Pump Free...Yay!!!

I am officially "pump free"! Since I am planning on starting my master's in May, I went ahead and began gradually switching Aidyn to formula. Up until this point he has been eating breastmilk that I've been pumping - every 3 hours, every day. Ugh!

I had decided before Aidyn was born I was going to breastfeed for many reasons. It's better for babies, easier to digest, has anitbodies in it that help their immune system, its "always ready", and definately cheaper than formula. It's free, ha. After trying for 2 weeks to get Aidyn to nurse and being unsuccessful, I quit trying and just committed to pumping. I would feed Aidyn a bottle, pump for 15 minutes, pour that milk into his next bottle, and then wait for the cycle to continue. After 2 months of this, I decided that was enough.

Had Aidyn been able to latch on successfully, I do think I would have continued longer. But talk to anyone that's had to pump...whether it be a few times or every time like me...and they'll tell you it's no fun. I started gradually with formula because I was afraid he would not like it. Amazingly, he acted like he didn't even know a difference. I don't think he did. I think he probably would have been ok if I just switched him over without doing it gradually, but it made me feel better. Also, during this time, I had to work on "weaning" my body and training it to stop producing milk.

I started by changing his 12noon feeding to formula and I wouldn't pump at that time. I did that for 3 days. Then, I switched the 12 midnight needing and quit pumping at that time. I did that for 3 days. Then I dropped the 3pm feeding, then the 3am feeding, then 6pm and 6am, and finally 9pm and 9am. With each feeding, we would go 3-4 days before switching to another. This gave my body time to realize I didn't need the milk at those times. And eventually, when I would have "leaked" or been sore for skipping a time...I suddenly wasn't even the slightest bit sore. Plus, not to mention the extra time I had.

I no longer had to spend 30 min after each feeding on pumping, preparing the next bottle, and cleaning the pump equipment. This also meant that at night when Aidyn woke up, I could feed, burp, and change him, and usually be back to bed within 15-20 minutes...not 45. Yay!

I have successfully been "pump free" since last Wednesday...5 days. I only became a little sore on Friday afternoon. I called the lactation consultant who said I'd done everything great by doing it slowly over a 3 week period. To help with tenderness and to dry up what was left of any milk production, I could take 2 sudafed (sp?) a day if I wanted. Sudafed can only be bought at a pharmacy, and you have to sign for it...because people use it to make Meth.

Aidyn has been successfully eating formula now for all means since last Friday and we're both doing great! My only regret about not being on breastmilk is the nasty formula diapers (and cost ofcourse). Not fun! Even the absolute worst of the breastmilk diapers will never even compare, haha.

As far as costs goes, before we were paying $75/month for the pump. I am not taking into acccount the cost of the bottles or bags I used to store the milk. Now, we are going through about 1 container of formula a week. So $25 x 4 = about $100/month now. For the cost to only increase by $25 per month, I figure that isn't no where near the increase I thought we'd see.