The metaphorical breastpump bonfire occurred over three weeks ago. It was glorious.
A physical bonfire did not occur. I think it's against condo rules. Plus, despite the recent damage I did at the local mall (Nordstrom, I'm looking at you), I am too frugal to destroy a working appliance, even one I loathe.
But I am finished, and I am loving life without pumping. My happiness is up; my stress is down. I no longer feel constrained by the choices that I have made, and I am much more able to feel grateful for what I have. My whole outlook on life is rosier.
E drinks formula full time, and now that I have experience with both pumped breast milk and formula, I thought I'd offer a comparison of the two.
Time cost
When contrasting pumped breast milk and formula, we must consider two costs: time and money.
The time cost of pumped breast milk is high. If you pump exclusively, you spend 2-3 hours of every day pumping. You probably have 3-6 pumping sessions per day. At the beginning (and sometimes throughout your pumping experience), at least one of those sessions has to be in the middle of the night.
The time cost of formula is minimal. You need less than 5 minutes to make a bottle. If you have 2 hands free, you can shake 2 bottles at once.
Financial cost
The financial cost of pumped breast milk is low, at least after you acquire your pump and pumping gear. However, ongoing costs include nursing pads and bags for storing breast milk. The overall investment can be significant.
However, over time, the cost of formula is much higher. We go through a canister every 5-7 days, plus E's school goes through a cannister every 2-3 weeks. Each canister is around $20. My estimates indicate that our formula costs for 2 months of part-time use and 2 months of full-time use will be around $500. Not cheap.
Another factor to consider - the waste factor. A baby has one hour to finish a formula bottle, and then you have to dump it out. The waste can be significant. We were a bit more loosey-goosey about returning breast milk bottles to the fridge, at least after E got older (around 2 months or so).
Ease of use
Formula wins, hands down, in the ease-of-use category. Formula is sooooo easy. I cannot emphasize the easiness enough, at least in comparison to pumping.
Very little is easy about breast milk except that you always have some in the fridge, so you never have to spend time making a bottle. (That said, you can pre-make formula bottles and keep them up to 24 hours, so a little planning means that you aren't holding a screamer while shake-shake-shaking it up.)
Washing up
I have six sets of pump parts. My routine was to run the dishwasher after 3 pumping sessions. At one point, I was running the dishwasher 3 times per day.
Without the pumping parts, the top rack of the dishwasher is less crowded, and we've even had a few days on which we did not have to run the dishwasher. (Gasp.)
That said, the bottle and now sippy cup parts take up a fair amount of space, so we still have 2 baskets on the top rack. (Though this arrangement is still much better than 3 baskets.)
The time I spend emptying the dishwasher is reduced, and the counter space devoted to drying parts is also smaller now that we're using formula.
Health benefits
Formula is adequate nutrition. Most babies thrive, no matter what they drink.
However, breast milk offers extra benefits, including an immunity boost (allegedly - E's constantly running nose begs to differ).
The benefits to me were also worthy of note. I lost all my pregancy weight and regained my pre-pregnancy shape without making any effort. I even dropped below my pre-pregnancy weight, despite all that I ate. (And I ate a lot. Ice cream and pastrami, I miss you.)
I'm not saying this to brag. (Ok, maybe I am, a little.) Instead, I am trying to present at least some benefits to pumping because let's face it, there aren't many for the mom.
Overall preference
Nobody strives for adequacy, and that's why I pumped for 10 months. I wanted to give E the best start I could. Ideally, I should have kept it up for 12 months (or longer, gah) and not given him any formula. But I am satisfied with my efforts, and I am so glad to be finished.
If you're contemplating pumping, good luck to you. As for me, I plan to never do it again.
