Hello mummy, I had the same struggles as you.. it is very difficult to pump and take care of LO at the same time especially if you don't have extra help. And it caused me to have panic attacks and was very unhappy and did not enjoy taking care of my LO.. It is very tiring because I cannot sleep when LO sleeps because I will be pumping (and it takes 1 hour for me as I pump one breast at a time, I will put haakaa on the other breast). And really very tired to wake up in the middle of the night to pump (sometimes tired until I can't hear my alarm and overslept and cause my breasts to be very full and uncomfortable, luckily no mastitis). Until after 12 weeks, then I started to slowly drop pump sessions to 3 times per day and supply was still good. But I began to feel overwhelmed again, wanted to stop pumping but I feel so guilty so now I'm at 2 pump sessions per day instead but my supply dropped, so have to supplement with FM. But I have decided to stop pumping when my LO reaches 6 months.
If pumping is making you feel depressed and miserable then I would recommend you to wean off pumping and give FM. You can also try reducing pump sessions and topping up with FM if not enough. I grew up healthily with just FM, my mum only breastfed me for 1 month haha. Just remember "Fed is best" and "Happy mummy, happy baby". Please take good care of yourself so you can take good care of your baby. Jiayou! :)
Read more
