With Ollie, I was at-home with him until he was about nine months old before I got a part-time lawyering gig. Working part-time = pumping part-time. However, Ollie would never take a bottle, so we were forced to transition him to a sippy cup pretty early. He did pretty well with the sippy cup and I continued pumping and nursing him until he was about 14 months old. He pretty much weaned himself at that point. I am sure I could have kept nursing him, but he did not seem upset in the slightest at the end of our nursing relationship. We gradually dropped feedings and transitioned away nursing at bedtime. I always had a more than ample milk supply and I never had any issues pumping. My original goal was to nurse for at least a year and I was certainly ready to have my body back at that point, so I wasn't really sad about ending our nursing relationship either.
With Henry, I started transitioning back to part-time work when he was 5 1/2 months old. He takes a bottle no-problem, so that has made working and nursing a lot less stressful. However, my milk supply is not as ample as it was last time. I don't know what the difference is (besides going back to work earlier/working more and losing pregnancy weight sooner) but my freezer stash of breast milk is starting to seriously dwindle, which stresses me out. He is currently consuming about 16 oz of milk while I am at work and I am only averaging about 12 oz via pumping three times a day at work. It is so frustrating to only pump 3-4 oz total in one pumping session, when I used to (with Ollie) pump 5 plus ounces on each side in one sitting. Plus, it takes me a lot longer to pump this time around. With Ollie, I once pumped almost 8 oz on one side in one sitting - no lie! I had porn boobs (sorry, Grandma). It was a little freakish.
I haven't given up yet, but the thoughts about having to supplement with formula have certainly crossed my mind. For some reason the thought of feeding my baby formula just freaks me out and I don't really know why. I have plenty of friends who formula fed their babies and they obviously turned out just fine. In fact, I was formula fed from about 4 months on - something I didn't know until recently. Maybe it is more the fact that this is most likely my last baby and thus my last nursing relationship and that makes me reluctant to supplement with formula, which in my mind marks the beginning of the weaning process, even if I continued to nurse and pump (holy run-on sentence, batman).
Henry is now almost 9.5 months, so we are only a few months away from being able to introduce cow's milk, which will certainly help matters. He is also starting to eat a little more solid food, although the caloric intake from solids is pretty minimal. For now I am just going to continue trudging or pumping on. I am downing water like a mad-woman, drinking Mother's Milk tea, taking a nursing supplement, trying to eat plenty of calories (this is a struggle for me with running, exercising, and working - when stressed I tend to forget to eat), and trying to fit extra pumping sessions in on my days off work (oh joy!). I am determined to at least get to the one year mark with Henry without any damn formula, but if I can't make it happen and the kid has to have a little formula for a couple months it won't be the end of the world. Right?
2 comments:
It definitely wouldn't be the end of the world to give a little formula at this point. You could also try offering more solid foods for a week, and see if that works. I don't think either would be harmful to him, and completely understandable. Congratulations on nursing two babies for so long.
Right. I had terrible supply issues, but managed to get my daughter to the 1 year mark with about 25% formula. And then she continued to nurse until she turned three and I cut her off. Don't beat yourself up - you're doing a great job.
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