Hi moms! I know there have been several questions regarding this topic but now I can't seem to remember what the advice is! Two weeks ago, I had to go out of town and while away, my 13 month old son weaned himself. I have always had a very abundant milk supply so for the first week after he was weaned, I had to pump every day (I would try to only pump for 5-10 minutes, just to relieve the pressure). I am now trying to go every other day, but my question is this - in the past, every time my son has dropped a feeding, my breasts get very hard and very sore. The only thing that relieved it was to continue nursing/pumping and be able to fully drain the breast and after a couple of days, the hardness would be gone. Right now, my left breast especially, is very hard/sore. I would like to relieve some of the discomfort, but I don't want to pump so much that I continue to stimulate milk production.
Does anyone have any advice to offer? I'm sure it varies greatly, but how long does it take for your milk to dry up? Should I try not to pump at all and if I do, will my milk dry up faster? I've also heard something about Sudafed, does that work? Thanks so much ladies!!
Thanks so much for all of your help ladies! I've been massaging the lumps out (ouch! But it is helping!) and have cabbage leaves on as I type! (Too much information?? :-) All of your advice has helped greatly and I'm already starting to feel a bit better. I'm hoping that in another week, the wells will be at least mostly dry. Hope you are all enjoying the beginning of fall! Thanks again, -c
I went to a local health supplement store a few weeks ago to increase my milk supply, and there were several options for drying it up. If you have a store that sells supplements near you, its worth looking in to. Good luck!
This sounds really crazy, but it worked for me, twice. For the pain, cold cabbage leaves inside your bra. You don't really want to do it in public, though. It looks a little funny. It seems to help dry you up a bit, too, although I'm not sure on that. GL!
C.,
If you can handle it take benedryl every four or is it six hours? Take it like it says on the bottle. Avoid warm showers (HOW?? I know it was hard!), and cut back on your water intake. I just weaned and had a very plentiful supply myself. It took me a week of benedryl and I looked like a really tired person the entire time! But I quit taking it after a week solid and my breasts continued on the drying up journey and I think I'm in the clear there now! Whew!
Good luck! I hate drying up. That part is NO FUN!
V.
PS. ICE PACKS!! They feel really very very nice. Don't hot pack (that would feel good too) it stimulates milk production.
Takes me a total of two weeks to get the wells to dry out! I produce a lot of milk and I'm telling you- don't pump. That's only going to make it worse at this point. If milk leaks, that's normal. Your boobs will definitely be sore and very milk-packed. But swelling and soreness peaks at one week for me and then gradually declines until its dried up completely at two weeks. Take ibuprofen.
Green cabbage leaves work WONDERS. Make sure they're cold, put them in your bra, and remove them when they're warm and wilted. There's something in them that inhibits the milk production. It will only take a few days to significantly stop your supply and they feel "good" on hard, painful breasts. Search the Internet and you will see that women have been relying on this cheap, effective remedy for a long time.
I'm still nursing, but all my friends swear by cabbage leaves. You take cold leaves and put them in your bra. Cabbage is supposed to release a chemical that will dry you up so don't do it unless you're sure. Also pumping will keep up your milk production for sure so stop that.
sudafed is supposed to dry up milk. And for the discomfort, cold cabbage leaves will also draw out the heat, put them directly on your breasts until they are wilted.
HTH,
S.
My adevice is if you stop pumping, your milk will dry faster, that is the advice my doctor gave to me when I stoped bres feeding my doughters, (I have 3 one is 16,7 and 5)I udes to get fever for one to 2 weeks until my milk would dry up. I took advil to keep my fever down and ice packs around my brests. another advice my doctor gave mi was to use a very thight bra and keep it while sleping, while taking a shower, of course you will have to replace it for another after a shower. Ater 2 weeks I was without pain or fever. I hope my advice will help you.
Only pumping an ounce or two should not stimulate you to make more milk. You can put cabbage leaves on your breasts and this will also help to relieve your discomfort and dry you up. Sudafed will also work, but you need the one the pharmasist keeps behind the counter. Good luck. It took me a couple of months to completely dry up after my daughter weaned.
C.:
Keep pumping, but only to take the edge of the feeling of fullness...not to a point of feeling "empty". Use ice afterwards and/or cabbage leaves as described by someone else. Be patient...rushing things can get you in trouble with mastitis and you don't want to go there.
Some other possible helps: sage tea, Motherlove Sage tincture, Altoids peppermints.
S.
PS - if you have lots of milk, have you thought of donating it to the Milk Bank? Your milk can be a God-send to another baby. ###-###-####.
Hey Mama,
Go ahead and drain your breast. It sounds like you're working on a clogged duct and you need to get that cleared out or your next stop is mastitis OUCH and NO FUN--think Flu with and insanely painful breast.
You can use cabbage in your bra to help cut your supply as well as decongestants. You also may want to try binding your breasts.
This is definitely one major reason I encourage other moms NOT to wean cold turkey, but sounds like wee one made up his own mind on that. Sorry.
You may also want to ask your doctor/midwife if there's anything they will offer...also, contact the le leche league.
Good luck mommy.
I know as I have been gradually weaning my son, each time I drop one feeding, it takes my body about 3 days to adjust, so that I don't feel overly full anymore. So you might try simulating this with the pump--cut out one pumping session every 3 days or so. That should allow your body to adjust. I wouldn't stop all at once because of the possibility of a clogged duct or an infection.
Depending how bad it is, you may need to do your own weaning process. Pump a certain number of times a day, and every 3-4 days, cut one of the pumpings out, until you aren't pumping at all. I did the gradual weaning and was great for like the first week. Then all of a sudden, I was hard and painful. I SOOO wanted to pump, but knew that would just make it worse. I put on a smaller bra and stood under a lot of hot showers. I think I was in pain for about a week, then discomfort for about another week, now, totally normal.
I hear taking a strong antihistamine like Benedryl or something for several doses will help to dry up your milk much more quickly. I've never tried it, I always just pumped when I was uncomfortable and it took a few weeks to get dry, but that was before I heard the pills would help! Good luck.
Hi--
The reason sudafed or benadryl works is because your breasts are part of your lymphatic system. Therefore, anything that dries out your nose will also dry up the breast milk. If you don't want to take allergy medication there are natural remedies that act as an anti-histamine. You can try massive amounts of vitamin C (you'll just pee out the extra). You can also try a bioflavanoid called quercetin--this is what we use for allergies and works just as well as benadryl. I learned the hard way that this would dry up milk (I wasn't trying to dry up, just trying to breathe). This would be my vote. I know there are other herbs that will do it but I don't know what they are--ask at the local vitamin store.
Good luck!
J.
I quit nursing 1yr old twins cold turkey (was working through a clogged duct at the time too)...due to having to take a non baby friendly prescription. I took Benadryl and put otter pops (their ease in melting w/o mess, packaging conducive to working in a shelf bra, I had on hand, they weren't frozen solid like ice packs) in a lose fitting shelf bra. I won't lie...it was painful but by day 2 I was well enough to take care of everything I slacked on the day before.
I have had every nursing problem during my 4 kids and strongly suggest clearing up your duct before it turns to mastisis. Do not pump it completely empty. If you feel around you probably can feel where it is clogged (tender, warm, hard like a rock). Massage just that spot (...for lack of a better idea... like the concept of dried out brown sugar). Some times harder/kinda painful massage was more efficient in breaking down what was clogged, but that's up to you on if you want it over faster or more gentle.
Best of luck.
Oh no! I feel your pain. Tried everything normal first- like cabbage leaves and HEAT will relieve it first then COOL but these will not stop the milk from coming just the heaviness. After a week or so, I finally asked a RN/lactation consultant and she suggested Sudafed PE or a benedryl and the sudafed worked! Within a day, I felt relief and in another day the milk had gone. Hope this helps :)
good luck to ya!
Ditto to what Sue P said "exactly". Maybe try eating cabbage too? Best wishes, D.
