I’ve been expressing milk for my baby son since just a few days after he was born. Breastfeeding didn’t work as he never would latch on properly. Now that he’s six months old I’ve decided to stop expressing and switch to formula (which he already gets one bottle a day of, so no worries about him rejecting it). My question is how do I get my milk production to stop? I thought I could do it cold turkey but after spending the day in agony and having to pump a couple times (not fully, just enough to take the edge off) I’m thinking that I’m going about it wrong.
This may be unrealistic but I’d like to be fully finished with expressing by next Wednesday, as we leave the next day for a trip to the US and I’d rather not have to take a pump with me if at all possible.
How do I do this without such extreme discomfort? Or should I just resign myself to a week or so of agony?
There’s no way to tell how long it will take you to stop lactating completely. Even after weaning babies very very gradually, I sometimes leaked milk (though had no discomfort) for months after.
With my first baby I had to do what you are doing, express milk. When I stopped I pumped just enough to take the edge off. It did taper off pretty quickly, but I think you better take your pump with you. As much as a pain as carting it around will be, it’s nothing compared to the pain and grottiness of being engorged and leaky in some strange place with nothing to help you out. Take some ibuprofen too.
Also, stopping so quickly can really screw with your hormones, so be prepared for possible mood swings.
Good luck, and good for you for pumping for so long!
You are not going to believe this but it really does work. A bit of old country wisdom from my Great Aunt Lilly:
Put cabbage leaves in your bra.
No, seriously. Buy a green cabbage. Remove some of the outer leaves. Bruise them (that is, crumple them) in your hands or with a rolling pin to break the veins. Put them on your breasts. (If they are cold it feels nice, too, though this is not mandatory). Cover the whole breast, the sides, too, nearly to your armpits. Putting them in your bra just makes it easier to keep them there. Wave goodbye to engorgement.
Great Aunt Georgie swore by sage tea, a cup three times a day. I never tried that one, as it lacks the immediacy of the other. Well, there are very few things as immediate as a cabbage. But what I mean is, it works faster and I was prepared to do any number of things to make that pain stop now, right now.
I found I was in some pretty serious pain for a few days, and some minor discomfort for a few days after that. It’s different for everyone, but if you stick to pumping as little as possible, you’ll probably be done before the week is out.
My wife nursed our kids for a year, then went cold turkey. For about 4 days she was fine, then the agony began for another 4-5. She was so full she constantly felt as if they were about to burst. A couple times she had to go into the bathroom and squirt them into the sink. But after those few days, that was it. She’d occasionally leak (during sex mostly), but she wore nipple pads for a couple weeks and then she was done.
Ewww on cabbage leaves. It made me smell like sauerkraut with daughter #1. When we weaned her to formula 9 months it was about a 2 week process of eliminating transition a nursing feed to a formula feed (she really liked the formula!)
I am not a lactation consultant, but the less you can pump the better. I notice that it takes about 24-48 hrs to notice an extra or missed feeding (when you’re trying to remove a feeding)
. It is going to be a bit painful for a few days, but then your body realizes ‘hey, I don’t need to be making milk.’ I think after about a month we started weaning my milk had completely gone away. If the pain is too much, just put a cold compress on it.
Planning on doing the same thing with daughter #2 (8 weeks) is about 9 months old - for the go n grow formula.
Keep on expressing when you need to, but as little as possible. Cold turkey isn’t advisable because it’s likely to lead to engorgement and blocked ducts, which can lead to mastitis, which really is very unpleasant indeed.
Of course, now that you’re not saving the milk for your son, you don’t have to worry about what happens to the milk. You don’t actually need a pump to express milk, especially if you’re not saving the milk. You could just lie down in the bath, squeeze away with your hands (baths help with expressing), then rinse yourself off afterwards.
Hand expressing takes a bit of practice, but I actually found it much, much easier than using the pump. It helps to warm your breast up a bit first, and it helps to lean forward and slowly massage the breast, but, to be honest, when your breasts are full they don’t need all that much encouragement to let the milk out - at least, when they’re used to giving out milk, like yours are.
Thanks for all the advice. I’ll try the cabbage leaves and just pump a little to take away the sting. I definitely want to avoid blocked ducts as I had that in the beginning and had to have a huge sore lump drained a few times - not fun! I’ve got a little hand-held pump that I guess I’ll take with me when we travel next week just in case.
Probably a bit late for you at this point but those are the two things I’d have suggested. Don’t express / pump any more than you absolutely HAVE to to relieve the pain. Over-the-counter painkillers such as ibuprofen (Advil etc.) or Tylenol might be helpful. Ice bags also. This was what the lactation consultant said for a friend of mine who suddenly had no more need to lactate
I have not done this myself, but I have heard of people taking Sudafed for a couple of days to help the process get started. It apparently dries everything out, not just your nose! I know that I avoided it when I was breastfeeding because I did notice a significant drop in my milk production the one time I took it.
Just thought I’d update. I’ve been hand-expressing when things get too sore and while it was pretty painful the first few days it’s gotten much better already. Unfortunately I sent my husband to the store for cabbage and he came home cabbage-less - claiming they were out. I’m inclined to think he just didn’t look hard enough, but oh well, I’ve managed okay without it.
Thanks for all your advice.
And Mama Zappa I’m sorry about your friend. I just can’t imagine.
