Do I have to pump?

DH and I will be going away for a five day trip in November and Cathryn will be almost 18 months. I don't know if I'm ready to stop bfing by then...NEVER thought I'd say that. Right now she nurses 2-3 times a day, I'm figuring by then she'll be down to 1-2. Right now she's fine to skip a day of nursing if I'm not around. I would nurse her the day we leave and the day we get back so she would be with out nursing for three days. Should I pump while gone if I want to keep nursing when I get back? I don't even know where my pump ended up. I'm not even sure if we'll still be nursing by then, but just in case, I was curious. Thank you!

 

If you can find your pump I would take it - you may find yourself uncomfortably full! If you can't find your pump, you could hand express as well, as needed. Enjoy your trip!

 

You could do that and not lose your supply, but by day three I'm guessing you are going to be pretty uncomfortable. You can hand express to relieve pressure. That didn't work for me, I had to use the pump...

 

I thought I could get away with a weekend trip away from my boys when they were 16mos and nursing about 2x a day. WORST WEEKEND EVER!!! By Sunday morning I was desperately looking for a pump, and had to find a store to purchase a pump. Hand expressing wasn't enough to relieve the discomfort in my situation. I would consider finding it, or a cheap portable one just in case.

 

I wonder if it is possible to find this kind of pump in the US?

http://www.arfam.com.mx/index.html

They only cost like about 3 dollars here in Mexico and work find for pump and dump--they are even called tiraleches, which would be like throw out milk in English. I used one for 36 hours after my gall bladder surgery since they used general anesethia on me. Worked well for that purpose and cheap if you can't find your pump.