"How to Stop Breastfeeing"

If you get on a full strength birth control it will help. However it seemed to take longer with my second child.

At the health food store I bought parsley and sage to help me dry up my milk. I can't remember how many pills of each to take, but you can look it up in a herb book while you are at the store.

J.,
I do not know of anything that you can take. What i did was wear a very supportive bra, keep breast pads, and just stop pumping or feeding. It is painful at times. When i did it with my son, after about 4 or 5 weeks i got to engorged that i had to pump, but after that stint...it started drying up pretty fast.

I used the cabbage leaves as well. I can say that they really work. I had to stop cold turkey when my daughter passed away. I tried not pumping but I was in severe pain. instead of putting the cabbage leaves in by bra, I used the ace wraps to form a tight fitting sports bra over the cabbage. It took a couple of weeks of wearing cabbage but it worked. My second daughter is now 7 months old and she was exclusively breastfed for a while. We now give her a bottle during the day and she nurses when she wakes up at night (usually once or twice). I figure she will eventually stop waking up for that night time feed and she will be weaned. hopes this help. good luck :)

I agree with everyone. Do the cold cabbage at least 15 minutes everytime you feed. Not only will it help with the pain but it will help to dry you out. Make sure to wear a tight sports bra. It took me 2 weeks but after the 3rd day I didn't have to deal with the pain. Take ibuprofen to help with the pain. Good luck!

Oh, girl . . . it was rough for me. I think I did it too fast because we were leaving town to run in a marathon.

Advice: cut out one feeding a day for at least a week at a time. When/if you get hard and sore, frozen cabbage leaves inside your bra helps so much! It sounds weird and smells funky, but it works. The worst mistake I made was relieving the pain by breastfeeding. It lets the milk out, but tells your body to make more. Also, wear really tight sports bras until your toatlly back to normal.

If at all possible, do try to do it gradually--eliminate one feeding, wait until your body adjusts (about a week), then another one. You can also shorten a feeding before eliminating it--give your little one a bottle for half the feeding, you for half. Once you're used to that, then eliminate. I actually took 8 months to wean--I dropped the midnight feeding when my DD was 10 weeks (I needed the sleep!), but still BF'ed once a day when she was 10 months. I never had any trouble, but went SUPER gradually. If you do need to stop quickly, talk to your OB--mine offered to put me on a birth control pill with estrogen in it, which will dry you up. GL!

I guess the first thing is if you have been breastfeeding already, you can't stop cold turkey (or I guess you could, but it would not be fun!). What I've done in the past (and what I've read) is to drop 1 feeding a week and replace it w/ the bottle. Then you can gradually decrease your milk supply until you're dried up. I remember w/ my 2nd child that even after I did this I did have to pump 1-2 times b/c of engorgement, but it didn't cause a problem after that. Good luck!

Try to go as long as you can and nurse or pump(I preferred pumping it gave me more control) just enough to relieve any pain, not enough to continue the cycle. I did use cabbage, it sounds crazy but it works. Take a head of cabbage and wash a few leaves and place them on your breast, lining your bra completely. I don't know why it works but it does. Change it out often and you'll be amazed. I would definitely try to stay home, I kept worrying there would be an accident and I'd have to go to the ER with salad in my bra!

Gradually is the best way to do it. Stop one feeding. You will probably experience some discomfort, but don't pump otherwise your body will keep producing milk, and your goal is to stop. It will probably take a week or two for your milk production to decrease; then stop another feeding, etc. I never tried cabbage (I never heard about it until after the fact) but ice packs were helpful to me to relieve the discomfort.

I know that some people use cabbage (I think it sounds rather icky myself) but they say it works. Having said that I'll tell you how I went about the whole ordeal. I had my OB put me on a certain type of birth control pill and it took about 6 weeks to totally dry up. Good luck, I hope this helps!

With my first son, I just stopped cold turkey. I was engorged and miserable. With my second son, I stopped nursing him because he decided it was funny to bite me, so I refused to nurse him again, but I pumped enough milk to relieve the engorgement, much more comfortable, but still took time and was a bit uncomfortable for a few weeks. My third son I started giving him sippy cups and only nursed him for naps and at bed time. Over time we gave up nap time and eventually bed time just faded away. That was the easiest on me. Good luck on your transition.

Start feeding formula and less breastfeeding. Also increase the intervals of when you feed, and then when you feel you are producing little, simply stop. Your body will understand it does not need to produce it anymore.

First off where a tight sports bra. Start taking Sudafed because it will help to dry you up. DONT drink Gatorade because it for some odd reason helps to bust your supply. You can either gradually drop off feedings or go cold turkey. I have done it both ways.

Stick cabbage leaves in your bra. I know it sounds weird but it dries you up pretty quick. A friend of mine did it and said it worked.

I heard that you can take sudafed and that will dry it up real quickly!!

When I weaned my daughter, I knew I wanted to stop at 12 months, so when she was 11 months, I dropped one feeding per week. This way my body adjusted and I didn't feel overly full, and it was easy on her too. We went straight to a sippy cup, no bottles and it was a very smooth transition. Easier for me than for her. The hardest was the bedtime one, again, for me, not her. We just kept the same routine (put on PJ's, brush teeth, read a story, say prayers, and the in the bed, just no nursing) and she was fine. My son weaned himself, just started wanting less and less at around 10 months.

Good luck!

You need to be the one to decide. If it is after a year, you have done all you need to and never feel guilty because you stop and they don't like it. You don't need to feel ambivilant about it because there are other ways to get the comfort they crave and if you waver it will be harder. You don't need to take anything, if you don't nurse you will stop producing milk. Find another way to put them to sleep, reading is a good way. I would wait till my son was very sleepy and read and read and read till he couldn't keep his eyes open and then he would ask to nurse and I would say no and lay down on the bed beside him and he would fall asleep in a few mins. The reading became our special together time and it does a wonderful job of preparing them for reading later in life..says the mother of a high school 4.0 senior!
B.

My best firend and I did the same process. Took one feeding away at a time. If you don't want the pain, wait at least 4 days to stop the next feeding. The feeding I took away first was the mid morning feeding. Then the mid afternoon feeding. After that, I took away the first morning feeding. I left the night feeding for last because it was the most precious time for my son and I. After the last feeding it took about 4-5 days to dry up. It was a very simple transition and minimal pain. He transitted very well to the formula. I hope that helps a little. If you are wanting to go cold turkey ... be prepared for a lot of pain! All of my friends that went cold turkey said it was quite painful.

Breastfeeding is supply and demand, so if your substituting your child with formula or milk, or whatever you're weaning off to, then the demand won't be so great and the supply will slowly start to diminish. I had to wrap ace bandages tightly around my breasts the first two days after I completely stopped the breastfeeding. It's messy, not fun, and doesn't feel great, but it helps to dry up the milk! They used to give medication to dry it up, but don't normally prescribe them any longer. But, as long as you keep feeding, and or pumping, it will keep coming, so you have to be determined to stop! Good luck :-)

Breast feed less often and as you taper off the milk dries up naturally and on it's own. A.

I know you can take the herb sage to dry up your milk. This is per my mid-wife. But make sure you little one is ready as your milk will dry up within about 3 days from what she says. I hope this helps. I am still nursing and mine is almost a year, so I have not tried the sage yet. Heard it works great.

a really tight ACE bandage wrapped around your chest for a few days will dry it up. but it has to be really tight! Oh yeah and dont touch them! dont even let the shower water run on them it will stimulate the milk and take longer to dry up. good luck its painful!!

Cabbage leaves!!! And wear a tight fitting jog bra for 48-72 hours. Should be dried up in 3 days!!

Good Luck!

stop feeding and stop pumping. it'll hurt but it should start drying up within a few days.

I recommend cutting out one feeding a day each week until you are down to one.
I stopped nursing when I was at 2 feedings a day and got clogged ducts. Wrapping made it worse so I don't recommend that either.
Once I got back down to 1 feeding per day I just stopped nursing. Two days later it did get really uncomfortable so I did nurse for 2 min each side before giving a bottle. After that I was done and no issues. Remember it is supply and demand. Me nursing for just a couple minutes releived me but didn't increase my supply since my normal nursing times were 10-15 min each side. Hope that helps. Good luck!

I will second the response for cabbage leaves and ace bandages... worked wonders for me!!

I have to agree with most of the other woman. I have breastfed all of my children. The best way I have found is to drop off a feeding each day. Wrap an ace bandage around your breast and wear a snug sports bra. If you want you can also get some cabbage. Yes raw cabbage and tear off the leaves. Take the leaves of cabbage and cover each breast with them. Then use the ace bandage and a bra. Also, try not to let them get stimulated at all. i.e. ( hot water from the shower, and being close with your husband). I wish you well with this and hope that things don't get too uncomfortable for you. I really wouldn't take anything especially if you are still nursing your baby, for time to time. May God bless you and your family.