Exclusively pumping
On my baby message board a number of women have written about exclusively pumping for their babies. The majority of these women had to pump instead of give milk “from the tap” because their babies were unable to latch correctly. Some of the babies couldn’t latch for medical reasons, either they were premature or they had cleft palate. Other mothers just had bad experiences with lactation consultants who were unwilling to listen and unable to help. A few women on the board who are first time mothers-to-be have expressed interest in pumping exclusively for their children because they don’t want to breastfeed, yet can’t deny the health benefits. One woman just said she doesn’t have the personality to breastfeed- her baby was a lazy eater who would consistently fall asleep at the breast. She couldn’t handle just sitting there and pumped to avoid the stress relaxing brought on.
I have mixed feelings about exclusively pumping. The idea of it makes me incredibly jealous. Women who pump can go out and leave their babies in the care of their husbands, family, friends, or other caretakers for more than an hour or two. They can have a break when they feel overwhelmed, and trust that their babies will eat. At the same time, these women have to get up in the middle of the night and attach themselves to a machine. They can’t just drag their babies along when they have a day’s worth of errands to run, they have to schedule time to pump or run the risk of their supply dropping.
When I weigh the advantages and disadvantages to both I can’t help but think that mothers who pump exclusively are making the bigger sacrifice. Pumping, which is something I admittedly did on a very limited basis, seems like so much more work to me. It’s time consuming, yes, but there’s something so luxuriously lazy about just sitting down to nurse for hours every day.
I don’t really have any answers or profound thoughts on the matter. It’s just something I’ve been mulling over.
My StumbleUpon Page
January 29th, 2008 at 10:21 am
Exclusive pumping because you don’t want to sit still and breastfeed sounds mechanical and icky to me. I breastfed; I pumped only when I had to. I think breastfeeding is not just about providing the nutrition and immunity benefits of breast milk but also about taking the time to bond with your child and taking the time to slow down your crazy world. Parenting can be as hectic as working at a job, so you need to take time for yourself. Breastfeeding has built-in downtime–built-in relaxation time, which is something a mother of a baby or toddler desperately needs.
January 29th, 2008 at 2:58 pm
Katharine, I bet that one woman’s relaxing is another woman’s icky. I personally (having no difficulty breastfeeding, either mechanical or emotional) would not find it worthwhile to pump exclusively, but I can see it’s possible somebody else would, and I kind of admire people who can pull it off, because it sounds like a ton of work to me.
Also, I pump during the two days per week I’m at work, and weird though it is to be hooked up to the machine, it is often the closest I get to a complete break during the day. I read while I pump — something I enjoy & that I can’t do while I’m nursing a baby who’s grabbing at my hair and fielding toddler questions at the same time…
And Jackie: Jealous of exclusive pumpers because they can leave their kids for more than a few hours? Why so black and white? Lots of people pump occasionally or once a week or whatever so they can get a break.
January 29th, 2008 at 3:20 pm
I pumped exclusively for about 6 weeks. One nipple was so damaged from a bad latch it was almost black. The pumping allowed me to keep nursing while letting myself heal.
Surprisingly pumping wasn’t nearly as bad on the nipple as her lousy latch. By the time she was 3 months old I had healed and with her bigger mouth and better head control we were able to return to “regular” breastfeeding. She’s almost 14 months now and still nursing.
Man, pumping was awful. I can’t imagine anyone would chose it because it’s easier than regular nursing.
January 29th, 2008 at 3:45 pm
I LOATHE pumping. I HATE washing bottles. I DESPISE bagging up milk, worrying if it will go bad depending where it is stored, when it is thawed. I dread the stress of never knowing if my kid would reject the bottle. On the one hand, it is a hassle not being away from my daughter for more than 3 hours. On the other, I am not ready to leave her anyway.
January 29th, 2008 at 3:48 pm
Why so black and white? Because for me it *was* black and white. Sam wouldn’t take a bottle. I still have an obscene amount of pumped breastmilk that’s too old to donate or use just sitting in my freezer because I can’t bear the idea of throwing it out.
January 29th, 2008 at 3:56 pm
I would have pumped once in a while but my daughter had other ideas. She would latch on to me just fine, it was the bottle she wasn’t having. This eventually led to good things (I didn’t have to wean her off the breast AND the bottle and she wouldn’t touch a pacifier with a ten foot pole) but for a year or so I was pretty much at the mercy of her appetite.
I also hated pumping (and when I developed mastitis when she was two weeks old I had to pump the infected side A LOT) so I don’t know that I would have chosen to do it very often if she had been willing to take a bottle.
It’s like anything else, go with whatever works!