My daughter is almost ready to be weaned off of the breast. She is almst 10 months old and becoming less interested in breastfeeding. Im not going to completely stop until she is a year. I want help to stop lactating when the time comes. How do i ease the discomfort in that and stop producing milk? Any suggestions for moms who have been through it before? Thank you!!!
Slowly weaning is the best way to avoid discomfort. Take away one feeding every 5 days or so. When you have completely weaned, if you are having some discomfort, you can pump only to relieve discomfort, don't do a full pumping because that will just stimulate more milk.
J.
There's a pill that the doctor can give you to dry up the milk...don't take it. I made the mistake of taking that pill once and the milk just kept pouring out...not dripping...pouring. You could try a really tight sports bra and ice packs...the downside to that is that you can't take off the bra until you're totally dried up...not even to shower or the milk will start coming again. The easiest, less messy way to do it is just start cutting back feedings. The less the baby nurses the less milk you will make. Example: if you normally feed the baby every 4 hours, try every 6 hours for about a week, then go to every 8 hours for a week, then every 10 hours....and so on until the baby isn't breast feeding anymore. It'll take a while to get the baby off, but your body will gradually stop producing milk and without so much swelling and pain and mess.
Just cut down the times you breastfeed and have your mom keep her for todays. You stop supplying as much. But you will have to pump. Now I just produce alittle milk. I mix in formula to. But you have to be careful because you can dry completely up.
I breastfed my son untill he was 15 months old. He never had a bottle. When he was about 10 months old he also became less interested in breastfeeding, sometimes only nursing twice a day. When I stopped, I didn't feel any engorgement or discomfort, and I did nothing special. I think that as they get older they will nurse less, and you should dry up without any problems. That was my experience.
I stopped nursing after 10 or 11 months and I thought I would be uncomfortable and leak all over the place. That never happened. Maybe it was just me, but my milk just dried up after a couple of days. Just don't pump if you get swolen. The less stimulation the better. With my second baby I did not nurse at all, and I was swolen and leaking, so I listened to the old wives tale about the cabbage. It worked... I bought one head of cabbage and washed the leaves, then put them in the freezer. I wore a sports bra and put the cabbage leaves in the bra. It felt so much better and my milk dried up super fast. My husband could not stand the smell, but it did work. Good Luck!
Don't worry about the discomfort. The only people I know who even had any discomfort were the ones who weaned their babies early. You've probably noticed that you don't have any milk until your daughter starts to nurse and then it comes in...when she stops nursing you may have a little milk come in but you won't have a full let down. After a couple days even that stops.
This sounds reducloulas but works great buy a head of cabbage
take the leaves and place on breast put on bra to hold on place they are a little cold but you could bring to room temp first. Only need a couple of times. Mother nature! other wise you could call you doctor. But med is somewhere around $80
Like everyone else said, gradually taking away a feeding is the best to do if baby is under 12 months old. I nursed my kids until well after a year each. They just cut down alot by themselves once they hit a year. Too busy doing other things. Your body will produce less milk after a year, becasue they don't drink as much each time, so when it's time to stop there's no problems. At a year, my kids would be nursing about 6 times a day (snack time, right after eating meals). So I just stopped nursing them after meals - which cut out 3 a day. And I never noticed. No discomfort or engorgment or anything. My son nursed 1-2 times a day for another few months. My daughter continued for another 6-7 months with those 1-2 times a day. Basically one day I decided to stop offering - the "don't offer, don't refuse" method. My son stopped asking within a few days, my daughter a few months.
But anyways... if you continue to nurse until a year, you don't have to worry about any discomfort or anything when you stop, even if you drop 2-3 feedings in a day. So just continue what you're doing until the birthday and then wean and you'll be done within a couple weeks. After 1-2 days of not nursing, you're body will just stop producing milk. No extra help needed.
Just as a side note... most 8-10 month olds go through a stage where they don't seem interested in breastfeeding. They are just too busy wanting to explore the new world that suddenly opened up to them since this the time most are crawling, cruising or walking. For most it's just a stage and if you continue to offer to breastfeed, most will continue happily after getting through this stage. If you want to continue to breastfeed past a year (world health organization says 2 years is best) just continue to offer and she'll probably still be interested in a few weeks. If you want to stop, that's fine, too of course. Just don't feel like you "have" to stop at a year.
As long as you don't wean abruptly, it will come pretty easily. Start by cutting out one nursing at a time and by the end you won't have much of anything to cause any discomfort!
Good Luck:)
Your body will produce less breastmilk as your child requires less. It's one more of those amazing mom/baby physiological reactions. The less your baby nurses, the less milk your body will produce. I nursed my children until they weaned themselves. By the time they quit, I was barely producing any milk at all and there was no pain. A 10 month old's digestive system cannot digest enough solid foods to get adequate nutrition without breastmilk. I would be careful that you and your baby are ready for weaning. There are also many antibodies that your baby receives from your milk that help keep your baby healthy. So, breastmilk is some really invaluable stuff that would be good to keep around as long as possible. That said, if you really want to stop producing milk, make sure that you don't pump, that way you'll only produce what the baby actually drinks. Drink lots of water, water will help flush your system and keep you from having painful swelling. And be sure to listen to your body and your baby's. If you listen, your body will tell you when it's time to wean. Just remember, homosapiens have been nursing their babies for thousands of years, your body really does know what it's doing. Good Luck.
My son weaned at about 7 months, and I just weaned my daughter at 14 months. When my son lost interest, I pretty much just stopped offering it, and he never asked for it. I was working, and he was just as happy with a bottle.
My daughter never took a bottle, so she was a little less enthusiastic about weaning, but before weaning her, we would nurse anywhere from 1 to 4 times a day. I could tell those feedings were non-nutritive. It was her mommy time. I just stopped with both my kids, and didn't have any trouble with engorgement or pain at all. On a side note, my daughter only took a day or two to transition out of nursing. Whenever she would try to lift my shirt, I would show her my belly button instead. Now she just wants to see my belly button, and look for her own.
Just do a gradual wean....Take away one feeding every week or two and you should be good. I am weaning my daughter right now and this seems to be working for me. The first day or two after I take one feeding away I feel fuller, but I don't have any pain or anything....Good luck, hope this helps some..
T.
