I think it's OK for you to stop as soon as you feel that your regret about not providing your own milk to Naomi is less than your regret about not doing the things you'd be able to do for/with Naomi if you weren't doing the drugs, pumping, etc.
As for the folks who are pumping for you -- I think it depends on why they are doing it and how much work it is for them.
When I was pumping for someone else's baby, I was doing it specifically because the mother was trying so hard to establish her own milk supply. I hadn't previously been pumping much if at all, but I ramped up my production so I was pumping 16 ounces a day for the other woman's baby. It was a lot of work for me, and definitely impacted my life. I rearranged my own baby's nursing patterns in order to maximize pumping production. I had to take a pump with me when I traveled and store/transport the milk. I stayed up late every night in order to fit in a late-night pumping session. I couldn't skip a pumping session even if it was inconvenient, because of the increase to my supply. Arranging things in order to pump as much milk as possible required dozens of decisions every day.
So when the mom decided nursing wasn't going to work out for her, I seriously cut back on my pumping and stopped pumping entirely within a couple of months. While I certainly agree that breastmilk is superior to other foods available for babies, my motivation wasn't really about providing the best food for the baby, but rather about supporting the mom's efforts to nurse her own baby.
But that was a fairly extreme situation, and I'm sure I would have felt differently if there'd been less pumping, and if the goals had been different.
If I were doing one pumping session a day for someone else's baby, I'd probably be willing to do it for, say, three months as long as I felt the mother had made a reasonable effort to nurse the baby herself. I doubt I'd be willing to do it for longer, just because it is hard to arrange my own schedule to make the pumping possible, and I know myself well enough to know that it would get to me after a while.
no subject
As for the folks who are pumping for you -- I think it depends on why they are doing it and how much work it is for them.
When I was pumping for someone else's baby, I was doing it specifically because the mother was trying so hard to establish her own milk supply. I hadn't previously been pumping much if at all, but I ramped up my production so I was pumping 16 ounces a day for the other woman's baby. It was a lot of work for me, and definitely impacted my life. I rearranged my own baby's nursing patterns in order to maximize pumping production. I had to take a pump with me when I traveled and store/transport the milk. I stayed up late every night in order to fit in a late-night pumping session. I couldn't skip a pumping session even if it was inconvenient, because of the increase to my supply. Arranging things in order to pump as much milk as possible required dozens of decisions every day.
So when the mom decided nursing wasn't going to work out for her, I seriously cut back on my pumping and stopped pumping entirely within a couple of months. While I certainly agree that breastmilk is superior to other foods available for babies, my motivation wasn't really about providing the best food for the baby, but rather about supporting the mom's efforts to nurse her own baby.
But that was a fairly extreme situation, and I'm sure I would have felt differently if there'd been less pumping, and if the goals had been different.
If I were doing one pumping session a day for someone else's baby, I'd probably be willing to do it for, say, three months as long as I felt the mother had made a reasonable effort to nurse the baby herself. I doubt I'd be willing to do it for longer, just because it is hard to arrange my own schedule to make the pumping possible, and I know myself well enough to know that it would get to me after a while.