Sleep Pumping

This is me around 2 in the morning with my handy dandy  pumps.

I'm still at it. I pump twice a day now. Once at lunch (if Stanley's in daycare otherwise I go home to nurse him) and once in the middle of the night. I have to do this if I want to keep up the milk production. I wasn't pumping in the middle of the night (1 a.m.) in the beginning of Stanley Bear sleeping through the night, and the production went waaaayyyy down because before when he was up every 3 or so a night we'd nurse throughout the night. So I took brewer's yeast tablets and fenugreek capsules to help with the production (they totally work!) and I started pumping at one in the morning. That is reallllly hard to do. I try to be as close to sleep as possible when I do it. Some nights I keep my eyes closed, don't turn on any lights, flip open the lap top just for the light that it emits (but don't actually use the computer/internets). A couple of nights last week I just hit my snooze button and skipped the late night pumping session and let me tell you, what a difference in my day when I don't have to wake up in the middle of the night. I am a lot more energetic. I think I will let myself skip a night at least once a week. Stan Bear is still sleeping through the night. From about 7 p.m. to 5:30 a.m. on average. (I wish he would sleep until 6 or 7 but I shouldn't complain!)

I was talking to Mike about what to do when comes the time to wean the Bear from the breast. I have no idea when this will be. My goal was to breastfeed for a year and a year is almost here! So, after a year, what do we do? I will talk to our pediatrician about alternatives. I would rather stick with breastmilk over cow's milk or soy milk formulas. I basically want to know at what age can a child stop drinking breastmilk or formula. When can they just drink cow's milk, rice milk or almond milk as their primary or secondary source of liquid. The Bear loves water, he gulps it down but I think he will need something to help keep his bones strong. Both Mike and I drank a lot of cow's milk growing up but I read the book "The China Study" and that scared me from touching cow's milk, especially for my little guy. So, we'll see what the pediatrician says and then go from there.