Exclusive pumping, although not widely discussed, is a valuable feeding option for babies. This approach involves the baby feeding from bottles containing pumped breast milk or a combination of breast milk and formula. Explore the benefits of exclusive pumping for your baby's nourishment and well-being.

I have been exclusively pumping with my third child, Poppy since she was born 4 months ago. I was also exclusively pumping with my first two children once I went back to work. This approach has worked really well for our family! 

In this post, I will answer 5 questions about exclusive pumping:

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Why are you exclusively pumping? What pump do you use? When do you pump? How do you prepare bottles? What are your top 3 tips for exclusively pumping?

There are so many beautiful ways to feed your baby, and if exclusively pumping is part of your family's feeding journey, I hope my story, tips, and tricks will help support you on your journey! 

Why do you exclusively pump?

Poppy decided for me and, looking back, it's precisely what our family needed! 

To be perfectly honest, I had been on the fence my entire pregnancy about whether I wanted to attempt breastfeeding for a third time.

It was incredibly stressful with my first two kids for various reasons. And knowing what a labor of love breastfeeding is, I was nervous about missing time and not being present with my two older kids. I had so many friends who loved breastfeeding and made it look so easy; I decided that I wanted to try again, hoping for that "effortless," beautiful experience.

Poppy had a posterior tongue tie and a lip tie. She also has a high palate. The combination of the three made it impossible for her to create suction at the top of her mouth to properly latch. We had her tongue and lip ties revised when she was 1 week old, allowing her to create suction. However, she really liked the immediate gratification of the bottle and had no interest in sucking hard enough or long enough to induce a letdown while breastfeeding. Continuing to try to force breastfeeding would have been a very tedious, stressful, and un-enjoyable process for both me and Poppy. She's our perfect, lazy baby. (Which I mean in the most loving and endearing way possible!)