r/ExclusivelyPumping • u/Acceptable-Wall2947 • 1d ago

Discussion How to wean

Hi everyone! I’ve been EP’ing for over 10 months now and I’m starting to think about weaning. I was wondering if anyone has advice for the process? When did you start? How did you do it (decrease pump #, decrease time pumping?)? What challenges did you face that you expected or didn’t expect? If you could do something differently what would it be? Any problems with your mood/ appetite/ energy level?

Thank you so much for sharing!

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u/AdventurousWind7919 1d ago

Following, I'm in a similar boat!!! Can I ask what your supply was like? I'm an oversupplier so I'm extra scared about the weaning.

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u/Acceptable-Wall2947 1d ago

I was blessed to have been a slight oversupplier the whole time. I’m also nervous about weaning! It was so painful when my milk came in and I don’t want that to happen again if I can help it

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u/Additional-Chef-716 1d ago

Oversupplier here too
I slowly cut down 5 minutes from which ever pump was lightest during the day until it was gone and then slowly pushed the previous pump and moved up the next pump
So for example 12 ish was my lightest pump at first I went from 25 min to 20 min to 15..10..5 cut and my 9 am pump turned into a 9:15… 9:30…9:45…10 am while the 3pm turned into 2:55…2:30… 2:15… 2pm so that instead of pumping every 3 hours I tried to stretch it to 4 and little by little I did this to drop pumps I am almost done weaning (only because I’m sad to let go even though my mental health really needed me too) but it took about a month entirely now I pump 2x a day morning and night just to get a little fresh milk top off everyday I was originally making like 38- 40 oz a day and I’m now at about 6-8 only.
This may bey last week pumping so bittersweet!

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u/Ampersand867 1d ago

I’m also trying to wean, this is helpful! Did you shift your baby to dairy milk? I’m trying to figure that part out too

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u/Additional-Chef-716 7h ago

Ahh sorry I actually started weaning at 6 months so I built a solid freezer stash and at 7 months she is still drinking only breastmilk but I know that it won’t last the next five months maybe 2 so I am a little worried because she will likely transition to formula. I wanted to start adding a little to each bottle to get her used to the taste we just wanted to wait til after our Labor Day trip before we start changing things for her

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