Comments on: Is Pumping A Breastfeeding Requirement?

By: Joanne

Joanne — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 19:17:44 +0000

I have only pumped with one of my 4, and that was to pump and dump while I was hospitalized.
Breastfeeding has been around a lot longer than the pump, it is not necessary to pump, our bodies are designed to produce more when the baby needs it and less when they need less. I have been blessed to be able to stay home with my kids and be able to nurse. I am so glad pumps are there when needed (premies, working moms, etc..), but sometimes we come to rely on things that aren’t always necessary.
On the bonding issue, babies bond plenty well with their daddies even if he never feeds them till they eat solids. My kids adore their Daddy, and have since infancy and he only ever fed 1 of them a bottle for 3 days, and she was my biggest mommy’s girl.

By: A

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 07:07:23 +0000

Julia — I commend you for sticking to your guns, though, the pressure to attend such events is frustrating.
If I were in your shoes *as I will be, shortly*, I would definitely hang on to that motherly instinct of yours. Your relatives/friends will be there later and you will attend many more events once your child is a little older and can handle being separated for little bits of longer periods, at a time.
The way I look at this is Baby is more important. Others *okay, not hubby/daddy* need to be temporarily placed on the back burner…for now. Not to say that you’ll never mingle — only to say that you and Baby are not yet ready to take that step.
Hope this helps.
*~A~*

By: Kelley

Kelley — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 13:50:04 +0000

@L: What kind of pump are you using? I’m not a lactation consultant, but it sounds like it’s probably not getting a good seal or, as you said, high enough up on your nipple. If you think you are in pumping for the long haul, I would check out a hospital-grade pump – possibly renting one from a local medical supply company, or biting the expensive bullet and buying one. Have you tried nursing with a nipple shield?

Like I said, I’m not a LC, but I’ve got extensive experience pumping and with moving from bottle to breast since my son was born at 28 weeks. Please feel free to email me if you want to – kelley@petergwdion.com.

By: Heather

Heather — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 03:37:55 +0000

Hello! I have a breastpump, but only used it when my (now 10 month old) baby was newborn. I have an abundant milk supply, so pumping was a way to prevent engorgement. (yikes!)

My 10 month old daughter (my first!) is still mainly exclusively breastfed. And still expects it “directly from the source” as the above author so eloquently stated. It is possible to provide breast milk without bottles or pumps- I believe that we must remember that today is different than any other day. I have to remember that my primary goal today is to nourish my child- some day she’ll be able to grab a big, cold glass of milk from the fridge, make herself a PPJ, or crunch a tart granny smith, but for today, I will commit to not being the first to introduce her to “fast food”.

By: L

Fri, 14 Aug 2009 02:28:17 +0000

I have a dilema: My 5-month-old now prefers the bottle to the breast. I think it’s because he has to really work to get the milk from me, whereas he can just down it quickly from the bottle. I struggled with nursing my older child, and she self-weaned at 7 months, two weeks after she took her first bottle. She just refused to nurse any more. I haven’t experienced the same struggle with nursing my son, so I introduced the bottle earlier, only to have the same thing happen. I’m trying to pump, but it doesn’t work. However, I get milk when I manually express, even after pumping for 15 minutes and getting nothing. It’s like the pump doesn’t squeeze hard enough or high enough up on my breast to get the milk out. I was really dedicated to nursing, but he seems happier with the bottle. What do I do?

By: lucy

lucy — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 23:35:10 +0000

I pump because I work and am away from baby around 5-6 hr per day. I sort of hate it because it hurts my nipples. But in a weird way I find it sort of fascinating to watch the milk come out. Weird, I know. I need to entertain myself somehow while I’m pumping. The main annoyance is that since I work limited hours, I spend about 20 min of time pumping at work when I could just come home earlier. Oh well.

By: Julia

Julia — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 17:11:43 +0000

My daughter is two months old and I have a shower and wedding to go to in the fall. I’m really stressed about them, especially the wedding since my husband must go to as well. I know I will have to pump for them but the fact is that I have only nursed my baby so far. Now I think she may not take a bottle — we don’t even use pacifiers, and the one time we gave her one (a couple of weeks ago) she spit it out.

This isn’t just about pumping, but I’m feeling pressured to do all these things when I’d really would rather not leave my daughter for more than an hour or two until she is at least 6 months. There are people around me who think breastfeeding is no excuse, that I should just pump and still attend all these events that I can’t bring my daughter to.

While I do want to pump to store milk just in case, I haven’t had the energy to figure out how to assemble it, then sterilize it and actually use it. Plus I find it nerve wracking enough thinking about keeping up my milk supply, and also, at this point what if my daughter were to enjoy a bottle and not go back to my breast.

Anyway, I think that the pump is great for times when it is really needed, and for women who pump to donate milk, but at the same time it’s made us feel pressured to use it.

The other thing is also that my husband finally admitted that he felt left out and that he couldn’t soothe our daughter because she’s more bonded with me because of breastfeeding. He apologized later for kind of pressuring me but I still feel guilty about it. I told him there are other ways of bonding wth her but well, that doesn’t seem to help (though he could try harder).

By: R

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 02:39:10 +0000

I pumped with my first, a preemie, but prefer breastfeeding or formula-feeding over pumping/bottling. I understand it works for some mothers, and that’s cool. But I had a lot of issues with plugged ducts with the pump that I didn’t have with breastfeeding.

By: Christina

Christina — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 15:50:50 +0000

I pumped (and hated it) regularly with my first child, but my second child refused to take a bottle, so we finally stopped trying after multiple bottles being poured out (the agony!). It has been so liberating to stop! I work part time and she happily waits until I get home to nurse. I highly recommended letting go of pumping if you want to!! it’s occasionally stressful knowing I can’t be away for very long but I’d rather be close to home than pump again!

By: Dawn

Dawn — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 20:47:35 +0000

I haven’t pumped–pump doesn’t work for me. I’m a WAHM, and she only takes from the tap. She doesn’t like the taste of formula, so there goes that.

At 8 mos. she recently started drinking a little water from a sippy cup with meals but mostly she just chews the cup.