THIS! I’m 21 weeks and the thought of breastfeeding just creeps me out. I really want to exclusively pump but the lactaction consultatant its totally against that. This article and feedback has definitely made me feel better. I’ve been feeling really really weird with my decision because of all the women who have told me its a ‘TERRIBLE IDEA TO EXCLUSIVELY PUMP.’

Within 2-3 days of giving birth to my daughter this July, I was excruciatingly engorged. I tried ice packs, pumping just to comfort (which worked against me b/c it just stimulated MORE production), sleeping on my stomach at night, cold cabbage leaves, everything I could to get my production down to a reasonable level so I could feed her and store a tiny bit for future use without being in agony 24-7. I was making well over a gallon of milk per day those first 3-4 weeks and it wasn’t fun, but I was so glad I could feed my daughter breastmilk and was looking forward to doing so for much longer than I had with my son (supply dropped due to pregnancy w/ DD). All the mistakes I made while breastfeeding my son that sabotaged my production, I swore I’d never make while feeding my daughter. Now, less than 6 months into life, she’s drinking formula while I struggle to relactate through exclusive pumping. Needless to say, the reality of two kids under age 2 put my resolve to breastfeed properly to the test (which I failed miserably). So, long story short, initial breastmilk production isn’t necessarily an indicator of future production. There are so many factors (hormones, hydration, nutrition, sleep, stress, etc.) that affect breastmilk production that there’s no way to know how much you’ll produce down the road – only how to maximize your chances of long-term success. I hope your breastfeeding relationship is going strong and wish you all the best!

I’m glad I’m not the only one that feels this way I just had my second child and I exclusively pumped with my first one for 9 months and that’s when I found out I was already 3 months pregnant with my second one surprise 🙂 She is now almost 2 weeks old and even though everyone except my husband thinks I’m crazy I have been exclusively pumping with her also and its going great I am horrible about pumping as often as they say to but I’m lucky to be able to keep up and ahead of both of my kiddos. I started pumping while in the hospital and this time around I rented a hospital grade pump because my daughter ended up in the NICU and they recommended using it to get started but I’m planning on just using it for the first month and hopefully I dont see a big change when going to my pump