Working and Pumping

I stopped nursing a week ago. I was hoping my supply would adjust accordingly and I could continue on "as usual" with our morning/evening/ weekend nursing.

Well I have, unfortunately, immediately scene a change in my son's nursing/ Nursing sessions are much shorter and it's getting to be challenging to nurse him to sleep at night. Also he will no longer nurse back to sleep after waking at 6am.

This STINKS because I have LOVED Not Pumping this past week. It means I can finally take a Real lunch break and take a walk or get a chore done. (I've been pumping & not taking a lunch break for a looooooong time. Son is 20 months old.)

grrr, do I have to go back to pumping? It's my busy season at work, which was a motivating factor to stop pumping. It's depressing to have to go back to it. ALSO I've started getting comments from coworkers regarding their shock that I still use the pumping room even though I dont have an "infant".

Thanks for any comments/experiences!

First off, congrats for pumping so long!!  20 months is a big commitment!

At this stage of the game, I'm surprised, actually, that your supply has been so affected by not pumping.  There are many working women who stop pumping at a year or so and don't have trouble keeping up w/ night/morning nursing.  I'm wondering if it may be more of an issue of abruptly stopping pumping, if you did so, rather than gradually weaning off the pump.

I suspect that you may see things improve as your body gets used to the new system.  I would encourage your DS to nurse often when you're together, and that should help w/ the supply.  You may have accidentally hit on a time to stop pumping which coincided with his readiness to cut back on nursing, so that could be why his behavior has changed as well.

You might want to check out the Extended BFing board to see if they have any suggestions as well.

*SPENCER* 41 year old Mami of a toddler!  

  

  

 

I don't have any BTDT, but I know how much stress affects my body and can tell that my 8 mo old picks up on it as well. Could the busy season at work be an underlying stressor that your LO is feeling??

just a thought...

I hope you figure it out, good luck!