Sweets is 16 months old, and I’m still pumping at work.

Munchkin never took a bottle, but I still pumped with her for my comfort and supply anyway. And I nursed her on my lunch break. I did need some milk to send to daycare – just in case she would take it, and because they legally had to at least offer her something – but I only sent 4 oz per day (2 bottles or cups with 2 oz each) after I went back to work full-time. Four oz was easy enough to get though, and I didn’t have a lot of pressure on my pumping output because I knew she wasn’t drinking it anyway – I was pumping for me, not for her. I dropped my afternoon pumping at around 9-10 months, and then I dropped my morning pumping right at 12 months. I was glad to be done with pumping as soon as possible!

But I kept nursing Munchkin at lunch until she was 21 months. I timed my arrival at daycare for right after lunch, but before nap time, so I could nurse her to sleep and then sneak out while she was napping. This worked out well for everyone because then there wasn’t a sad goodbye when I had to leave again. And the teachers liked it because it was one less kid they had to put down for nap. Munchkin would wait for me on her nap cot until I got there to nurse her, and around 20 months I noticed that sometimes she would already be asleep by the time I got there. By 21 months she was usually asleep when I got there, so I just stopped going. It seemed like a very natural way to wean the lunch feeding, and by then I found that it wasn’t a problem to go all day without nursing or pumping, and that I could still nurse at home on evenings and weekends without any issues.

With Sweets, it has been a different situation, because she had no problem taking the bottle. So I experienced pumping at work as most moms do who pump at work – I had to pump enough milk to have enough for daycare! Fortunately, my daycare provider feeds on-demand and I didn’t have a daycare overfeeding issue like so many other working moms I talk to. I started off at 4 months sending two 2 oz bottles for half-days. At 6 months I went back full-time, and I sent four 2.5 oz bottles, plus I nursed on my lunch break. Most days, Sweets would only drink 3 of these bottles, so the 4th was just a buffer bottle, just in case. That meant that I really had to pump at least 7.5 oz per day, and anything extra went towards making the buffer bottle. At maybe 7 months, I was sending 3 bottles of 3 oz plus a buffer bottle. So in general, I needed about 9-10 oz per day on average. I found that some days I pumped more and other days less, but over the course of the week, it always worked out to be enough. I pumped on Monday what I would send to daycare on Tuesday, and on through the week. At the end of the week, I kept Friday’s milk for Monday, and froze whatever was left over in ice-cube trays.

When Sweets was 12 months, I considered that I could cut down on pumping now and she could start drinking cow’s milk at daycare. But she hadn’t taken well to yogurt yet, so I decided to hold off on cow’s milk for a while more. I was also still nursing her at lunch, but this was getting more difficult. Unlike Munchkin, Sweets would often still be awake after nursing, and then would cry when I left. Also, Munchkin and Sweets were together in the same home daycare, and Munchkin would keep herself awake so that she could see me too when I came in. The lunchtime visits were proving to be a disruption to their day, so at 13 months I decided to stop nursing at lunch. I was still pumping twice per day, but Sweets was only drinking two 3 oz bottles by this time with her table food, so I only needed 6 oz per day. At 15 months, I decided to cut down to pumping only once per day. I sent whatever milk I got (anywhere from 3-6 oz) to daycare and her teacher supplemented her with cow’s milk for the rest, which she could tolerate by then. And that’s where I am now – back to pumping for my comfort and supply more than for the milk. I figure that with Munchkin, I did continue to empty my breast once per workday until 21 months, and I guess it is the same with pumping for Sweets.

I do often wonder whether I could stop pumping at work at this point though and still keep my supply for nights and weekends, or if it is really necessary to keep pumping. I guess I’m taking a “better safe than sorry” approach because I don’t want to risk it. Munchkin was always very attached to nursing, but Sweets is a different kid and is less interested. I worry that if the milk wasn’t readily available when she wanted it, that she might wean before I am ready. It is my high priority for her to nurse for a minimum of 2 years, and I don’t want to do anything that might jeopardize that if I can help it.

I remember that with Munchkin, I thought that 12 months would be the maximum that anyone would pump. I knew plenty of people who practiced “extended breastfeeding”, and plenty of people who worked while breastfeeding, but I didn’t know anyone who pumped longer than 12 months. Most of the advice that I’ve gotten on this topic has come from people who haven’t nursed until at least 2 years, which is a high priority for me. I wonder if their advice to quit pumping at 12 months would impact my milk supply so that I would have trouble nursing at home until at least 2 years. I would welcome any advice on how long you continued pumping, from moms who have nursed for at least 2 years and have been separated from their baby for work or school.