Hellobee

I exclusively nursed Wagon Jr. for 7 months before he “self-weaned.” I say that with quotes because I know it was really just a matter of him getting older and too distracted to nurse. I probably would have worked at making it through that stage, but we took a trip and I got sick and took a decongestant, which is also a lactation suppressant. I dried up overnight! So I figured I would take advantage and wean at that point. I transitioned WJ to formula and was able to feed him one bottle from my frozen stash every day until he turned one.

With Lil Miss Wagon, I decided to exclusively pump to provide her breastmilk. I have been exclusively pumping ever since I went back to work when she was 8 weeks old. I have always had the goal of making it to 12 months before weaning from the pump, in order to avoid the transition to formula before transitioning to cow’s milk at 1 year. Now that we are very close to reaching LMW’s first birthday, I have been gradually lowering my milk supply by reducing the number of pumping sessions per day. At this point, I’m producing so little that I’m basically only pumping one feeding’s worth a day, and I only continue to try and avoid getting mastitis.

Here’s a quick peek at how the process has gone for me, with snapshots towards the beginning, middle, and end of my EP journey.

Now that I’m almost done providing breastmilk for my last child, it’s a little sad to look back and realize I’m totally done and I have no baby to feed. But mostly, I am relieved to be able to reclaim my body, my nightstand space, the hours I spend washing bottles and pump parts, my diaper bag space usually taken up by a cooler bag with ice packs and bottles, and most importantly, the hours I spent each day pumping! I actually just threw out my four nursing bras that soldiered with me through breastfeeding 2 kids. That was a sweet, sweet day.

As for nursing vs. EPing, I am very glad I got to experience both for myself (as I did with being a SAHM vs. WOHM). I don’t feel any more or less bonded to either child, and it’s tough to measure my experiences with feeding both of them, since there are so many variables:

• who feeds the baby, and how often
• amount of sleep mommy gets
• complexity of feeding preparation
• pumping time
• time with the baby (SAHM vs. WOHM)
• baby’s self-soothing techniques (paci/fingers vs. none)
• when baby starts sleeping through the night (WJ: 4 months; LMW: 8 months)
• baby’s personality in general (LMW holds her own bottle while WJ always refused, etc).

In the end, my experience has led me to realize that every parent should do whatever is best for themselves and their child, whether it be nursing, EPing, formula feeding, or a combination. It has also made me never take my abundant milk supply for granted. I feel extremely privileged to have been able to provide as much milk for my babies as I have. Whenever we’re packing for a trip or a day out, I flip out over forgetting something, and Wagon Sr. always reminds me that in the worst case scenario, we can buy a replacement of everything except my breastmilk. While that places a lot of pressure on me to keep producing (and pack enough milk!), it’s also not lost on me that I’m providing something that’s literally priceless for my baby.

Are you exclusively pumping? How has your EP journey gone?