Breast Feeding - Amarillo, TX

I have the same problem as you but in my case it is my twin 2 year old boys. I have tried to cut the feedings down but they just cry and cry and I eventually give in. If you get any good advice for that could you please send it to my way. I am going crazy over here. lol.

You don't need to do anything to stop producing milk EXCEPT cut out feedings- your body will naturally decrease milk production to match what the baby is taking. Here is what I did with my son (my daughter weaned herself, so it wasn't an issue!):

I cut out the first nursing of the day and gave him a sippy cup of milk instead. I did this for one week to give my body time to adjust to the decreased milk needs. I then cut out another nursing per day for the next week. And so on until he was only nursing once a day at bedtime. Then I cut out that nursing- this one was hardest for him because he was very much soothed to sleep by nursing then. So, I gave him a sippy cup of milk and rocked him as I did when he was nursing. After about a week, I switched the milk to water so he wasn't going to sleep with milk in his mouth. It worked very well for us, and I did not have any problem with engorgement. I guess the only downside was that it took about 6 weeks to completely wean him.\

I hope this helps!
P.

Well, you can bind your breasts and let them dry up. This can be painful though. I would only feed the baby when you become engorged. It is supply and demand, so the less you feed her, the less milk you make. Eventually, as you skip feedings, your milk will dry up.

I recently weaned my daughter at 15 months. We had positive results all around from a slow wean. I started reducing the number of nursings she had each day at around 12 months. Taking one away each month. Many books that I read suggested taking one away each week, but that seemed too aggressive for Addison. I think such a slow wean also allowed my body to adjust adequately. I never experienced engorgement or any discomfort at all. I did however experience post-nursing depression (which I hadn't even heard of, but is apparently very common) as soon as she quit nursing altogether. Post-nursing depression is connected to a change in hormones as your body stops producing breast milk and typically lasts 2-3 weeks. I would suggest watching your baby's cues as well, is your baby ready to wean? Let her lead the way...

Don't do anything- don't express the milk either (that will produce more milk.) You'll be engorged for a few days, but it will eventually go away.

As a Peer Counselor I would tell you to stop one feeding at a time. Just like you would do with a normal bottle. When you stop nursing your body will stop producing because it is supply and demand. Stopping one feeding at a time will be better for you and baby. If you start to feel engorged then take a warm shower or puta wet warm cloth over your breast. it will relieve the systoms. DO NOT PUMP, your body will think you still need milk. The other thing you can do is put cabage leaves in your bra for a couple hours at a time. Not constentaly. The cabage leaves are known to dry up your milk supply. email me if you have any question and I will giveyou my number and you can call me.

D.

I just finished weening my son. Basically I just slowly started replacing the breast milk with bottles. I did it so gradually that when I finally stopped I did not become engorged. (This probably took more than a month.) It did help that my son was not really all that interested in breast milk though! I hope this helps.

I breast fed for two weeks and just did not produce enough to keep up with my 10 lb son. So when we decided to stop, started switching over to formula and after awhile my breast stoped because of lack of stimulation

This may sound wierd...but, my father-n-law was a pharmisist and told me to put cabbage leaves in my bra to help with the pain and swelling. I finally gave in and did this. It actually worked!. At the time I worked at a Dairy Queen and every baby that cried just made trying to stop worse. Emotionally and physically it was harder on me than my son. He took to the new "sippy" cups pretty well. And offering a varity helped. We also put baby cereal in his drinks to supliment what he wasn't getting from my milk. But try the cabbage leaves. They really helped with the pain. I have no idea why though.

You may have heard this before...milk is produce because of supply and demand. If there is no demand for it, then the supply will slowly diminish. You've got to ween her off of your breast and then your milk will dry out.

Cold cabbage leaves in a bra that is slightly tight will help with production and engorgement - so will gradually weaning by adding more food to his diet.

Just change the cabbage leaves when they get warm and wilted.

I would suggest trying to wean her. Start by taking a few feedings away a day. Move to just doing it at night, and then just stop all together. Mine all weaned themselves at 6 months, so I am probably not much help.

Hi F.! Let me just say "YOU'RE AWESOME!" for nursing your baby for at least a year!!! I have nursed 2 sons in the past and am currently nursing my daughter. This may sound nuts, but my lactation consultant had me put cabbage leaves in my bra (cupping my breasts). It worked like a charm, but didn't smell very nice. Depending on how often you nurse it may be as easy as using the cabbage leaves and taking one feeding away at a time. The less she nurses, the less milk you will produce. Do a google on the cabbage leaves. It really worked for me. ;)

i stopped breastfeeding my son at 1 year old. I nursed him 4 times during the day. First, I cut out the 3rd feeding and just gave him some watered down apple juice or water in a sippy cup and gave that to him with his afternoon snack. Then the next week i would do the same with the second feeding. I cut the evening feeding last. Cutting the feedings out slowly will start to decrease your milk supply. Cutting out one feeding every few days to a week like that should not make you engorged. If your baby seems sad because she wants to nurse, find something special to do with her like singing or reading books to make up for that special time of nursing. that worked great with me and my son. i hope this helps you.

I just went thru this myself. My son is 10 months and this turned out really easy for me. The more he ate his baby food and juice the less he ate from me. Supply and demand is the way it goes but if you get to uncomfortable from being full pump just enough to relieve the pressure (pain) but do not empty your breast completely. It took me about 3 weeks and have gone 2 days without breastfeeding now. I feel kind of sad but I know it is just part of him growing up. Hope this helps. Barnes & Noble sells a great book called "Breastfeeding made Simple" that really helped me.

There used to be meds on the market that a doctor could prescribe that would help dry up breastmilk, one of them being Parlodel. That is no longer recommended, so the best thing to do is wait. Bind your breasts tight with an ace wrap, and avoid breast stimulation (ie. let the water hit your back, not directly over your breasts in a shower). It might be hard, but that is all I know to do at this point. Hope this helps.

What I did when i descided to wean my 2 right at a year was to start limiting the time they nursed for a few days, then would cut out 1 nursing a every few days until they were completely weaned. It still took about a month or so for me to totally dry up, but I wasn't engorged or in pain. hope this helps!