My spouse and I both live far from our families so when they visit they stay with us (as my in laws are now). I’ve been exclusively pumping for my 3 month old since 4 weeks when I felt like I’d tried all the nursing interventions I could with no success. I grieved my nursing journey and am now really happy with how pumping is going.

But when I have family with me I hate pumping. I hate feeling ostracized. I’m not comfortable pumping in front of my in laws, so I sit in my room and pump while everyone else is together. I want to have the baby with me but all they want to do is hold the baby and seem miffed I want to keep the baby with me in a bouncer while I pump. They seem to think that since I can’t holding the baby while pumping they should get to. It’s made me grieve nursing all over again, if I had to take baby to nurse then I wouldn’t have this issue. I get no time with my baby when my family is here and I just want to look at my baby while I pump when I’m stuck alone. That’s all I want and no one understands.