Goodbye to You!

I have officially parted ways with the ol' breast pump!  It really does feel good.  Well, actually, it's a little painful still, but I'm excited.  Once Nathaniel hit a year, I started to taper off my pumping and gave him the last of my frozen stash, which fortunately lasted until just barely a year.  He made the switch to whole milk during the day just fine.

Initially I thought that once he was a year old, I would quit breastfeeding altogether, and it kinda bummed me out.  I would rather let Nathaniel wean himself than to just take it away from him.  Then I realized it didn't have to be all or nothing.  So for now, I'm still nursing him in the morning before work, at night before bed, and sometimes when we get home from daycare.  It's still a huge comfort to him, and I am certainly not taking that away.  He was a super cranky screamer until about 7 months, and I am not going back to that!  I'll let him wean on his own.

Breastfeeding was not easy for us, but I've grown to really appreciate it.  I hated that I had to pump exclusively for the first month when Nathaniel wouldn't nurse, but it ended up being a huge blessing.  I had an oversupply in the beginning (6-10 oz. every 3-4 hours) and stocked up my freezer.  I knew that when I started pumping again I wouldn't be getting as much, but I had no idea how drastic the difference would be.  I could barely pump 2 oz. every 3 hours, and couldn't pump enough for him to take to daycare.  If I hadn't had that stock of milk in the freezer, I would've had to supplement.  I realize it wouldn't have been horrible, but formula is expensive and caused him a lot of tummy issues when he was first born.  He's been a very healthy boy, and I think breastfeeding played some role in that.  I was also fortunate to work in an office where I could pump when I needed to, without any problems.

I even kept track of how long I pumped and how much I produced at work.  I pumped for about 100 hours and got about 538 ounces (about 4 gallons) from June to the beginning of November.  That doesn't account for what I pumped evenings and weekends.  And sadly, it's nowhere near what I pumped in one month after he was born, but it's interesting to see how much of my life I spent pumping.

I tapered off by dropping a pumping session for a few days, then shortening the other two, then dropping down to one pumping session.  Surprisingly, I was a little upset at first.  It was hard for me to not pump when I felt like I needed to, or to end a pumping session when I still had milk left.  But I knew I didn't want to keep pumping and having to schedule my day around it.  The routine was going really well and I was only a few days away from stopping altogether, and then Nathaniel got sick.  So, I was home with him for 5 days in a row (Thursday-Monday), and I nursed him throughout the day.  This week, I brought my pump, but didn't end up using it.  It probably would've been a good idea to pump just a little bit, but I survived.  I'm so happy to have been pump free for over a week!  I still keep my manual pump in my purse, just in case.

You were a good pump, but I will not miss you.