Hi mom's I am looking for some advice! I am going through the weaning(from breast) process. My breasts are very uncomfortable. It's been 3 days with no nursing, this has been a gradual process, but I am curious how long does it take for this pain to go away? Or maybe something I can do to make it go faster or be less painful. Any suggestions would be great. Thanks.
I would nurse only when uncomfortable so that the pain would go away. Try to cut out all but one and then work on it so that your body reduces production. Then cut out the last one. My daughter and I mutually weaned at about 8 months old. She got busy with playing and things and I was busy with the house and sewing and we just forgot most of the time and soon it was all done. Good luck to you. The other S.
I tried going cold turkey when I weaned my son, but I couldn't do it b/c of the pain. I started nursing him twice a day, then once a day. It took less than 2 weeks to completely wean him. It really helped a lot! I wasn't in any pain when I did this.
I used the cabbage and warm compress it worked great when I was weaning my daughter. Also when you shower extract just enough milk to make you comfortable. The pain will go away soon :).
1. Tylenol.
2. Cold raw cabbage leaves in your bra. Change as they wilt.
3. Warm compresses help, but stimulate milk leakage - as does 'milking' yourself. If you use these, only use them until the discomfort is tolerable - not until you're empty, or you'll only make things worse.
I'm hoping you were down to one feeding a day - if not, you might want to go back to nursing and scale back to just the night feeding before going cold turkey.
ETA - watch for fever, hot spots in the breasts (they're going to be warm, but no one place should be hotter than the rest), red streaks, or worsening PAIN - all of which can be signs of mastitis, or clogged milk ducts. In that case, you either need to nurse like a sonofagun on that breast - with the baby's chin over the sore spot, go to the doctor for antibiotics, or both.
S.
Take motrin to help reduce the swelling, the painful engorgement shouldn't last more than about a week if you stick with the no nursing. Most of my kids went from one feeding to none and I never had any pain with those, but when I weaned my twins they were each only nursing once, but that was two babies worth so I had some pain after them but it didn't last more than about a week. You're probably at the worst part now. Whenever my babies nurse more/less and my milk supply has to adjust it takes about three days.
