Hi there,
I have experience with almost exactly this! Back in December I left my ds (about 27 months at the time) for 4 days with my dh -- the first time I'd been away longer than one night. Since then I've had two more business trips, and done the same thing for about the same length of time.
I absolutely needed to pump, both to keep my supply up, and also to relieve fullness. (I've always had a good supply, and am a little bit prone to mastitis.) I find pumping to be a pain -- especially when I'm working all day, with no place to sterilize etc., though my company does have "mother rooms" for pumping. I never bothered trying to save the milk - just pump and dump.
I did leave some milk for him to drink the first time I went, and I think that was nice, though not strictly necessary, since he doesn't need to nurse for nutrition at this point.
Anyway, in all cases, the first thing he wanted to do when I got back home was nurse -- no problems starting up again. I did notice a definite drop in supply, because pumping is just not as good as nursing directly, but it always came back up in a few days.
So, I say that if you don't want to wean completely, you certainly don't have to.
- Karen and Ethan (8/20/02)
