Mommy milk

Ryden's first birthday is fast approaching (April 15), I can't believe he'll be 1 in just over a month.  However, this puts the pressure on me to decide how I'm going to handle breastfeeding beyond 1.


With Harper, I was home so I was always breastfeeding.  No pumping for that girl, not like she would have taken the bottle anyway.  Even so, I chose to stop nursing during the day because people were questioning my choices, making comments about how other people had breastfed their kids way to long and because I was just tired.  I had started resenting the fact that I couldn't go any where without her for more than a few hours because she would NOT take a bottle.  So, I cut her off from daytime feedings and only nursed at bedtime, in the morning and when she woke up during the night. (People stop making comments when they don't know that you're still breastfeeding an 18 month old)


If I was home now, there wouldn't be a debate.  I would continue breastfeeding until some day when he didn't want to.  But I'm not.  I leave them at daycare for 10 hours a day and pump while I'm at work 3 times.  Pumping is such a drag.


My options are just stop at 1 like I did with Harper.  I would be done pumping, I would send my frozen supply to finish that out and then just let him have cow's milk during the day.  OR I will keep pumping until the school year is over (only about a month) so that I can continue to breastfeed all summer.  I'm leaning towards the second option, maybe cutting out a pumping and if I don't pump enough he can have cow's milk at daycare.  



The big dilemma is the added complication that I'm teaching summer school.  I am NOT going to pump through summer school.  I don't know for sure what the hours are though so it could still work out that he wouldn't need to nurse while I'm gone if it's only a half day or something.  I still have month to decide and then I'll just keep pumping until I decide otherwise.