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Contents
What Does It Mean to Wean from the Pump? ....................................................................... 5
When to Start the Weaning Process ..................................................................................... 7
How Long Will Weaning Take? ............................................................................................. 9
Different Methods of Weaning ............................................................................................ 12
Ways to Drop a Pumping Session ...................................................................................... 17
How to Choose a Method for Dropping a Pumping Session ............................................... 21
From 3 to 2: Dropping to Two Pumping Sessions ............................................................... 22
From 2 to 1: Dropping to One Pumping Session ................................................................. 24
How to Drop the Last Pumping Session ............................................................................. 25
What to Do if You’re Prone to Clogged Ducts ..................................................................... 29
Emotions and Weaning from the Pump .............................................................................. 33
Other Concerns About Weaning ......................................................................................... 35
How to Create a Weaning Plan Using Excel ....................................................................... 39
Citations.............................................................................................................................. 42

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 Disclaimer
I am not a doctor, and this book is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical
advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified
health provider with any questions you may have regarding your health or your baby’s
health.

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What Does It Mean to Wean from the Pump?
You are probably at least a little familiar with weaning, or you wouldn't have purchased this
book. Still, I want to go through what weaning from breastfeeding is, how that translates to
weaning from the pump, and why you should wean instead of stopping pumping cold turkey.

Weaning from Breastfeeding

Weaning from breastfeeding is the gradual replacement of breast milk with other foods,
whether that is formula, cow's milk, or solid foods. (You might have heard of “baby-led
weaning” – this just means babies feed themselves finger food, which begins the process of
replacing breast milk or formula with solid foods.)
So how does weaning work with regard to stopping the production of milk?
Breast milk production is a supply and demand process. In general, your body tries to match
your milk supply to what your baby – or in your case, your breast pump – is demanding from
it.
(It doesn't always work out perfectly – as underproducers who have tried everything to get
their supply up know.)
For nursing mothers, how the reduction in milk supply might work is that they gradually have
fewer and fewer nursing sessions as baby gets older, busier, and eats more solid food. As
the baby's demand goes down, the mother's milk supply drops along with it. When the baby
eventually stops nursing, milk production stops also.

How Weaning from the Pump is Similar, and How It’s

Different
When you wean from the pump, you are mimicking this process with your breast pump.
Instead of having fewer nursing sessions, you'll have fewer pumping sessions, and your
milk supply will go down. When you stop pumping, your milk production will also stop.
In order to reduce your milk supply, you need to reduce the demand that you're placing on it
via your breast pump.

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One thing about weaning from the pump that is much easier than weaning your child off of
your breast is that you don't have to consider whether or not your baby is ready to wean
(other than his or her willingness to take a different form of milk, which we’ll talk about next).
After all, it is unlikely that your breast pump is as attached to the breastfeeding relationship
as many babies are. This means that you are in complete control of the weaning process,
from when you decide to start, to how long it takes, to when you are done.
However, weaning from the pump is also less natural, and requires more planning.
Women who are weaning from nursing can wing it a bit more - for example, you could stop
offering to nurse, but also not refuse if your child wants to. When you're pumping, you have
to have a game plan so that you can make progress in weaning yourself from the pump
without going too fast or too slow.
And that's what this book will give you!

Why Stopping Pumping Cold Turkey is a Bad Idea

If you just stop pumping abruptly, there's a good chance that you'll deal with engorgement,
clogged ducts, and mastitis. Not only will this be really uncomfortable, but you might have to
start pumping MORE to clear the clog and resolve the mastitis, sending you back to square
one.
Also, weaning suddenly could have a dramatic effect on you hormonally. You may still
experience some emotional swings while weaning gradually; however, this is less likely to
be an issue than when weaning is abrupt.

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When to Start the Weaning Process
So when should you start weaning from the pump? Here are a few things to consider.

Make Sure Your Baby Will Take What's Next

Before you start, you should make sure that your baby will take whatever milk you are
planning to transition her to.
Over the years, I have heard from a few moms who were almost done with the weaning
process and had been supplementing the reduction in breast milk with their freezer stash.
Then, when they were almost out of breast milk and they tried to give their baby formula, the
baby refused it.
This is obviously very stressful to deal with! You don’t want to be almost out of breast milk
and have to scramble to figure out what formula or milk your baby will take.
To avoid this, try giving your baby whatever you'll be switching her to, whether that's
formula, cow's milk, or an alternative milk like goat or soy milk, and make sure she’ll take it
consistently before you start weaning.
(If you have trouble, try mixing breast milk and the new milk/formula together for a little while
and see if that helps! You can start with mostly breast milk and just a little bit of the new
milk, and then gradually increase it.)
If you haven't used your freezer stash and will be depending on it during the weaning
process, make sure that you confirm that your baby will take that, too! Some women have
excess lipase in their breast milk and don't realize it until they defrost their frozen milk and
their baby won't drink it. (Milk with excess lipase is safe for babies to drink; it's just that
many babies refuse it because they don't like the taste.)

Make Sure You're Really Ready

So once you know your baby is ready to take the next type of milk, make sure that YOU are
ready. In some cases, it can be hard to reverse course once you start the weaning
process.
If you are conflicted about whether or not to wean, consider whether dropping a few
pumping sessions might work instead of weaning altogether.
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For example, if you want to wean because you hate pumping, but at the same time don't
feel emotionally ready, consider starting the process but going very slowly so you can see
how you feel. Maybe you're miserable at five sessions per day but will be fine at three. You
can always re-evaluate as you go.

Have a Deadline? Make Sure You Give Yourself Enough

Lead Time
When my third baby was 15 months old, I was going on a trip without her. Pumping on the
trip wouldn’t have been particularly easy odue to logistics, and I decided it was time to be
done. She was already taking cow's milk at daycare, and while I was a little sad about
ending the breastfeeding relationship, it felt like it was time.
If you're going to be in a similar situation - if you want to be done pumping before a trip, or
before a medical procedure, or before you go back to work, make sure that you give
yourself enough lead time.
In the next section, I'll go over how to calculate the amount of time you'll need.

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How Long Will Weaning Take?
The two things to consider are the number of pumping sessions you currently have and how
long it will take you to drop each of them.

How Many Pumping Sessions You Currently Have

The first variable is how many times you’re currently pumping in a day. If it’s not always the
same (say you pump 6-7 times per day), use the higher number.

How Long to Allow for Dropping Each Session

This depends on a few things - your history with dropping pumping sessions and your
history with clogged ducts and/or mastitis.
Here’s how to figure about how much time you should estimate for dropping a pumping
session.

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Coming Up with an Estimate
Then, once you have the two numbers you can do some simple math:
Current Number of Pumping Sessions * Estimate for Dropping Each Session = Total Time
to Wean.
Here’s an example of how you would calculate how long it would take to wean on the fast
track.

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Here’s another example, using the slow track:

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Different Methods of Weaning
Okay, so you're ready to wean, now how do you go about it, exactly?
There are three different ways that you can gradually wean from the pump – drop one
session at a time, reduce all sessions at the same time, or space them further and further
apart.

Method One: Drop One Pumping Session at a Time

With this weaning method, you drop one pumping session at a time until you are down to
zero (which means that you've weaned)!
As you drop sessions, you may need to move the remaining sessions around a bit so that
they are more evenly spaced.

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Method Two: Reducing the Length of All Sessions At Once
Here, you slowly wean off of all your sessions at the same time (rather than one at a time),
by making them all shorter.

Method Three: Spacing the Sessions Out Longer and

Longer
With this method, you move the sessions further and further apart, naturally dropping
sessions as the intervals get longer.

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The Weaning Method I Don't Recommend
I do not recommend Method Two, the "drop all pumping sessions at the same time"
method.
Here's why - with this method, from the time you start weaning, you are leaving milk in your
breasts at every pumping session.
This makes it more likely that you'll end up with a clogged duct or even mastitis, which you
do not want while you're weaning (or, frankly, ever). If this happens, then you have to stop
the process to pump around the clock to clear the blocked duct and resolve mastitis, and
then start all over again.
With the first method, you continue to empty at all sessions except the one you're dropping.
With the third method, you continue to empty at every session, they're just further apart.
Therefore, I would suggest choosing Methods One or Three to wean from the pump.

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You can watch a supplemental video about the different ways of weaning from the pump at
the link below:

https://vimeo.com/288364600

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Prerequisites to Starting to Wean
We talked earlier about what to do before you start, but let's make 100% sure that you're
ready to go:
• Milk Transition – You’re confident that your baby will take the milk (formula/frozen
breast milk/cow's milk/alternative milk) you’re transitioning him or her to without any
issues.
• You're Sure - You have thought about this and are ready to wean, and understand
that should you change your mind, regaining milk supply may be difficult.
Next, you need to decide how you want to go about dropping your pumping sessions.

Ways to Drop a Pumping Session

There are five ways to drop a pumping session.

1. Cold Turkey
You can drop a session cold turkey. This means one day, you just stop pumping at the
scheduled time, and you switch to your new schedule.
(Again, in most cases, you’ll move your remaining sessions a bit so they are more evenly
spaced.)

2. You can gradually bring pumping sessions closer together, and then drop one.

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This timing (dropping the pumping session over four days) is just an example; you can do it
faster or more slowly if you’d like. The goal is just to bring the sessions closer together until
you’re comfortable dropping one.
3. You gradually reduce the time of a pumping session until you feel comfortable
dropping it altogether.

Again, you can go as fast or as slow with this as you want! It's all about your comfort level. If
you want to reduce a 20 minute pumping session by 10 minutes per day and be done in two
days, that's fine. If you want to do it by one minute a day and be done in 20 days, that's fine
too.
4. You gradually reduce the volume of a pumping session until you feel comfortable
dropping it altogether.
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As with the time reduction method, how much volume you drop and how quickly is set
based on your comfort level.
5. You space all of your sessions further apart.
Some exclusive pumpers don't have a set schedule and pump every 3 hours or every 4
hours, often coinciding with when their baby eats (either before or after).
If you currently don't have a schedule and are pumping about every X number of hours, you
have two options.
First, you can translate that to a schedule (every 3 hours might become 12am, 3am, 6am,
9am, 12pm, 3pm, 6pm, and 9pm) and use one of the methods we’ve already discussed –
drop sessions cold turkey, decrease length, etc.
The other option is to keep making X a bigger number and stretching your sessions further
and further apart, so that every 3 hours stretches to every 4 hours, and so on.

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You can watch a supplemental video about the different ways of dropping a pumping
session at the link below:

https://vimeo.com/288367726

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How to Choose a Method for Dropping a
Pumping Session
So how should you go about dropping a pumping session, given all of these choices?
If you’re on the normal or slow track, you should not choose option #1, where you’d be
dropping sessions cold turkey. You should use a more gradual approach.
Other than that, it really doesn't matter. You can choose whichever method makes the most
sense to you and fits with everything else you have going on in your life.

How Long Should You Wait In Between Dropping

Sessions?
You should give your body at least three or four days to adjust after dropping a pumping
session before starting to drop the next one.
Obviously, giving yourself more time is fine, too.

How Dropping Pumping Sessions is Different When You're

Weaning
Normally, when you're exclusively pumping and drop a pumping session, you add the time
from the dropped pumping session back to your remaining pumping sessions. For example,
if you’re pumping four times a day for 30 minutes, when you drop to three sessions per day,
you’d pump for 40 minutes each time.
Therefore, the total amount of time that you spend pumping in a day stays the same. You're
really consolidating your pumping time, not pumping for less time. The goal behind keeping
your total pumping time in a day the same is to reduce the risk of losing milk supply.
However, when you're weaning, the entire goal is to reduce your milk supply. Therefore,
when you drop sessions while weaning, you do not add the time back, and you get to
enjoy more time with your baby or working or doing whatever you want.

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From 3 to 2: Dropping to Two Pumping
Sessions
Okay, so you've been dropping pumping sessions and you're down to three sessions
remaining. There are a few extra things to think about when you drop each of the remaining
pumping sessions.

Your New Schedule with Two Pumping Sessions

If you're currently at three pumping sessions per day, you probably have morning, midday,
and evening pumping sessions. Your schedule might look like this:
6AM, 2PM, 10PM
Your goal is to have two pumping sessions about 12 hours apart, which means dropping the
midday session. That means that your new schedule will be something like this:
7AM, 7PM
If the time that would be exactly 12 hours is a difficult time for you to get a pumping session
in, it’s fine to adjust a bit. In the above example, 7PM is right around bedtime for many
babies and toddlers, so 7AM and 8PM would work, too. Or 6AM and 7:30PM, or 8AM and
9PM, if that's what works for your schedule.
Just try to get your last two sessions as close to 12 hours apart as you can.

Method for Dropping to Two

When you get down to three pumping sessions, it's probably less advisable to drop pumping
sessions cold turkey even if that's what you've been doing in the past, because you're going
to be going a much longer time without pumping than with your other dropped sessions.
(For example, you might be going from 8 hours between sessions to 12 hours between
sessions.)
I also don’t really recommend spacing the all of your sessions further apart once you get to
this point, as I think it gets confusing and hard to manage with the times shifting all over the
place and sometimes falling in the middle of the night. For example, one day you're at every

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8 hours at 6AM, 2PM, 10PM; the next day you'd be at every 9 hours at 6AM, 3PM, 11PM;
then every 10 the following day would be 9AM, 7PM, and 5AM - you get the picture.
As a result, I would recommend either slowly reducing the time or volume, or bringing the
two pumping sessions closer together.

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From 2 to 1: Dropping to One Pumping Session
Dropping down to one pumping session can feel really weird. I chose to drop my morning
pumping session first while keeping the evening one, and the first day I didn't pump in the
morning just did not feel right.
After all, I had been pumping first thing in the morning, every morning, for over a year! I felt
guilty about sleeping in.
I got over this pretty quickly – the extra sleep helped – but it’s something to be prepared for.

So, Which Pumping Session Should You Drop?

This is totally up to you! Would you rather sleep in? Drop the morning session. Don't want to
deal with pumping after a long day of work? Drop the evening session. You should drop
whichever session is the most annoying to you, and keep the less bothersome one.
Also, the new time can be whatever you want it to be, though it will probably be simpler not
to move it too much.

Only one pumping session left!

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How to Drop the Last Pumping Session
So you're down to one pumping session per day. How should you go about dropping it?
The two options are decreasing time or decreasing volume. Either will work; but generally I
prefer decreasing volume for this last one, even if you haven't used this method before.
The reason for this is that for the first time, you're not going to be pumping until you’re
empty at any of your pumping sessions. This way, you’re carefully controlling the amount of
milk that you’re leaving in your breasts each day.
(Remember: When dropping all of the other pumping sessions, you had at least one session
– whatever session(s) you weren’t dropping - where you pumped for the full amount of time.
When you’re dropping the last session, you won't have that.)
So what you want to do is gradually stop pumping once you've pumped a certain number of
ounces/milliliters from both breasts combined. It doesn’t matter how long this takes (whether
it’s 5 minutes or 25 minutes).

Again, you can do this as fast or as slow as you'd like - you can do 1 oz at a time or 4 oz at
a time. You can drop the volume every day or every week. You set the pace that you're
comfortable with.

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The Final Pumping Session
When you've gotten to the point where you're ready to stop pumping, you'll do one final
session about 36-48 hours later.
And then you’re done!

How long should this final session be? It is completely up to you. You can pump until you
feel empty (after 36-48 hours of not pumping, your milk production won't ramp up again) or
you can pump for just a few minutes.
Then, you're done! It's time to celebrate.

But What Should I Do If I Feel "Full" After the Last Pumping

Session?
Again, this is up to you.
If you feel uncomfortable a few days or week later and would like to pump again, that's fine
(as I said above, your milk production shouldn't go back into overdrive).
If you already packed up your pump and never want to see it again, that's okay too. Before
breast pumps were invented, babies stopped nursing suddenly for different reasons, so our
bodies have evolved to handle this.

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Whether you decide to pump again or not, using cabbage leaves might help with the feeling
of fullness. (More on how to do this in the next section.)
The only time I think you should definitely pump again after weaning is if you get a clogged
duct. This is unlikely, but possible.1
You don't want that a clogged duct to turn into mastitis, so I would recommend pumping
only the affected side until you can get it cleared, waiting a few days, and then start
gradually weaning again.

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What to Do if You’re Prone to Clogged Ducts
The number one thing that you want to avoid during the weaning process is a clogged milk
duct or mastitis, not only because those things are a literal pain in the boob, but because
they will set you back in the weaning process. In most cases, you’ll have to ramp up
pumping again to clear the clog and/or resolve the mastitis.
Here's what to do before you start weaning and while you're weaning to minimize your
chances of getting either a clogged milk duct or mastitis.

Before You Start Weaning

If you are prone to clogged ducts, you should plan for a long weaning period, and consider
taking a supplement and/or an over-the-counter medication to make weaning easier.
1. Plan to wean very slowly
As discussed throughout this book, you can drop sessions fairly quickly or at a much slower
pace. If you are prone to clogged ducts, you’ll be on the slow track, and you should plan on
weaning very gradually.
If you have a deadline for when you need to be done pumping breast milk, make sure to
give yourself enough time.
2. If you're not already taking lecithin, consider starting it
Lecithin is a food supplement that seems to help some women with recurrent clogged milk
ducts. The thought is that it makes breast milk less "sticky" by increasing the percentage of
polyunsaturated fatty acids in the milk.2 This in turn makes it less likely to get stuck and for a
milk duct to get blocked.
If you're prone to clogged ducts and not already taking lecithin, I would recommend
considering it for the weaning process.
The suggested dosage is 1200mg taken four times per day, and is safe to take while
breastfeeding.3 There hasn't been any research done on whether sunflower lecithin or soy
lecithin is more effective, so you can use either. (It’s easy to get on Amazon.)
3. Take an over-the-counter medication with pseudoephedrine (a decongestant)

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Pseudoephedrine is the active ingredient in Sudafed and other allergy medications, and in
many women, it decreases breast milk supply. In a study, the average daily milk production
volume of women taking 60mg of pseudoephedrine four times a day decreased 24%. 4
If you want to give yourself a head start in weaning, take Sudafed once you're ready to start
weaning, and hopefully that will help decrease your milk supply before you start.

While You're Weaning

Here's what you can do while you're weaning to minimize your changes of a clogged duct.
1. Use Cabbage Leaves
For reasons that aren't exactly clear (one theory is that amino acids help open capillaries
and improve the blood flow in the breast), cabbage leaves can help reduce engorgement
and prevent clogged ducts.5
While you're weaning, use cabbage leaves as often as you want for comfort and to help
reduce your milk supply. They are especially useful when you're pushing back pumping
sessions.
For example, say you normally pump at 6pm, and today are pushing back this pumping
session back to 7pm. At 5:30pm, you could put a cabbage leaf in your bra and replace as
needed.
To use cabbage, you can just buy a head of cabbage from the grocery store, pull a leaf off
and put it in your bra (one leaf on each side). Replace them after they wilt, as needed.
2. Use Your Period to Your Advantage (if applicable)
If you've gotten your period back after having your baby, you may have noticed that your
supply dips around this time. When you can, take advantage of the timing of your period
when you're dropping a pumping session.
For example, if you’re about to drop down to one session in the morning and you’re nervous
about not pumping before going to bed, you could wait until you get your period and your
supply goes down, and then stop pumping at night.
3. Adjust Your Pace as Necessary

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Even if you haven't gotten a clogged duct, if you're feeling really engorged or "hard spots"
(like you might have felt earlier on, when your baby was a newborn), it might not be a bad
idea to slow down even more.
You know your body and whether or not something feels right. It's important to continue
making progress and moving forward, but it's also okay for that to be slow.
On other hand, if weaning seems to be going really well and you're not feeling any adverse
affects, you can try speeding things up a bit, too!

What If You Get a Clogged Duct Anyway?

If despite taking all of these precautions, you still end up getting a clogged duct, here’s what
to do:
• Pump frequently on the affected side only until you’ve cleared the clog. Pause
weaning on the other side, meaning you’d just stay where you are for now.
• Use heat (like a warm washcloth) before you pump.
• Use breast compressions while you pump to try to work the clog out.
• Consider taking Motrin for the pain and to help reduce inflammation.
• Try using vibration close to the clogged duct (an electric toothbrush or the Lavie
Lactation Massager can work well).
• Try hand expression in the shower to see if that helps work the clog out.
Once you’ve gotten the clog out, if you were able to clear it within 24-48 hours, give your
body a few days to adjust and recover, and then you can start weaning again from where
you were at before you got the clogged duct.
If clearing the plugged duct took longer and you had to significantly ramp up pumping, you
may want to start the weaning process over from where you are.
You can watch a supplemental video about weaning when you’re prone to clogged ducts at
the link below:

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https://vimeo.com/288389019

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Emotions and Weaning from the Pump
It's really common to go through a big mix of emotions when you're weaning. Maybe you're
weaning earlier than you would have liked due to recurrent mastitis or the need to take a
medication that isn't compatible with breastfeeding. Maybe you feel elated at all the time
you're going to get back. Or maybe it's a mix of both!
Whatever you're feeling, it's totally normal! And remember that your hormones may fluctuate
during the weaning process, which can affect your emotions as well.
Here is some of what I felt when I was weaning from the pump.

Sadness/Loss
When I weaned my oldest, it made me a little sad to think that this was the end of the
connection between our two bodies between pregnancy and breastfeeding. (Even though
we weren't nursing, my body was still sustaining him through breast milk.)
Despite knowing this was inevitable and was going to happen sometime – I obviously wasn't
going to be sending him breast milk in college – it still made me a little sad.

Guilt
I might be weird, but I had such a hard time dropping pumping sessions because I felt guilty.
Over the year that I’d exclusively pumping, I’d been really protective of my supply, and not
skipping pumping sessions had become really ingrained in me. Not pumping – and watching
the number of ounces I was pumping drop – just felt wrong.
This makes no logical sense. I was weaning. I WANTED my supply to go down. However, I
had more than a year's worth of mental conditioning pushing me to not miss pumping
sessions and I always felt a twinge of guilt when dropping one, as absurd as that was.

Relief
Luckily, the thing that eventually outweighed these feelings of loss and guilt were the sweet
relief of being able to sleep in for an extra 30 minutes every day, no more washing pump
parts, and no more being tied to my breast pump like a ball and chain.

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You’ll be there soon, too!

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Other Concerns About Weaning
What physical changes can you expect when you wean?
When you're weaning, some of physical changes you may see are:
• Your breasts may change in size, possibly going back to what they were before you
got pregnant. Your nipples should go back to how they were before – goodbye
purple nipples and dried milk!
• Your libido may change, increasing in most cases.
• If you haven't already gotten your period back, that may happen in the month or two
after you wean.
• You may experience acne, which is really unfair.
Everyone is different, so there are no guarantees as to what will happen with your body;
these are just some things to expect and be prepared for.

Are there any unexpected things that can happen when

weaning to look out for?
While we've talked about all of these things in the book (so hopefully they aren't unexpected
anymore!), the things that women usually don’t expect include:
• Emotions you weren't anticipating, like guilt about weaning when you had been
excited to wean.
• Clogged ducts during or even after the weaning process is over.
• Changes to your body (like getting acne) caused by your hormones shifting during
and after the weaning process.

Do I need to worry about engorgement? What should I do if

I get engorged?
Engorgement is a possibility, especially near the end of the weaning process when you're
going longer and longer between pumping sessions.
If you find you're engorged, the two best options are:
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 • Cabbage leaves – if you have a few hours to go until your next pumping session, for
example, you can try putting a cabbage leaf on each breast and seeing if that helps.
• Pump just a little – you can pump just enough to take the pressure off until your next
pumping session.

Should overproducers use a different schedule to wean

than underproducers or “just enoughers”?
I think that instead of looking at it as underproducers vs just enoughers vs overproducers, it
makes more sense to look at your history with clogged milk ducts and mastitis. There are a
lot of underproducers that are very prone to clogs and get them constantly, and
overproducers that can drop pumping sessions cold turkey without any issues.
(Also, the underproducer/overproducer definition is dependent on what your baby eats, so in
a lot of ways it's not relevant. One mom who makes 20 oz per day can be a just enougher
and one who makes 32 oz per day can be an underproducer.)
That's why in Part One I put you on a "track" (fast, normal or slow) based on how many
times you've had issues with clogged milk ducts and/or mastitis, and didn't take the amount
of milk you're making into account.

I have freezer stash that I’m planning on giving to my baby

when I wean. How will I know when I have enough for a
year?
I would use either an Excel spreadsheet or an app to plan out how much you need. Factors
to consider are:
• How much breast milk your baby will need per day. (Note: I would add a few
additional ounces for waste each day in case your baby doesn’t finish a bottle, as
frozen breast milk can’t be reused like fresh milk can.)
• How many days you will need to feed your baby with your frozen stash.
With this information, you can calculate about how much breast milk you’ll need. I would
start weaning once you’re at your goal or pretty close to it, since you never know what will
happen with supply. For example, if you get your period back early in the weaning process,
your supply might drop faster than you’d anticipated.
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Two other things to think about:
• Have you tried giving your baby frozen breast milk? Make sure you do a trial run so
that you can confirm you don’t have any issues with excess lipase and that your
baby will take your frozen milk.
• Have you considered what you’ll do if your power goes out? Investing in a generator
might be a good idea if you live in an area where hurricanes or power outages are
common.

Is it safe for me to give the milk I pump to my baby when

I’m weaning? I’m worried the milk will be mostly foremilk.
For anyone who isn’t familiar with foremilk and hindmilk – foremilk is the milk that comes out
of your breasts first, and it tends to be watery. Hindmilk comes later and is more fatty.
Sometimes, babies can get too much foremilk, leading to something called foremilk/hindmilk
imbalance. The main symptoms to look out for in your baby are green poop and fussiness.
To answer the question, this milk is safe to give to your baby, especially because you’ll be
dropping one pumping session at a time, and your baby will be getting hindmilk from all of
your other sessions.
However, if you’re still worried about it, then you can always use any breast milk that’s
mostly foremilk to mix with solids (instead of using water).
(If your baby won’t be ready for solids for a few months, you can freeze it for then. If you
have other frozen breast milk in your freezer, make sure to label it.)

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How to Create a Weaning Plan Using Excel
One thing that you can do to get a handle on how long it will take you to wean, what order
you’ll be dropping sessions in, etc., is to plan everything out using Excel. (I’ve provided a
template called Weaning_Log.xlsx along with this book for you to use.)
If you don't want to do this, you don't need to! But if you're a type-A planner like me, you
might find it helpful.

When to Use This Spreadsheet

Because the weaning plan is structured with each pumping session as one column, the
spreadsheet works best if you’re dropping pumping sessions either cold turkey, by time, or
by volume versus the other methods (spreading them out further apart/bringing two
pumping sessions closer together and dropping one).

How to Fill in the Plan

When you're ready to fill in the spreadsheet, here's how to get started.
1. Create a column for each pumping session.
2. Determine which session you're going to drop first.
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 3. Decide which method you're going to use to drop the first session (cold turkey, time,
or volume).
4. Write down how much (i.e., 15 minutes or 5 oz) that you’re going to pump at this
session each day as your drop it.
5. Fill in the other pumping sessions with your normal pumping times for those days,
plus the 3-4 days after you'll be finished dropping it.
6. Go back to step two, and repeat with the next pumping session, until you’ve dropped
all of them.
7. Add one final session 36-48 hours after you’ve dropped your last session.
Want to see examples? I’ve provided four sample weaning plans along with this book in the
folder labeled Sample Weaning Plans.

How to Use the Log

To use the pumping log, you'd just fill in the time that you pumped, how long your pumping
session was, and the total volume that you pumped.
This is useful for two reasons - first, it helps with staying accountable to your plan, and
second, it's good to keep track of what you actually did so that if there are any issues (like a
clogged duct), you can go back and look at your pace and how much milk you were
pumping, and think about possible adjustments.
To make it easier to manage (since I doubt most of you are close to a laptop every time you
pump), you can either record all of this information in a pumping app – such as Milk Maid,
Pump Log, or Milk Stash – and then update the log whenever you have time, or you can use
the Google Sheets app on your phone.

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You can watch a supplemental video about creating a weaning plan at the link below:

https://vimeo.com/289477159

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Citations
1. Naik, Arpana, MD. “Ask the Expert: Clogged Milk Duct.” Healthy Women
https://www.healthywomen.org/content/ask-expert/1286/clogged-milk-duct
2. Newman, Jack, MD. “Blocked Ducts and Mastitis.” Breastfeeding, Inc
https://www.breastfeedinginc.ca/informations/blocked-ducts-mastitis/
3. Ibid
4. Aljazaf, Khalidah, et al. “Pseudoephedrine: effects on milk production in women and
estimation of infant exposure via breastmilk.” British Journal of Clinical
Pharmacology https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1884328/
5. Bonyata, Kelly, IBCLC. “Engorgement.” Kellymom
https://kellymom.com/bf/concerns/mother/engorgement/ - cabbage

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