03/08/2026
If you exclusively pump breastmilk to feed your baby, you are breastfeeding. Not “sort of.” Not “still working on it.” Breastfeeding. Please hear that.
I see your cluttered desk, littered with breast pump paraphernalia. I feel your pain when your breast pump dies on you and you have to manually pump or hand express. I know you pump on your lunch break because you can’t fit in a proper breastfeeding break. I hear about your struggle with work and the lack of breastmilk expressing facilities they provide. And so much more.
Exclusive pumping is often treated like the unglamorous cousin or the poor relation of “real” breastfeeding but it’s frequently harder. I believe it’s actually the hardest way to feed your baby, if I’m honest. No baby directly regulating supply, no natural downtime, a schedule that runs on the clock rather than on cues, often alone with a machine at 3am instead of a baby. The output is the same: breast milk, made by you, for your baby.
If you’ve been secretly wondering whether this “counts,” it does.
The method doesn’t change what it is. There are some differences, but you’re still giving your baby breastmilk.
Save this to shove in someone’s face for the next time you’re asked if you’re “still breastfeeding, or just pumping”. Or for the Mum you know that’s feeling any form of Mum guilt over not directly feeding from her breast. She’s still breastfeeding.
