Looking for Info on Weening and Reducing Milk Supply

take pseudoephedrine. also known as sudafed. I accidently severelly reduced my supply taking it for a cold & now I'm fighting to get it back. it works!

As a gestational surrogate I have not breastfed the last four babies I have carried but pumped exclusively for them. I found the best way to wean myself from the breastfeeding was to lengthen the time between pumpings - it takes about 2-3 weeks to do it that way, but it was the least painful way for me and meant I did not need to bind my breasts, or use cabbage leaves. So I went from every 3-4 hours to 4-5 in the first week. In the second week I went every 6-7 hours and so on until it was every 24 hours, and then I stopped. With the twins I had one day of discomfort where one breast was engorged, but I manually manipulated it in the shower to remove some milk and I was fine. After 10 babies I have found this to be the best method!

The way I did it was that each week I took out one of the feedings. It took a few weeks, but at least that way my breast were getting used to the new schedule and eventually when I weened completely, I never had problems. Good Luck

if you are seeing your supply go down on its own it might be easier for you. I dropped one feeding at a time gradually (about a week). Not sure how often you pump, but you can just apply that to your own pump/feeding schedule. I had gotten down to just down to one feeding in the morning and my little guy actually weened himself from that one. Decided he would rather wake up and play. Good for him, sad for me. I loved to start my day that way. However, doing it gradually I actually had no pain.

The best way to reduce your milk supply is to reduce the demand for it.

I had to stop nursing when our daughter was 3 months old because of starting chemo treatments. I was producing a lot of milk. She obviously couldn't nurse because of the toxicity of the medications, but for the next week, I pumped and decreased the number of times each day. Within 5 days, I no longer needed to pump and had no discomfort as my supply dried up.

With cabbage, I can't recall if the natural chemicals in it help you dry up or just help relieve the pain associated with it.

But, my recommendation would be to gradually reduce the amount of pumping you do. You should see your supply decrease pretty quickly.

Hope that helps.
Good luck!

I have to say first that while I don't know your reasons for weaning, there are benefits to you and babies if you continue to age 2, or when your twins step back themselves. If biting is the biggest issue, that can be stopped.

How often do you pump? I wouldn't go cold turkey and stop all at once. If you want a gradual weaning, drop one feeding/pumping per day every 3-10 days. By dropping one feeding every 3 days or so, it will signal your body to stop producing milk. If you stop all at once you run the risk of engorgement and a breast infection. Cabbage leaves help with engorgement, put one over each breast until it wilts and then put a fresh one on. or pump just enough to relieve pressure, not enough to signal let-down.

Binding the breasts is no longer a recommended way of stopping, you again run the risk of breast infection.

there is an old method called binding it works. wrap yourself with a pillow case and pin it tight, it will not be confortable but it will work it will take about 1 week. Or you can as you said just quit cold turkey that will hurt also. The less they nurse the less milk there is, there for quit pumping....

There is some cream called Cabo cream. My sister got me some from her pharmacy. Check with the pharmacies in your area or go to www.cabocreme.com to get it online. It doesn't require a prescription. A Woman's Work in Houston is listed as a retailer.

A Woman’s Work
2401 Rice Blvd.
Houston, Tx. 77005
###-###-####
www.awomanswork.com

This was the one aspect of child rearing that I was so unsure of. After weaning my eldest it hurt so bad! (the 2 subsequent were not nearly as difficult). My breasts were rocks for about a week and a half. He was nursing only 2 or 3 times a day.

I would say gradually reduce your pumping by about 1 session per day per week. That way, your body will get used to it over time and you may not have the swelling issues I had.

Good Luck!

If you quit cold turkey, you could becoem engorged. The old wives remedy of using frozen cabbage leaves in your bra will help eliminate this. This would be the quickest ay of doing it.

I pumped exclusively from the time my son was 6 weeks until he was a year due to not wanting to suck from me after having bottles in the NICU.

I gradually took out 1 pumping a day over a week period. I pumped for 1 time a day for about 3 days to get my supply down as much as I could then stopped all together. I still swelled up pretty bad and my breast were on fire from the pressure. I got the cabbage but never put it in. I did put a sports bra on and even slept with it on for about 3 days. Finally all was back to normal, as as much as normal can be after that length of milk.

Oh, and the nurse at the doctor's office suggested taking Tylenol for the discomfort. I wish I would have had something a little stronger. Even though my supply had dropped significantly over the weeks leading up to stopping my breasts still knew what to do and it was uncomfortable.

Some women have no problem stopping and have little discomfort.

Good luck!

I remember I did the cabbage leaf thing but I didn't really notice it taking my supply down, although cold cabbage leaves felt so great on my tender breasts. I ended up going as long as I could stand and then just pumping a little bit to relieve pressure, not emptying my breast, maybe like just one ounce or so on each side. It was enough to help me get through and they just dried up on their own in a few days. I weaned my son at a year and he did just great, never asked for the breast, never seemed bothered in the least. Good luck to you!!

Stop gradually to prevent getting a plugged duct or a breast infection. Here is some information on weaning - http://www.kellymom.com/bf/weaning/weaning_mom.html

Cold turkey with an antihistamine works quite well- you might be a little uncomfortable for a few days but this too shall pass. Good Luck!

You can always do it the old fashioned way. YOu stop cold turkey and bind your breasts tightly with an ace bandage. It is gross sounding but works.