<[log in to unmask]> wrote:

[EPing mum]

> Fast forward several months.  She decided she wanted to  wean off the pump
> by the time she was to go back to work which is first of  September.
> Meanwhile she is pumping about 7 times a day for about 26  minutes per
> pumping in order to empty the breasts.  She had one episode of  mastitis
> when she didn't pump as often as she usually did which scared her to
> death.  So we started around the first of July with the usual sort of
> thing  -- space out the pumpings.  She couldn't.  So we tried decreasing
> the  time she was pumping by a minute to two minutes a day, and then
> spacing out the  pumpings.  She got down to 10 minutes of pumping, and
> could go about 6 to 7  hours during the day, but not at night because the
> breasts would get too  full. [...]

Sorry if you've been over this with her and it's just not in your
message, but is there a particular reason she needs or wishes to wean
completely before RTW? Her story doesn't actually sound that unusual to
me: she pumped plenty on top of a naturally plentiful supply and high
storage capacity, established supply very well in the early months with
complete and frequent milk removal, and can as a result now get by still
producing a full or near-full supply for one baby with ten minutes of
pumping 3-4 times a day. I've had contact with plenty of pumping mums
whose pumping 'careers' have followed a similar pattern. Not all mums
seem to be sensitive to pseudoephedrine etc as supply busters when their
supply is really robust in the first place.

In other words: how much of a curse is this for her; did she make the
decision to wean when she was pumping seven times a day without thinking
about the possibility of a middle course; has she seriously re-evaluated
her goals in light of this new information about her body? It sounds
like she could continue feeding this still very young baby plenty of
mother's milk while only pumping at lunchtime in her workday, or
possibly even eventually drop to 2-3 sessions a day over time spaced
around work, depending on her schedule.

Lara Hopkins 

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