Is There Any Way to Completely Dry up Your Milk Supply as a Method of Weaning?

I wasn't going to respond because you already got a lot of answers, and it seems from everything people have said, that drying up may not be an option. I would just like to put in my 2 cents...I never think it's a good idea to lie to your child (referring to the first answer). There are going to be many things in your child's life that he may not want to hear and he is going to have to cope. How about just going down to one time per day, and start to tell him that he's getting older and soon he won't be drinking mommy's milk anymore. pick a day, and then just stop. you might be surprised that he doesn't even mind. he may just be doing it out of habit/routine. sounds like he already accepts it during the day.

i think we often try to make things too easy for our kids, and there will come a day where they'll be in the real world and don't know what to do becasue no one is going out of their way to keep them from struggling.

I don't know about that, but my first nursed until 2.5 too, and it wasn't working out for me so well anymore. It was time to wean (since nursing IS a relationship, it needs to work for both involved...and it wasn't working for me anymore!). In case it helps, I'll share how I weaned. I don't know how often he's nursing right now, but I cut all nursing down to just sleep times. She could nurse right before. Then it got to where she could only nurse for night time sleep. Then sometimes we skipped that. And then gradually it just ended.

As I'm sure you know, the less and less you nurse, the less milk your body will make. So, by the end, my daughter was hardly swallowing because there was very little milk. Luckily she didn't really care a whole lot. She seemed to be nursing more out of habit than out of nutrition at that point. But if she were to insist upon nursing, I would have redirected her, given her a drink or something else.

You can definitely wean him. He might not like it, but come up with what you are okay with in your efforts to wean (such as no nursing unless it's before bed, etc. Then after a while, only before nighttime bed and not at all during the night, then every other nighttime, then less and less, etc). Figure out what you are okay with and stick to that. He might protest, but it sounds like you are ready to be done, and it's really okay.

I don't suggest cold turkey. That might too be sudden and emotionally be upsetting to him - more than it needs to be. I'd take it gradual and have it be something that happens over a month or a few weeks or something.

Good luck! Oh, and yes, your milk supply doesn't necessarily continue on, it's more like it sits there waiting to be used if it needs to be - it's something you can start up and get going if need be. But you likely won't have boobs full of milk. There won't be much in there at all. But if you had had a well established milk supply, your boobs will be ready to start making milk whenever you need it. My midwife still had a drop of milk in there a year after nursing. She definitely didn't have a full supply, but there was a tiny bit of milk!

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I went out of town for three days. That solved my problem LOL.

Call your ob/gyn, I believe there is a pill they can give you to dry you up. Good luck!

Put bandaids on your nipples and tell him they are broken and the milk is all gone.

I stopped nursing 2 years ago, when my son was 2.5 years old. He's now 4 - and recently when I got emotional about something I leaked a tiny bit. It went away quickly but was a serious surprise. Just keep doing what you're doing. Very slow weaning makes for a VERY comfortable body in terms of breast pain. And your son is old enough to understand that he's a big boy who eats regular food and drinks big boy drinks. You'll be fine :)

You will need to stop breastfeeding in order to stop producing milk. As long as there is stimulation to the breast, it will continue to make milk. I weaned my toddlers by eliminating feeding by changing the routine so they didn't feel like something was missing and cry for breastfeeding. For example, for a morning or nap time feeding, I would plan to be out of the house on a walk or to the store (something to distract) during times when they usually nursed. Eliminate 1 feeding over 5-7 days and then work on the next. At bedtime, you might try being out later if you son falls asleep in the car and will transfer to bed. You can wean him without it being traumatic, but it will take patience and careful planning. www.kellymom.com might have more tips for weaning or www.askdrsears.com.

Try peppermint tea. One summer while I was nursing I remember making a ton of peppermint iced tea, the second day of drinking it my milk supply dropped drastically, so I definitely had to stop since that's not what I wanted. Hot or cold peppermint tea with honey tastes great and will definitely decrease your milk supply. Although I agree with the other poster that it will not necessarily stop him from wanting to nurse. In fact, it made my son just try to nurse harder to get more milk.

Drying up your supply probably will not make him wean--with toddlers, it's mostly a comforting habit and not really for the milk intake. I weaned my son at 18 months because I was 5 months pregnant and was hardly producing any milk, but he still wanted to nurse several times a day. It's more of a pacifier for toddlers--so you really need to break his habit of wanting to nurse instead of just drying up (because if he still nurses AFTER you dry up, your milk WILL come back). I suggest making a big production out of getting him a new lovie, and explaining to him that he is a big boy and big boys get cups instead of mommy's ___ (whatever word/phrase you use for it--my kids call them "bee-boos" hah). Good luck mom, I know how hard weaning is :( We're about to go through it with my daughter soon and I am so not looking forward it!

I would suggest using a different approach. Have you ever heard of a weaning party? You can google it and get lots of stories from moms who have done it with their toddlers. Maybe that approach would work better for your child, encouraging him to stop nursing by his own decision.

It does take a while (weeks or months in my experience) for the milk supply to be 100% gone and the texture of all tissues in the breast to feel non-lactating anymore. As you were probably told in the beginning its a supply and demand issue so for your comfort and the comfort of your son too you may want to plan on having less and less frequent nursings until you go to one and then no more. I think cutting him off cold turkey could lead to painful swelling for you and confused feelings about why it was on demand and then gone altogether for him. You can do what you want but I think given that he can verbalize his opinion you want to take his feelings into consideration here. Also I don't know of a good way to dry up faster other than shorter and less frequent feedings

You really cannot just dry up and even if you did, your son will still probably want to nurse anyways. You said it yourself, it has a lot to do with the bonding and comforting, etc. You can choose a couple of options; either go cold turkey or just cut the morning nursing out and then do night for a couple of weeks then cut the night out. Either way, it is not typically easy. At 2 1/2, you may even be able to explain that he is too old for it now and it is time to be a big boy and drink from a glass. You never know, all kids are different. And "yes" you do produce milk for a while after you wean. I believe the longer you nurse the longer it takes to dry up.

Good luck!

Your body will forever produce milk until menopause. The body creates a memory production level that is the very minimum needed to quickly re-lactate if necessary. Antihistamines only diminish supply, not 'dry up' the breasts. Before you do anything tho - please read my experience below:

My daughter nursed upon waking up, going down for a nap and just before falling asleep at night from 2y/o until she was 4.5 years old - she decided she was finished. By her nursing so long, the amazing benefits of nursing so long became obvious once she started day-school before Pre-K. Her whole school would get super sick, she'd get whatever they had for less than a day or not at all. Poor Mommy got sick a lot, but not my daughter!

Once she started Pre-K and a little bit more structure was implemented to get them ready for Kindergarten... her few times of nursing a day helped her re-charge, refresh and be ready for her new day or to go to bed. They say terrible 2's... no way, it should have been Terrible 3's!! Breastfeeding during this stage was a lifesaver!!

I cannot tell you how many times I went thru phases where I was "SO DONE WITH BREASTFEEDING!!" at least 10-12 times in the 4.5 years. But each time I weathered thru it, lost whatever resentment I thought I was having about it, and learned to love it again until the next time I felt crabby about it.

My babies nursed until they were 2 1/2 and 3 1/2, with my youngest still nursing at 1 1/2 at the moment. With my first weaning was easy when I got pregnant and the milk dried up and she lost interest, with my second it was harder, we did a sticker chart that she could earn prizes with (a sticker each day she did not nurse at all and a dollar store prize after one week of not nursing) and I tried to replace nursing with cuddleing and reading books. Also giving her a backscratch instead because she loved gettign a backscratch and was then facing away form me so she was not whining for "Bo!" I have also read that cabbage leaves put into your bra will dry up milk, crush them slightly first. Good luck!