Retiring the Breast Pump

As of tonight, I am officially done with expressing. The pump has been put away, the bottles are currently drying after their last official sterilising - and I have at least a free half hour this evening all to myself.

It's a funny feeling. On one hand, I'm thrilled to be done - no more feeling like a dairy cow, no more sitting around with my boobs out {except for nursing}, no more being disappointed with spending lal that time and energy only to get a measly 20, 30, 40ml of milk. But at the same time, it feels really strange. 

While I've worked my arse off to be able to breastfeed Georgia, and I'm happy about that, I have the pump to thank for that. For the first few months of her life, I pumped after every feed - to boost supply, but also to give to her in the form of top up bottles. I gradually scaled it back to two a day; once in the morning, once at night. As she got stronger and more efficient at the breast, I dropped the morning pump, but continued to express at nights - at first to store in the freezer for emergencies, and afterwards to use for her solid food breakfasts. It's become such a habit, and without the pump, my breastfeeding experience would have ended a long time ago.

But for now, we're done. I still have some frozen expressed milk in the freezer that I'll gradually use over the coming weeks - mainly for cereals in the morning, and the odd bottle if we're out. I suppose I'd better get used to all the emotions that come with moving on from things; she's moving further away from the baby stage & dipping her toes into the little person category. I wish time would slow down just a little bit.