Weaning Chronicles – Week 1

Week 1 is done!

I am currently feeling very solid about my decision to wean. After the chaos of planning and hosting my son’s first birthday and having to pump right as everyone showed up, I realized it was time and I was officially “there”.

I knew I needed to talk to a professional but I also knew for the sake of my ADHD brain and its constant hunt for dopamine, I needed to make some sort of change that was a step towards weaning.

I decided that trimming my two middle of the day sessions by 10 minutes each, 20 minutes overall, was a good place to start.

My boobs had other ideas.

I was achy and felt full, which made me feel anxious. They felt tingly and I was waking up with clogs. My last pump of the day was huge and I knew this probably wasn’t sustainable. It felt like the early postpartum days and that was further escalating the anxiety. Last Sunday, I booked an appointment with Bethany Bourgin at TheOverSupply Mama (@theoversupplymama on Instagram).

We met the following Wednesday morning. We discussed what my supply looks like now, what my output is for each session, and how I was feeling. Because I am an over supplier, we would need to take things slow. She devised a care plan for me that has me trimming ONE session in small increments, every few days. I’m not going to get into the exact nitty gritty, because this is a care plan designed specifically for me and my body so sharing it probably won’t make a lot of sense since every body is so different but the main goal here is to protect your hormones.

Some women stop pumping cold turkey or just drop sessions all at once and it doesn’t affect much. But a lot of us really need to work in small increments! Which can be hard, because if you’re like me and you decide you’re done with something you want to be D O N E.

So I added time back to my two middle of the day sessions for a few days, and am not just trimming one of them back, very slowly.

It’s now Sunday and things are feeling pretty good. I’m doing what I can to stick to my normal schedule, but subconsciously, I have caught myself putting more and more time between sessions. I had 7 hours between my third pump and final pump of the day and it was a fairly large pump, which was to be expected.

I’ve found myself in my hot zone, but not any more than normal and if I have felt particularly sensitive to something my husband has said, I try to sort through what exactly it is that is making me upset. At the end of the day, these changes are physiological and can’t always be controlled.

We will see how the rest of the week goes as I can continue to trim my one pump!

You can watch my quick recap on Instagram here.