exclusive pumping January 14, 2008
There’s an article in Babble today about a trend in which women don’t actually nurse their breastfed babies, but instead choose to exclusively pump and feed the expressed breastmilk in bottles.
I know several women who had to do this because their babies never learned to latch properly and I always thought they were more than a little heroic because pumping seemed so much more difficult than just nursing. Their dedication to giving their babies breastmilk really impressed me.
But this piece is about women who don’t have to do this, they are simply choosing to do it this way. Now that I’ve had to breastpump (not very successfully, I might add) at my job for the past 4 months, I cannot IMAGINE pumping a single time unless I absolutely had to. I HATE BREASTPUMPING. Maybe I wouldn’t hate it so much if I had a better place to do it at work or if I got more milk, but really, I hate it. Yet I really enjoy actually nursing C.
I’ve always said that one reason I like breastfeeding is because I am essentially just plain lazy. It’s easy, free and doesn’t require me to wash any dishes. Plus it’s cozy and warm and makes me fall in love with my baby all over again about ten times a week.
But I’ve really got no opinion one way or another on women who choose to pump exclusively. Whatever works for you, I guess. The important thing is that their babies are getting breastmilk and they are getting the health-promoting effects of breastfeeding.
I have a girlfriend who does this, her reasoning is because it takes her son so long to nurse. In the middle of the night she pumps while her husband gives the son a bottle. I too feel like it would be so much “more” work but i think there is something else going on. I think the intimacy involved in breastfeeding is very uncomfortable for some and I think this is the prime reason. At the same time they want to give them the best food, breastmilk.
I do think it’s important to let pregnant women considering breastfeeding know that pumping is not necessarily a required part of breastfeeding. I breastfed two other children for several years without pumping once (because I didn’t want to). I think the breastpump has come to be seen as simply a natural part of the breastfeeding experience and for many women, it’s not something they ever have to deal with.
Obviously it’s an imporant part of the picture for working, breastfeeding moms who are separated from their babies while they are at work (that would be me), but if you are a stay at homemother or a mother who has a flexible work schedule, you may not ever have to pump a single time unless it’s just something you would like to do.
I’ve exclusively pumped for a very sick baby and also nursed 3 without ever pumping for them. I don’t really have an opinion either, I just wonder if some of the immune system benefits and antibodies are lost without the interplay between mother and baby. Also, the milk constantly changes according to babies needs and age, I wonder how that works with a machine? I wonder if anybody has really studied this?
This is very popular trend in Manhattan, it got started by baby nurses telling women to do this so the baby nurse has something to do since they do nothing but feed and diaper and bath a baby for a new mother. Mother pumps, baby nurse feeds the baby! Insanity. It is not grounded in therauptitic reasoning. Naturally some women must do this because they do have a need, but those are not the ones we are concerned about.
I am working tirelessly to stop this trend. Everyone in the breastfeeding and birth community desperately explains to new mothers why this is a bad idea to choose to do this instead of nursing the baby. We teach that if you only pump you are never able to enjoy the freedom breastfeeding gives a new mother to leave the house with the baby and go out for the day. They can not become independent with the baby, it is the worst of all feeding methods to have to pump all the time when you have the baby with you. From what I have observed these women give up pumping within a month or so because once they’re ready to go out and about, or join a mommy and me class with the baby they can’t deal with the intolerable inconvenience of having to always go pump every two to three hours.
I think some women do it so they will not need to breastfeed in public, or around anyone else for that matter.
I think you’d have to just about be crazy to choose to pump fulltime without a physical reason! I know many women who have heroically pumped for a year or more to feed a baby who could not latch correctly, and I am amazed by their dedication. That would not be me, because not only do I HATE to pump, I can’t do it successfully (I tried EVERYTHING when Lorelei had serious feeding issues at four months), and I know in such a situation I’d give up pretty quickly.
It boggles my mind that anyone would take on that extra work and give up the ease and closeness of breastfeeding directly. Like you, Katie, I never pumped before Lorelei other than to take the pressure off during the first engorged week or so with each baby, and I’m troubled by the messages mothers receive about the necessity of breastpumps and bottles–just another way for people to make money since they can’t sell everyone formula!
I HATED pumping as well…much easier to breastfeed! I think if you have an underlying problem or work full time I can totally see how pumping would be beneficial but to pump so you don’t HAVE to breastfeed is beyond me. I loved to breastfeed and like you I loved the intimacy and the bonding. To me pumping then feeding the baby is double work if you don’t HAVE to do it!
I pumped during the first several weeks with Henry, but that was because we got off to a bad start (not latching properly, and neither of us knew what to do until we got help from a lactation consultant). The ONLY reason I pumped was to rebuild my severely diminished milk supply, and I stopped as soon as it was no longer necessary. To me at least, pumping is a huge pain in the ass — breastfeeding is unbelievably easy and convenient. I don’t envy working moms who have to pump while away from their babies during the day. I don’t think LAM is possible with lots of pumping, either.
The one real downside to it is that the milk changes as it’s nursed — you know, watery foremilk, rich hindmilk, and some people think that teaches the brain how to recognize “full” and stop eating.
I bet these women don’t want obese children either, and there seems to be some suggestion that learning what “full” is is a big key there.
It is very difficult to maintain a full milk supply by exclusively pumping.
I’d say it’s a combination of all the reasons mentioned above. I hate to pump and it can cause significant damage to your nipples which can destroy a nursing or pumping relationship. In my A&P class in college, I was told by an old Doctor that the saliva of the baby communicates with the Mother’s body telling her what nutrients the baby needs so that might be a downside to pumping exclusively.
“I was told by an old Doctor that the saliva of the baby communicates with the Mother’s body telling her what nutrients the baby needs so that might be a downside to pumping exclusively.” Denette
That was my point too, I know that illness is prevented in the same way and that is why pumping is listed as second to breastfeeding by the WHO.
I pumped for my premature baby while she was in hospital. When it was time to bring her home, I started trying to nurse. Even with the help of a specialest she just wouldn’t breast feed properly because she wanted a bottle. I’ve waited until her four month check up and then stoppped pumping because I don perduce a lot of milk when pumping. I have the milk the pump just doesn’t get it al out
I exclusively pumped breastmilk for my baby for 6 months because direct contact with him was so incredibly painful for me for weeks and weeks after his birth. I saw every lactation consultant within a 100 mile radius of my home and tried every drug on the planet to “fix” this horrible pain (which, evidently, lasted the entire 6 months of pumping).
In the end I had to give up the idea that I could breastfeed this child. It was one of the most horrible, heartwrenching, and depression-inducing things I have ever been through.
It has been devastating to be judged by other women who think that somehow I fell short of doing the very best for my baby. I would have given anything in the world to breastfeed my son. And I truly gave it everything I had. It’s not always possible. Take it from me.
I doubt that women who are considering pumping exclusively (by choice) are choosing to do so because they think it will be “easier” than breastfeeding. Of course breastfeeding is easier, but for whatever reason, they’d rather not. However, these women do recognize the importance of breast milk and most are committed to providing it despite the challenges. A happy mom equals a happy baby. Parents who use formula/bottle feeding (for whatever reason) admit to benefits like being able to allow their spouse or any other family member, like a sibling or grandmother, to share in the bonding that comes with feeding. There’s also the ability to go places without having to breastfeed in public. Even if Mom doesn’t have a problem with it, comments and stares from strangers can still make the experience unpleasant and possibly rushed, and there’s the added challenge of finding an acceptable place to nurse. Either way, I think we should provide support for women who choose not to breast feed. The difficulty of pumping exclusively combined with discouraging comments from mothers who feed “from the tap” may indeed cause a woman to give up - and may instead fill the bottle with formula and give up breast feeding completely. Opinions are just that and just as no woman should be made to feel guilty for not being able to give her baby breast milk, no woman should be made to feel guilty for choosing to give her baby breast milk in a different “container”.
I have exclusively pumped now for almost 2 months, and I absolutely do hate it! But my baby has been in the hospital since birth, and even after she comes home, she will be fed through a g-tube in her belly, so I really have no choice. Not to mention, babies with cleft palates — like mine — can’t breastfeed. No one ever mentions that — so unfortunately I have to miss out on that bonding experience indefinitely. It’s tough — so say a prayer for me! Because yes, washing a breast pump 8 times a day, well, sucks.