My son is 11.5 months old. I'm nursing him 3 times a day, feeding him solids twice a day, and giving him the bottle (with pumped breastmilk) once a day. I pump once a day (before I go to bed) to keep up with the once-a-day bottle that he takes. So I'd suggest you pump as many times as his bottle feedings each day. If you find he needs more milk per feeding than you pump per sitting, then perhaps you need to pump one more time per day. I personally don't mind pumping more milk than the baby needs because I'd put in the fridge to use later for his cereal or I'd freeze it if I have too much in the fridge. I definitely would agree you should gradually decrease your pumping in anticipation of him transitioning to cow's milk after he turns 1. I might try pumping fewer times per day rather than keeping the same number of pumpings but shorten the time per pumping for 2 reasons: 1) I think when you pump often per day, your body thinks it needs to keep producing milk, so if you pump less often, it knows it's supposed to slow down; and 2) it's less work for you because you don't have to clean the breastpump parts so many times!

i have been nursing my son, Brandon, since his birth. he is almost eight months now. he has pretty much weaned himself from the breasts, but i would like to continue to bottle feed him with breast milk until he is a year old. how often should i pump during the day in order to maintain my milk supply? and do i gradually decrease the time i pump when he gets close to 1 year old so i can smoothly transition to no pumping anymore?

thanks much.