On the day she was born, Sophie had surgery to correct her duodenal atresia. That day I began pumping and didn't stop for many months. At 6 weeks old, she finally got the hang of nursing and we said goodbye to the bottle. Unfortunately, she stubbornly refused from that point onward to take a single bottle. My supply was much greater than her demand and it took a while to balance out (plus 2 rounds of mastitis). We ended up with an entire freezer full of milk that she didn't use. After they expired, I made Mark throw it all away as I couldn't bring myself to do it.
As any Lactivist can testify, pumping is work. Yes, the new pumps are wonderful and work quite well. However, it takes time to set up, pump, store, clean, and sterilize. Going to all that work for 9+ months only to have it thrown away is a crying shame.
I've been avoiding the pump so far with Helena. She's 4 weeks old now and feeding is well established, so today I pumped for the first time. aWOosh aWOosh an old familiar sound. Hopefully Helena will take a bottle from her dad or sitter and then perhaps I can catch a break or (gasp) leave the overlord behind to go out once in a while.
Despite feeling like a dairy cow, it is a pretty cool superpower. 
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2 comments:
I so remember dragging that black pump bag out of the back of the closet for Delphine and the familiar sound. Such a love hate relationship. I hope you don't need it as much. You are such a good mama!! xoxo
I just threw away bags of milk this week from 2 years ago when my daughter was born! She never took a bottle either. I think I was keeping it as some sort of reminder of that time.
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