Life after Pumping - My Weaning Experience - Heather

Hello Pumping Moms! I'm speaking to you from the "other side" tonight, and it feels WONDERFUL!

When we last left off The Cupcake was just about 6 months old, I was pumping 3X a day (every 8 hours) and I had just used up the last of my excess "fresh" milk in the refrigerator (I originally had 4 days of fresh at all times, and a huge freezer stash). I was getting ready to break out the frozen milk for the first time, and I was terrified.

What if she doesn't take it? What if it's all bad for some reason and has to be thrown out? What if formula is a big stinky hassle? What if all the other mommybloggers say mean things because I didn't do breastmilk only until she was 7 years old?

Some of my fears were valid, some might have been hormonal...and all were quickly resolved. It doesn't really matter why I decided on 6 months of EPing, so I'll focus on what happened instead.

At TC's 6 month doctor appointment I was congratulated for making it to 6 months, reassured that she would now be producing some of her own immunities, and rewarded with 4 big "sample" cans of formula (so glad I asked! That junk is expensive!)to help start my new life post pumping. I cut out another session, so I was pumping twice a day, in the morning and evening. I generally pumped right when I got up, and when I had a spare moment sometime between dinner and bed. I did that for about a week. Then for a couple days, I just pumped in the morning.

Then one morning, I just didn't pump. And I was okay.

I was not comfortable by any means, but I was not engorged. I had a lot of soreness and some hard patches, but nothing anywhere near as painful as a clogged duct had been while I was pumping. Sleeping was a big challenge as I am a tummy sleeper (amazing how fast that comes back post-baby!), and though I had never leaked or even been able to hand express while pumping, suddenly I could spray milk across the room and couldn't leave the house without breastpads.

Lesson learned: don't throw out the breastpads when you are convinced you aren't a leaker. Things change, and weaning is a whole new ballgame.

I cobbled together my own weaning plan...by which I mean I did some google searches and occasionally picked random pieces of advice to follow. I can't really say whether it worked or not, but I took pseudoephedrine (generic Sudafed, the "real" kind from behind the counter that they make meth from) on the advice that it can help reduce milk production by up to 24%. I just took the recommended dosage on the package.

I also tried cabbage leaves when I was at my most uncomfortable. Supposedly there is a documented but not yet understood phenomenon that green cabbage leaves help to draw out the moisture and aid in drying up breastmilk. Again, I can't say whether or not that was true, but the cabbage leaves were extremely soothing. They are cold and smooth and basically wrap perfectly around your breasts, and they didn't even smell as bad as I anticipated (they get worse as they get warmer - change often and appreciate the cold leaves).

I continued to wear my Bravada nursing tanks from Target, I tried "real" bras a few times but they were way too uncomfortable, the tanks gave some support without any resistance or "edges".

I avoided warm baths and warm showers even though they sounded really soothing - warm water can stimulate production and let down, and I didn't want to do ANYTHING to tell my body to produce more milk. I had gotten a set of Nuk warm and cool breast relief pads early on when I was having a lot of pain, and I was glad I held on to them. I chilled them in the freezer and wore them around the house similar to the cabbage.

For 3 weeks I felt pretty rough. I tossed and turned at night (remember, tummy sleeper), I cringed when I held my little one to my chest, and I cried once when I got elbowed by accident. It wasn't awful, but it wasn't okay.

And then, all of a sudden...

it was fine. It IS fine. I feel good. And that is HUGE!

This morning I got out of the shower and realized that today, 3 weeks and one day since I last pumped, I feel fine. No pain. No hard spots. No torn up nipples, like the first 6 weeks of this "adventure" when I looked and felt like hamburger.

We're still working through the frozen milk, alternating every other bottle now with formula. That hasn't been nearly as bad as I had worried it would be, in fact, it's going well. TC is a "happy spitter", meaning she has reflux but it doesn't bother her, so we just do a lot of laundry and don't medicate. It's kind of a pain as far as laundry, and now with formula (and solids!) that spit up sometimes stains, but we're working through it.

No more hours hooked up to the pump. No more hauling it around everywhere I go, or planning my life around pumping times.

No more Barbie Doll rack. No more porn star melons.

And I couldn't be happier.