My beef with the boob

So I'm a working mom right, we all know that. I am a nursing mom, we all know that. I am a pumping mom, we all know that.

How come the rest of the free world doesn't tap into this (apparently small) part of our population?

How come every book I read about breastfeeding does an outstanding job at preparing you to go back to work, to pumping at work, to maintaining the nursing relationship with your baby while still working?

Don't get me wrong, these books are great - and I've learned a lot from them, picking them up and reading chapters here and there as they relate to LC and my nursing path.

But all this talk (or swirling in my head) about weaning lately, has lead me to do more research (imagine that), to look for books about weaning while nursing.

Hey, us working moms can't whip it out at any moment in a given day with our baby because, hey, we're at work. We pump to make the milk, we pump for 15ish minutes 3 times a day, more or less, and assume that's what our baby needs at that given time.

We nurse in the morning and before bedtime, and early on, and maybe still, overnight, as needed.

We nurse on weekends, or our weekdays off if we have the baby with us for at least part of the day while we spend the other part frantically trying to put life together and get things that you couldn't do on the weekends done because you were at work.

My point: there is no book to tell you how to wean yourself or your baby while working. Take out a pump, pump for fewer minutes each time, combine 2 pumping sessions, how do you know when to do this? Does your baby just STOP wanting a certain BOTTLE at daycare? It's not like they refuse the boob, they get bottles all the time practically.

I just feel like a shade of gray and I don't know what to expect. And it upsets me that either I"m not finding the literature out there, or there really isn't much out there - maybe us working/pumping moms are in the minority, maybe many don't make it past 3 or 6 months and going back to work and continuing the nursing relationship creates too much strain or stress so it is ended. I don't know why and I could spend days pondering.

And so far, my best advice has been from other moms, who work, at my La Leche League meetings. I'd like to combine what I've learned in the literature -  not much - with 'real life'...I'm struggling to do that.

I think I've got it somewhat under control and I know it's nothing to stress over, but it still annoys me a bit. I feel like I'm on my own, just me and LC left to attempt to read eachother when we spend at most 2.5 hours together on a given weekday.

But, we can do it - I've been pretty good at reading him so far and I don't see it going downhill, so we will continue to read his signs, heck, maybe he'll stop wanting his last bottle of the day consistently for a week and hey, there's my sign to cut back a pump. Who knows. Time will tell....if you've gone through this and have any advice I'm all ears!

ps- I do feel the need to say that I have and still am LOVING our nursing relationship, I just like to look a few steps forward to prepare myself for what I think I know is coming next :) Just as my LLL leaders, they get ALL the emails lol :)