Many moms that are still exclusively pumping when their baby turns one decide to transition their babies to cow’s milk and start the weaning process. However, some exclusive pumpers choose to keep on pumping! Here’s why that might make sense, and some common challenges and tips for exclusively pumping past one year.
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Why Exclusively Pump Past a Year?
There are lots of reasons that an exclusive pumper might continue pumping after her baby turns one. Some of these include:
Difficulty transitioning baby to another milk
Transitioning your baby off breast milk can sometimes be challenging.
For example, some babies have allergies, and it may take some time to find a substitute milk like goat, soy or almond. Babies may also need their new milk mixed with breast milk while they adjust.
Reach a donation goal
Some exclusive pumpers with oversupply donate their extra milk to a milk bank, and they may have a goal of a certain number of ounces that they want to give.
Others might be milk sharing with another family, and want to continue to do this until the other baby reaches a certain age or milestone.
To protect against illness
Some moms decide to continue pumping if their baby’s first birthday coincides with when flu season is starting or when baby is starting daycare, in order to continue getting the benefits of antibodies in breastmilk.
Baby has special needs
Some babies have certain medical needs (such as silent aspiration syndrome, and issues with digestion) where they could benefit from continuing to receive breastmilk.
Common Challenges with Exclusively Pumping Long Term
Below are three common challenges that moms have with pumping past one year.
Milk Supply
The biggest challenge that exclusively pumping moms face after the year mark is milk supply.
The culprit here is often hormones. Even if you stick to your pumping schedule perfectly and do all the things that you’re supposed to, sometimes changes in hormone levels can cause drops in milk supply.
This is especially common when you get your period back, or if you were to become pregnant again.
(Both happen of these have happened to me. When I got pregnant again at 14 months postpartum, my supply went to almost nothing overnight. And before that, when I had gotten my period back, I would see a consistent drop in supply each month, and it seemed like there wasn’t anything that would work to bring it back up.)
Support from Family and Friends
Another thing that some moms struggle with is getting support from family and friends.
Exclusively pumping can already feel like being on an island – after all, you might not know anyone else that pumps – but doing it past a year can be even more isolating if the people close to you don’t understand why you’re continuing to pump.
Getting out of the House
Another challenge can be getting out of the house and dealing with pumping in public or traveling with breastmilk.
Obviously, lots of moms deal with both of these in the first 12 months. However, when your baby becomes a toddler, you may want to get out of the house more so your little one can work off some energy. You might also want to go on trips that you put off when your toddler was a baby and not sleeping through the night.
Getting pumping sessions in and managing breast milk when you’re more active can make all of that more complicated.
Tips for Exclusively Pumping Past One Year
If you decide to keep pumping past a year, here are some tips for working through these challenges.
- Be consistent with your pumping schedule and routines to minimize the risk of losing supply. You can’t control your hormones, but being on a consistent pumping schedule is something that you CAN control.
- If you do get your period back, there are a few things you can do to mitigate the supply loss, like take a calcium-magnesium supplement. Here are some additional strategies.
- Make sure your schedule is manageable and realistic for this point in your life. If you’re still waking up in the middle of the night to pump, consider dropping that session, even if it means a loss in supply, or moving it to the daytime. Figure out what works for you at this point in your life – which might not be the same as it was a few months ago – and set your schedule up to fit it.
- If you have pumping sessions that aren’t during your child’s naptime, get as comfortable as you can with pumping in public when you need to so that you’re able to get out of the house with your toddler.
- Seek out support online. If your friends and family aren’t particularly understanding, join exclusive pumping Facebook groups (here’s the one I started, but there are more out there!) and subscribe to the newsletter. You’re not alone!
Have you exclusively pumping past one year? Tell us about your experience, and share your tips with us below in the comments!
References- Email interview with Aiswarya M., conducted 8/25/18.
- Exclusively Pumping Mamas Facebook Post, 9/9/18. https://www.facebook.com/exclusivepumping/posts/867187293488366
Wow its been a crazy 6 months since I posted last!
The world is gripped by a pandemic, the USA has the most illness and death and here in north TX where I am, the reported incidents are increasing faster than anywhere else on earth. Everyones lives have been negatively affected. We live in a home with my husbands two parents In70s and 80s who both are at severe risk, which puts us at higher risk, my husband works in an airport Directing and preforming maintenance and I am doing my best at home with my daughter to stay safe and try to keep it together but most days its truly hard to put on a brave face. It has been the hardest most frightening experience of my life. I think maybe the stress has had an impact on my breastmilk or maybe its just my body. At 18 months I am pumping 4 times a day. 1 hour or more in the morning 30 min at first nap 30-45 min within 4-5 hours and once before I sleep 30-45 min. I’m lucky now if I pump 16oz in a day. I’m supplementing with stored breastmilk. The surplice that I was hoping to start to deplete after 24mos is probably not going to make it to 22 months. I am in a bit of mourning that all of my efforts have not really been enough to achieve my goal of getting DD to 2 years of breastmilk. She now gets 5 oz of soy milk aside from the breastmilk I give her to be sure she is getting all the nutrition she might need. Currently receives 4ozBM in am 5ozBM at nap 5ozSoy when up from nap and 7oz BM before bed.
I feel so truly blessed that I have been able to do this much for my child. I don’t plan to stop pumping or drop pumping sessions at this point. I’ll continue to do what I can. For as long as I am able. When we were looking at potential food shortages I just thanked God for every drop. We have been incredibly fortunate to have not been personally touched by illness in our home. I also have severe anxiety and have more than once contemplated the pros and cons of weaning to begin taking medication. It has been difficult for sure.
We thank God that DD is still doing amazing! After being a month preemie At 18 months she can say about 35-40 words, can sign around 100 well, is in the 95th percentile weight height and is starting to use the potty enthusiastically and hasnt had More than a slight fever and the sniffles. Truly we have been so fortunate. They told us to be prepared for speech and growth delays, that hopefully by two she might catch up and showed us terrifying pictures of a month premature brain compared to full term.
We are so thankful!
Can we say breastmilk has been the reason for babies success? We can be thankful we have been able to give her one more thing we know has been beneficial in her life.
This Website has been an inspirational tool for me and its one more thing I am so thankful for.
I hope all you Mamas and babies here now are well. Stay strong! And have hope and joy for the miracles in our lives that brought us to this page.
God bless!
My son is 14 months. I keep reading everywhere that I should stop giving my son a bottle after 1 year due to oral health. He is still learning to drink water from a cup….What do other moms do?
Hi Natalie! I used a sippy cup that was pretty similar to a bottle (silicone spout, just a different shape).
I’m still EP-ing currently at 14 months. Initially my goal was set at 6 months, then 1 year, now at 18 months. It helped my sanity in the beginning to set small goals on timeline on as the pressure to BF was too much.
Considering COVID and flu season coming up, I’m debating to continue past 2 years if possible. Even though breast milk will not protect against COVID-19 but knowing my little bean is getting antibodies for extra protection is reassuring.
I drop down to 3 pumps a day at 13 months. Milk supply definitely reduced after period returned but I mix half breast milk and whole milk starting at 12 months.
Hey there! I’m sort of in the same boat… my little guy will be 1 in about a week. I’d like to keep offering him breastmilk, and I feel like I’m struggling to keep up my supply. I dropped from 17ish ounces a day to about 15 and I’m afraid it will keep going. I’m pumping 4 times a day for about 30-45 minutes. Any advice?
Hi Sara! Just wondering – have you gotten your period back at all? Thanks!
Going strong at 12 months!!! I pump around every 4 hours, I deal with peoples ignorance by trying to educate them and nasty people by ignoring them! I know I’m doing the best that I can for my baby. The AAP recommends breastmilk to 12 months but the WHO recommends a min of 2 years, and the science and data supports continuing breast milk as long as possible. I know I couldn’t have done it without lots of support, and even still this is only possible because I have not had to return to work yet. It is a tragedy that breastmilk for babies should indicate privilege. My daughter was born a month premature and we were told that she might take as long as two years or longer to catch up to her peers physically and developmentally, she is now in the 98th growth percentile all around and has some accelerated milestone achievement. I can’t say this is only due to our pained labor of love to continue the arduous task of pumping around the clock while taking peoples flack whilst our child thrives, but I feel confident that all of our efforts have had a positive impact. We also have the only baby we know who has never been sick in her first year while we have had several colds. I’ll continue to pump as long as I am able! It hurts! Its exhausting! Its tedious! Its frustrating, its massively consumptive of time and energy! With endless washing and sterilizing and I have LIPASE MILK :0 so there is also scalding any milk I can store and careful timelines, constant planing how long I can be out and managing a nightmarish schedule! Make no mistake EXCLUSIVE PUMPING IS SO HARD! but it is entirely worth it when my daughter decides to only drink half a precious bottle bottle of pumped milk and then nods off, because I’m not worried at all at this point about whether she has gotten what she needs and whether it was the best I could do.
Get pumping pals Angled flanges
Get magnesium/calcium supplements
Get a good prenatal with DHA
Get as many pumping sets as you need in a day and an extra
Get pump hose extensions
Get a huge sanitizer
Set alarms
Ask for help
I have a system of using a big 3 drawer rubbermaid drawer system
I put the Clean bottles and feeding items in the top drawer
Clean pumping sets in the middle
All dirties in a clear plastic bin inside the bottom drawer with a second bin for when the first bin is taken out to wash at the end of the day.
And I put the whole thing next to a comfy chair in my nursery and put my pump and bottle warmer on top out of kiddos reach
Good luck ladies 🙂
Good effort!
I’ve been EPing for 16 months now.
At 13 months I dropped down to 3 pumps a day and at 16 I finally dropped down to 2 pumps a day. I’m considering stopping at 18 months but as of right now, my breasts feel full as soon as I get past the 12hr mark. Any recommendations for when I drop to 1 pump or stop pumping?
My son is just about to turn 11 months and I have been exclusively pumping since birth. I plan to be done pumping when he turns one but still have a couple of months worth of frozen milk that I plan on giving him before transitioning to cows milk. My question is do I transition him to a Sippy cup at a year old with breast milk in it? For some reason the transition from bottle to Sippy cup with continuing breast milk has me stressing a little.
I separated the two transitions – did cows milk in a bottle and then worried about the sippy cup. I think doing breast milk in a sippy cup before switching to cows milk would work great too!
Thank you this post is so inspiring my little one has just turned a year! It has been very difficult exclusively pumping so it’s so refreshing hearing your story!
Great tips let’s hope I can make it last a little longer as supply is dropping a lot!
Well done mums!!
I pumped up until 15 months mainly because the emotional prospect of weaning was so difficult for me to deal with. I’d say the hardest part is dealing with all of the dirty looks from friends/relatives/co-workers who don’t understand why you’re still doing this thing you complain about.
My tip: When you’re truly ready to put away the pump, you’ll know; in the meantime, try not to let other people bother or bully you.