Hello Ladies,
I am very interested in any advice that u may have in stopping breastfeeding. I have a 10 month old son with six teeth and decided last wednesday that I was truly done with nursing. I have been in pain since then. I have done the wrapping with ace bandages and taken tylenol for the pain. I really thought that after 3 days the pain and swelling would be gone. Tomorrow will be a week!! If you have any suggestions please let me know.
Thank you all for your responses. I can say i tried almost everything u all suggested. i deff had the most relief from the cabbage leaves, which my friends thought was so funny. I still had pain for two full weeks but I am doing great now. Thanks again Mommas!
My neighbor recently saw a lactation consultant who advised her to wean gradually by removing one feeding every 2 weeks. She says she has not experienced any engorgement or pain.
I think it took me at least a week before the pain and the swelling stopped. I also used frozen cabbage leaves to provide some relief. Unfortunately, you will have to just wait it out and hopefully you should be done in the next day or two. Good Luck!
T.,
Take 2 green cabbage leaves and place them in your bra. Keep them in there until you are free of discomfort.
This is a tried and true remedy.
Hope this helps you.
L.
I just stopped nursing my 11 month old and I was surprised at how long I continued to produce milk. For the pain I waited as long as I could and ended up nursing her just to relieve the pain, I made sure not to empty completely, just enough to stop the pain. I had to do this once for each side, it helped tremendously. I thought I was failing once I nursed but my body adjusted after that and while I still leak a tiny bit, I haven't nursed in about 17 days. I've heard that I can continue to leak for up to a month. If your boob is hard and feels like it's going to pop, just nurse a little, it is much easier than going cold turkey. Hang in there.
Hey there!
Yes, I know that pain. Try cabbage leaves in your bra. It has a chemical in is that helps dry up milk. A friend told me about it and I was surprised that it worked for me. Hope it works for you also.
:) B.
I know that when I stopped nursing my daughter I did it gradually, and experienced no pain. I would just pump enough to take that edge off and pretty soon the milk dried up.
Gradual weaning is best for baby and you emotionally, and pumping would NOT hurt, as you will still dry up if you pump for a few months and don't breastfeed. My first baby was not breastfed at all, and I lactated for a year. I would relieve pressure in the shower and such, and I used frozen peas, I wrapped my breasts tightly, (I never heard of the cabbage leaves,) but nothing worked completely. My sister used to pump constantly and almost completely lost her milk after only a couple months. She didn't want that to happen, but you do! On the other hand, my 10 month old had 8 teeth, and it took a few weeks for my nipples to get numb to it, and some training to get him to be gentle with mommy, but after a month or so we worked it out, and he successfully breastfed until he was 16 months old!
Cold turkey may be more than your body is prepared for. If you have a pump, you may want to get some out, just to releave the pressure. (And feeding your son that milk in a bottle may help him with the transition, too.) Something they mentioned in my breastfeeding class is cabbage leaves. No one knows why it works, but a cabbage leaf compress is supposed to help dry up the milk, if you're truly done.
Here's the key...empty both breast first. Buy SAGE tea (found at herbal stores, Trader Joes, Whole Foods) and drink 2 to 3 8-oz. cups per day (sweeten to taste). Drink everyday for 5 to 7 days, more if needed, until you notice your breasts returning to their normal size/fullness. Sage has properties that stop milk production. Although I used cabbage leaves, they only seemed to help with the initial discomfort but weren't practical if I have to leave the house. Hope this helps you as much as it did me!
when i stopped with my daughter i found that if i pumped when i hurt it released the pressure and the less often you pump the less you produce so if you pump when you hurt it relieves some of that pressure and will eventually decrease enough to where you stop producing. This was the easiest for me at least...
Good Luck!
Cabbage leaves. Sounds crazy, but it works. Wash them and tuck them into your bra, covering the whole breast. You will actually feel them working. It is a wonderful relief. You can leave them on there as long as you need, and replace them when they feel wilted. Good luck!
ditto on the cabbage leaves :-)
NONONO!!!! You have to express the milk to wean yourself properly. If you allow it to sit or wrap yourself up you could cause yourself to get mastitis which you surley do not want!! Not to mention that your baby needs breastmilk or formula to be their main source of food until they are a year old. If bebe is biting we can fix that as well. You can't expect your body to just stop producing milk after 10 months of doing so. The process takes time.
Try this links for more info.
http://www.kellymom.com/bf/weaning/lactation-suppression....
Try some sudafed, stop eating oatmeal or other things that are supposed to be "good" for nursing. Try all the things that are supposed to be bad because they dry you up!
I used a bag of frozen peas. It worked like a charm. Plus, you can reuse the bag over and over.
Hi T. when I discontinued feeding I used cold cabbage leaves. I would put them in the freezer and get them as cold as I could stand it and them put them on, this helped ease the pain and dry the milk up. I also wore a super tight sports bar the more pressure the better. Good Luck
When I quit nursing it was painful too. For about a week. I was so desperate I pumped just enough to relieve the pain...about 1 oz. I also used cold cabbage leaves. My son's Dr. recommended this and it was helful. I just put clean cabbage leaves inside my bra for about 15 minutes 4 times a day. I know it sounds a little strange, but hey it helped with the pain. It is a European thing...Hope this helps some.
Put green cabbage leaves directly on your breasts--refridgerated feels best. Warning--it'll smell like cooked cabbage, but it will do the trick. Do it continuously for several hours, changing the leaves as needed (every hour or so). Your bra will turn green, but it washes out. Good luck! My lactation consultant friend told me this!
Several herbs will help dry up your milk supply. Sage, parsely, mint, among others. Make teas, drink mojitos, eat tabouli. Regular Sudafed that you buy from the pharmacy counter will also help dry you up.
Cabbage Leaves! They are supposed to help diminish lactation. Last month I stopped nursing after 2 1/2 years. I took a head of cabbage and put in in the fridge. Then I put enough leaves to cover my breast inside my bra and went about my day. When the leaves get "cooked" opaque and wilted I'd change them. After a about 2 days I didn't need them anymore. Here's a link to some info regarding cabbage leaves.
http://parenting.ivillage.com/baby/bbreastfeed/0,,3x57,00...
you HAVE to express it. the wrapping really only works that well if you never breastfed and you do it right away cuz you dont plan on breastfeeding. when you WEAN yourself off you have to continue pumping every now and then but mainly just massage them and express whatever milk you have left in the shower or something. stopping cold turkey will cause you a great deal of pain and can lead to an infection or mestitis.
I'm sorry to hear about your pain, but I remember back in the day, my mother used to tell me to squeeze my breast until the milk came out and take a "hot" towel as hot as I can stand and wrap it around my breast. After a day or two of repeating this...I had relief.
Hey T.,
I read the other suggestions, and while cabbage leaves may work to relieve the discomfort, your baby does need breast milk of formula until he's one. If you don't wish to continue nursing, perhaps you could pump and gradually decrease the amount until you are down to once a day or so, then pump less and less, until you are able to stop without so much (if any) pain. I have four children and have nursed each until they were around 18 mos, but I gradually decreased the frequency of nursing and it worked well for me, as well as for my children. If biting is the issue, here are some links to help with that, if you choose to wean gradually. http://www.babycentre.co.uk/baby/breastfeeding/problemsan...
http://www.breastfeeding123.com/how-do-i-stop-my-baby-fro...
http://www.kellymom.com/bf/older-baby/biting.html
http://www.llli.org//FAQ/bite.html
http://www.healthyarkansas.com/breastfeeding/faqs_p2.html
Cabbage leaves in your bra cups. slightly crush the leaves just enought to make them mold to your breasts...I ahve been told by everyone that it helps...I always nursed mine through teething. so I am sorry that I don't have advice first hand.
HI T.! ooohhh hunny i was in your boat a 2 months ago. I decided after my daughter had two rather aggressive teeth that it was time to stop (she was 6 months). What i found that helped a LOT was that i made my stop as gradual as possible, to induce my body to reduce my milk supply on its own. SO i'd feed my daughter from 4 times a day to 2 for example, and pump once. then a few days of that I'd feed her once a day and pump twice. Pumping helped I think because it doesn't work as well as a baby in draining the milk, so that my body adjusted a lot faster to a reduce in demand. It took about 2.5 weeks of nursing once or twice a day and pumping once or twice a day, and then i had so little milk that it wasn't painful. I'd say by the end of the 3rd week I was completely done. I called a lactation consultant before I started this, and she recommended that I spread out the weaning over 3 to 4 weeks to reduce pain for myself, make it easier on my daughter, and that it takes your body about 2 weeks anyway to adjust the milk supply. Good luck!!
