I have no will power these days. With my first son P, I pumped twice a day at work for 3 months- until he was 6 months old, then I decided I would just try and nurse when I went home for lunch. That didn’t work out so well because he usually didn’t want to. Either he had already eaten, or he was sleeping. We started him on solids at 6 months too. I guess my goal again would be to pump twice a day at work for 3 months, but at this rate it just might not happen…
W has never had a drop of formula. P had formula from day one because he was a preemie (35 weeks), and in the NICU they pretty much make you supplement. At P’s one month appointment his pediatrician said there was no longer a need to supplement, so from one month to around 4 months he was exclusively breast milk fed. Around 5 months we started dipping into the formula a bit.
I was already getting lazy about the pumping. I wouldn’t pump that long, so I wouldn’t get that much, and my little 6 month old P had a growing appetite. It was just a downward spiral. Plus, formula was so easy for dad to do at home. Just add some powder to warm water and there you go! No heating and/or thawing of milk.
This formula use continued. I was guilty of it too. At night before bedtime I would nurse, but I would also try and give him a bottle too just to make sure he was nice and full and would sleep through the night.
By the time he was 9 months old I was having some serious supply issues. I tried to pump when I went on business trips, but got very little. It was making me sore- and I figured it was because I wasn’t used to pumping any more – but the soreness also detoured me from pumping. More downward spiraling.
When P was 10 months old I finally figured out I was 2 months pregnant with W. (I had no post partum period after P was born, so I didn’t know I was pregnant for a while- thought it was a stomach virus!) Supply issues and soreness were explained. Then I just felt bad that I might not make it to a year with P.
We did make it to a year, but it was hard work. I still had some milk through out the first trimester, but the weekend of P’s first birthday, I was 17 weeks pregnant and all dried up. It happened really fast. It was like one week I still had milk, the next I didn’t.
I had nursed my daughter for 20 months (up until I was 14 weeks pregnant with P), so I fully expected to make it past a year with P. Now I don’t know what to think about how long I will nurse W. For sure I want to make it to a year, but beyond that…
This week at work I have 3 days where I will be in all day meetings or be working with co-workers from out of town, so my regular schedule will be interrupted. I guess I feel lucky to be able to pump a fairly good quantity in a short amount of time. I shut my door at 9:45 this morning and was able to open it 10 minutes later with 8oz of milk bagged up in my lunch box. Grrrr… Monday…
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