Week 1 of weaning is in the books!
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”.
Before we dive all the way, just some context about my pumping journey. I was thrown into Exclusive Pumping at 8 weeks postpartum after major latching issues. Nursing was not an option for me and the only way for me to continue to breastfeed my son was to pump. So as of this publish date, I am 12 months in! I am pumping 4 times a day, I am a slight overproducer, a size 15mm flange, a small C cup, and my primary pumps are the Baby Buddha 2.0 and the Pumpables Genie Advanced.
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 Bourgoin at OverSupply Mama (@oversupplymama 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 oversupplier, 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 my 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.
I think I was wrapped up in pumps, my schedule, my sons growth and development, I was so worried about who I would be outside of all of it. But now that the decision is made? I feel so FREE. I am sure things will ebb and flow as I can continue to drop pumps but all I can do is ride it out as best as I can and lean on my support system these next few weeks.
See you back next Sunday for the Week 2 update!