Weaning From The Breast Pump

Ironically (or not) I weaned from the pump right around the same time with both of my babies. What is strange to me about it is that I went into the breastfeeding process clear minded, with zero expectations. What if I couldn't produce milk? I was prepared for any circumstance although my "plan" was to nurse both my children.

More about my experience breastfeeding here.

When I gave birth, nurses and lactation specialist told me it could take up to 3- days for my milk to come in. With Brock, it took the full 5 days. When he was born his blood sugar levels were high and he had to spend his first 4 days of life in the NICU under strict monitoring. To get Brocks levels to even out we needed to keep him on a strict eating schedule and since my milk still hadn't come in, we had to supplement with tiny doses of formula in the hospital. In the meantime, I was doing everything I could to help push the process along. They had me using a breast pump almost immediately and anything I was producing was being fed to Brock through a tube.

The reason I'm telling you this was the breast pump and I developed a relationship very early on. Brock would nurse for 45 mins to an hour every 2-3 hours and was fussy the entire time in between feedings. As a mother, this wore on me. I wanted to do the best job I could but I never felt like he was ever happy with the job I was doing. After 6 weeks of nursing, I made the choice to start exclusively pumping. For Brock, this was the best decision we could have made. Immediately, he seemed more content. His mood improved and began sleeping better. There are always two sides to things right? All that early pumping had pushed my supply into overdrive and I proving to be a large producer which was both a good and a bad thing. With Brock, I was pumping around 30oz of breastmilk a day.

When I had Stevie, I decided to go into everything open minded again. What if nursing her was easy? What if I didn't produce milk this time? I was mentally preparing myself for a different experience because it would be... and it was. My milk came in so much faster this time, Stevie was latching great and I didn't have to start pumping immediately. I was loving nursing. Everything was easy and she seemed happy, however I was craving some independence thought it was time to introduce the bottle to her. Annnnd, the pumping began. I didn't pump everyday like I had with Brock, I would pump if I had the time and it worked out with our nursing schedule.

When Stevie was 9 weeks old, I began sleep training her. We used the same system that had worked so well for us with Brock. The difference was, by 9 weeks with Brock, he was already taking a breastmilk bottle exclusively. The training works best when the breastmilk is measured and the only way to do that is by using bottles. Overtime she started to prefer the bottle and she weaned herself off my breast around 3 months. I'm not going to lie, I was a little sad. I loved the bond we had developed and wasn't ready to exclusively pump but unfortunately, I didn't really have a choice. This quickly became my new breastfeeding to pumping schedule.

Pumping Schedule with Stevie (4 x day)

Pump Session #1 = First thing in the morning. I would pump for 20-30 minutes and get anywhere between 10-15oz of breastmilk.

Pump #2 = Lunchtime. I would pump for 15 minutes and get 5 oz of breastmilk.

Pump Session #3 = Early evening. I would pump for 15 minutes and get 3-5 oz of breastmilk.

Pump Session #4 = Before bed. I would pump for 15 minutes and get 2-3 oz of breastmilk.

How I Weaned

Weaning is best done slowly. Let me reiterate the word slowly. When I weaned with Brock I learned the hard way and got multiple clogged ducts and mastitis! So painful. With Stevie, I was determined to take my sweet a%$ time. I used the guidelines from KellyMom and began the process.

The first thing I did was began to decrease the amount of time I was pumping on session #1. Remember my first pumping session took 30 minutes. Decreasing the time by two minutes every other day was my goal. I also found that I was able to pick up the speed slightly sometimes, or go slower other times. Comfort was my guide.

The next move was bold. I dropped pumping session #2 all together. Again, letting comfort be my guide on this one, I was able to do it successfully with no major discomfort. When dropping pumping sessions, do so every 3-7 days. Many women need to transition more slowly than simply dropping a pumping session all at once. You can do this by decreasing the amount of time (or volume) you pump each day until you are no longer pumping at that session; at that point you can start decreasing pumping duration for the second session. Again, let your comfort be your guide.

Not far after dropping #2, I successfully dropped pumping session #3 too. The tradeoff however was increasing the time I pumped at my bedtime session to maintain comfort.

I had gradually increased the time between pumping sessions worked myself down to pumping in the morning and at bed time only. Having my days freed up felt amazing! I was ready to start dropping the final two sessions and I had expected this to take at least few weeks. Remember weaning is best down slowly, it took me almost an entire month. I took notes throughout the process.

WEANING LOG

Day 1 - 25 MINS, 17 MINS
Day 2 - 25 MINS, 15 MINS
Day 3 - 25 MINS, 15 MINS
Day 4 - 21 MINS, 12 MINS
Day 5 - 21 MINS, 12 MINS
Day 6 - 19 MINS, 10 MINS
Day 7 - 20 MINS, 11 MINS
Day 8 - 18 MINS, 10 MINS
Day 9 - 18 MINS, 8 MINS
Day 10 - 16 MINS, 5 MINS / uncomfortable
Day 11 - 16 MINS, 6 MINS
Day 12 - 13 MINS, none (+cabbage)
Day 13 - 19 MINS, none (+cabbage) Better
Day 14 - 19 MINS, none (+cabbage) Better
Day 15 - 14 MINS, none (+cabbage) Better
Day 16 - 14 MINS / Issues / Hand Expressed (+cabbage)
Day 17 - 14 MINS / Hand Expressed PM (cabbage)
Day 18 - No pump / Shower + Hand Expressed X2 / FULL
Day 19 - No pump / FULL
Day 20 - Pumped 10 minutes / Sore / Cabbage
Day 21 - No pump / Better
Day 22 - No pump / Shower + Hand Expressed / Better
Day 23 - No pump / Better
Day 24 - Warm bath, massage / Better
Day 25 - No pump / Good :)

Helpful Tips

To ensure a smooth transition, there are a few things that helped me tremendously.

​​​​​​​Hand Expression - At any point my breasts felt full and uncomfortable, I would jump in a hot shower or soak in a bath and hand express. Just enough to relieve the pain though. The last thing I wanted to do was get in a cycle where I was expressing too much, but I also didn't want to be engorged and in pain either. There is a very thin line with engorgment, that's what makes weaning so tricky. I didn't want my breasts to be too full for too long you becuase it would increase my chances of plugged ducts and mastitis — the two things I wanted to avoid at all cost.

Sunflower Lecithin - After I had my first plugged duct I started taking this vitamin and it worked. I advise any breastfeeding mother to have a bottle of this on hand incase. Read more about it here.
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Cabbage - I used cold cabbage leaves A LOT. They feel very soothing on angry engorged breasts. Read more about it here.