is 5 months.

2. I've been EP since she was 1 week old.

3. I do not currently supplement.

4. Challenging: Fitting pumping into my schedule, especially working full time. Washing all the bottles, pump pieces, etc. Rewarding: feeding my baby breastmilk makes me feel good about the health benefits she is getting.

[portuguesemama]

1. 5 months today

2. Since he was 2 weeks old.

3. We have supplemented on and off over our journey. Right now we supplement with one 4 oz bottle in the middle of the night because the 6 oz I pump before bed isn't enough to satisfy him. I give him that 6 oz bottle whenever he wakes in the motn, or first thing in the morning if he sttn and he always wants more so I started giving him a formula bottle after the BM bottle.

4. Challenging was definitely in the beginning when I had to keep him entertained while I pumped every two hours. Not as much now that he can play independently so now I guess it's the challenging task of rotating my freezer stash and hoping it's not bad
Rewarding is knowing I'm giving him the best start that I can for as long as I can. Knowing that we still get a connection even though we aren't BF.

[abbalish]

1. How old is your LO?
4 months on the 27th

2. How long have you been EP?
From the beginning - worked on latch for the first couple weeks (while mostly pumping to establish supply), but decided it wasn't worth putting either of us through the stress when it wasn't really working.

3. Do you supplement with formula?
Nope. I've got a good stash too, so as long as my supply doesn't completely tank, I shouldn't have to until I'm done pumping.

4. What do you find most challenging and most rewarding about EP?
Most rewarding - seeing her thrive on my milk! Love those thigh rolls.
Most challenging - before going back to work it was finding time to pump while taking care of a non-napper. Now it's all pretty smooth sailing (knock on wood).

[Widget123]

1. 2 month DS, 2 year old DD
2. This LO pretty much from the beginning, DD I tried breastfeeding and pumping for the first month.  2+17 months of experience
3. With DD I had to for the first few months, for DS after my milk came in supply has been more than sufficient
4. Challenging is how isolating it can be sometimes. If we are having a family party at a public place for a long time I have to hide out in the car for a bit which can feel a bit awkward. Rewarding is getting the benefits of breastmilk without the same anxiety breastfeeding has/would cause me.

[yogisews]

1. 15 days old
2. Since she was 5 days old. She was not pooping, rarely peeing and wreaking havoc on my nipples so it was deemed best to bottle feed.
3. Yes, right now it is about 2/3 breastmilk, 1/3 formula. She was exclusively given breastmilk for 1 whole week though which is huge for me.
4. Challenging - needing to pump so frequently and getting so little. I have been lucky to have help with both baby and the toddler but I am on my own next week and I am very nervous about that!
Rewarding - knowing I have been much more successful this time around and that she is getting so much more benefit from the breastmilk.

[gldnbearz]

1. How old is your LO?
She's 10 months.

2. How long have you been EP?
Since she was about 10 days.

3. Do you supplement with formula?
Yes, due to low supply issues. She used to get 2/3rds EBM, then 1/2, and now less than 1/2 as my supply went down after AF came back.

4. What do you find most challenging and most rewarding about EP?
The most challenging is finding the time and place to pump and feeling like I couldn't be away from home for more than 4-5 hours. It takes me a good 40-45 minutes to get sufficient let downs, so pumping out was awkward. Juggling work and pumping is also a challenge as folks want to schedule back to back to back conference calls.

The most rewarding is providing LO with EBM for so long.

[ruemorgan]

1. How old is your LO? 6 months
2. How long have you been EP?about 3 months
3. Do you supplement with formula? no, but we will be soon, just a bottle a day so that i can freeze a bottle a day
4. What do you find most challenging and most rewarding about EP? most challenging, probably the fact that i spend less time with LO because i always have to pump. Most rewarding is knowing that im able to provide breastmilk for LO

[wineandwalter]

1. LO is 2 months.

2. We've been EPing since my milk came in. She wouldn't latch at all and needed mill fast due to extreme jaundice.

3. We have not had to supplement yet.

4
Challenging: trying to feed and pump when I'm home alone with her. I've come to enjoy pumping in the car because I don't feel as guilty or as rushed because she's typically sleeping in the car.

Rewarding: giving her the best I can. She was early and my birth experience was not ideal so I am happy to do this for her.

[jessijean]

1. How old is your LO? 6 weeks
2. How long have you been EP? Since the day I was discharged from the hospital after birth. His latch was just plain horrible and I have physical limitations that made getting him in proper BF position difficult.

3. Do you supplement with formula? Haven't had to yet *fingers crossed*

4. What do you find most challenging and most rewarding about EP?
Challenging: the time commitment especially when LO is fussy and I'm home alone.
Rewarding: knowing that I have come this far and sustained him for 6 weeks.

[rachydc]

1. How old is your LO?
7 weeks on Sunday
2. How long have you been EP?
6 weeks
3. Do you supplement with formula?
Not yet
4. What do you find most challenging and most rewarding about EP? Most challenging is definitely time constraints. Having to schedule activities around pumps or always being aware that pumping is on the horizon is so annoying and terrible. Most rewarding is definitely the fact that I'm giving my baby breast milk while still bonding with her (she stares so intently into my eyes when shes drinking from the bottle, more so than when I was BFing) and that it's free

[raechay]

1. How old is your LO?

8 months
2. How long have you been EP?

Too long. Since he was 4 weeks or so? I don't recall.
3. Do you supplement with formula?

Yes, and have since the beginning. (Formula or donated milk actually).
4. What do you find most challenging and most rewarding about EP?
Challenging: Keeping the baby happy while strapped to a pump. Also taking the 3-8x per day 20+ minute sessions to actually sit down and dedicate your time to the GD medela gods.
Rewarding: Formula is expensive. Sicks babies are not fun. Therefore, breast milk. 

[queenb]

1. How old is your LO? 1 month yesterday

2. How long have you been EP? Since he was 5 or 6 days old

3. Do you supplement with formula? Yes, most days he gets about 4oz of formula, but sometimes I have enough milk that we can skip the formula bottle. I try to give him formula before bed because from what I understand it's more filling and he'll sleep longer.

4. What do you find most challenging and most rewarding about EP? Most challenging is time management for sure... I think my supply leaves much to be desired. I'm getting about 17-21 oz per day now, but spending about 4 hours per day pumping. Most rewarding is knowing I didn't completely give up because things were too hard, knowing I'm providing him with breast milk daily, and saving us money. Also, it's nice to be able to tell people that my baby is BM fed even though I'm not nursing, unfortunately there's a huge stigma about it.

[schoolpsychsteph]

Sorry I've been away! I'be been swamped at work and then it's my home job until bedtime.


1. How old is your LO? She will be four months this week.
2. How long have you been EP? Since she was born.
3. Do you supplement with formula? No
4. What do you find most challenging and most rewarding about EP? Most challenging: making sure I pump on schedule and accommodating my pumping around my work schedule. Most rewarding: feeding my baby 100% of my milk and being able to give some to another baby. The weight loss that comes with pumping has been nice too. I'm back at my prepregnancy weight and looking forward to my goal weight!