when is it not worth it to pump?

[Mom to Brandon and 2 cats]

DD will be one year old on Monday. We're still nursing, and she is used to getting her milk "from the source". She'll drink from a straw cup - water or juice at home. This week, I went back to work, and pumping for 15-20 minutes, twice a day, I'm only getting between 4-5 ounces, TOTAL, both pumping sessions combined. On the other hand, DD is only drinking like 2-5 ounces of pumped milk at daycare from the straw cup.

As soon as I get home, she nurses, and 3 times more throughout the night, and once again before she goes to daycare.

Should I give up the pumping at work? It's a lot of work for such little output.

sigh. I hate that pump.

Thanks.
Jennifer

[bubbaray]

*I* wouldn't pump in your situation, but you have to decide what is best.

[smiles33]

*I* wouldn't pump in your situation, but you have to decide what is best.

:yeahthat: I nursed DD1 20+ months and am still nursing DD2 but always stopped pumping about a month after they turned 1 and could drink cow's milk. I hated pumping and also had freezer stash to use up with DD1.

Then again, I also stopped nursing in the middle of the night around 1 year old, too, as I really needed at least 6 hours of sleep. At this point, you don't need to nurse at night for nutrition but I know it's comforting and it helped me relieve my "mom guilt" at leaving DD1 at daycare all day. DH is the one who put a stop to my frequent night feedings after I fainted from sleep exhaustion (twice).

Bravo to you for nursing so long while working FT!

[HonoluluMom]

I agree that it's really up to you whether you want to continue providing expressed breastmilk for your LO to drink at daycare.

I've been pumping for about 10 months and yeah, hate the pump too. I have to pump at work and right before bed just to be able to meet DD's breastmilk needs while I'm at work, but I do it because I :heartbeat: DD.

[Dr C]

Absolutely Bravo to you for making it this long.
I made it to nine months pumping with DD before I threw in the towel--partly because my supply was beginning to dip and it didn't seem worth it anymore. I will say that after I stopped pumping my supply dropped further and DD began to show less and less interest nursing when I was with her. It was a slow and gentle wean over about 2 months (MUCH better than the abrupt wean I did with my son when he went on a nursing strike and I didn't know better) but I had been hoping to keep nursing well past a year and neither my body nor my DD seemed to want to continue that.
So you'll have to make your own decision. For me, I'm sad that we weaned before I really wanted to, but I LOATHE pumping and think 9 months was about all I could take. I think it was the right thing to stop pumping when I did.
Whatever you do, kudos for making it this far and please don't feel bad about your decision.

[MoJo]

It sounds to me like your DC nurses more at one year than mine did. . . and mine couldn't drink cow's milk, and I was only working about 10 hours per week. So I think you've done a great job, and if I were you, I wouldn't even consider pumping at this point.

I'm guessing three night feedings PLUS working full time is going to be more than hard enough! :hug:

[Sweetum]

wait, did I understand this incorrect? I thought you said you went back to work only this week. So, I'm assuming you haven't pumped in the last 12 mo atleast not on a regular basis. While it's your choice to continue feeding DD MM, if you do want to continue please know that sometimes it takes time for your body to respond to a pump. you might either have to wait a bit for your body to pump as much as is required or maybe pump a bit more often initially. Sorry, if I misunderstood.

[Mom to Brandon and 2 cats]

Sorry I wasn't clear. I was on maternity leave for a year, during which time DD only had milk from me (never took bottles). Now I'm back to work for one week, and only pumping 4 oz during a 9-hour shift. But what's also alarming is how little DD is drinking at daycare - today was only 1.5 ounces!

What do I do? Will this resolve itself over time? (it's only been one week)

[Momof3Labs]

I'd personally just pump once a day instead of twice, as long as you are getting 4-5oz that she can then take at daycare.

Sounds like she is reverse cycling with nursing 3x at night.

[Uno-Mom]

Sorry I wasn't clear. I was on maternity leave for a year, during which time DD only had milk from me (never took bottles). Now I'm back to work for one week, and only pumping 4 oz during a 9-hour shift. But what's also alarming is how little DD is drinking at daycare - today was only 1.5 ounces!


Sprog is almost 11 months. I've been pumping successfully (sometimes fulltime, sometimes not) for 10 months, so we're at about the same timeline as you. My pumping output is down to 4 oz during the day now, too. I'm pretty sure she only gets that much during daytime nursing sessions when we're together, too. I think it's just the whole cycle winding down towards weaning.

But how comfortable are you w/the pumping? It took me quite a while to figure out a system that worked well & while I problem-solved, I got less. For example, I realized I needed to do one side at a time, not both. And I learned to play around w/the different speeds.

But the daycare thing - could it be the new environment or routine that's she's responding to? Is she used to having her milk before eating, and they're giving it after or during her meal?

[Mom to Brandon and 2 cats]

My pumping output is down to 4 oz during the day now, too.

That makes me feel so much better!

I'm thinking that maybe b/c this is the first time she's been away from me all day - new environment and all that - maybe she just needs time to adjust to thinking that she can take liquids from her straw cup. At least, I'm hoping...maybe next week will be better. Definitely her napping is off at daycare!

[Wondermom]

I was just about to post with the same question, so OP I'm glad you raised it.

I've been pumping for 9 months, and am getting much busier at work while at the same time getting less and less output for my efforts. Seems like the end is neigh. I've been having to supplement with formula more and more lately for DS2 while he's at daycare. If I stop pumping, he'll get nothing but formula at daycare. (we long ago went through our frozen stash) So hard to make this decision.:shake:

OP, In your situation, I'd say you both need a period of adjustment, so don't give up yet. Give it another week or two. On the other hand, at 1 yo, she probably doesn't need the nutrition of your BM during the day as much as she'd like your closeness and comfort at night, so maybe it's not worth the pumping during the day, and you can just keep up the BFing at home at bedtime (or in the mornings) for as long as you both want it. I'd DEFINITELY work on getting her to stay down in the middle of the night though. I KNOW working mom guilt, but I also know you need more rest, and she needs to adjust to both of your new schedules. Maybe BF the first time she wakes, but offer her only water or milk the second, third times, then eventually cut out all the overnight BFing altogether. That's how we delt with DS1 when he was about 14 months and still waking in the middle of the night to eat for comfort. We realized at some point he was doing it out of habit, so we had to treat it like a habit that needed to be broken.