Milk Supply Drying Up

Warm, almost hot compresses will help reduce the hardness and discomfort. It will take about another week or so before you feel better. I bound my breasts. I pumped until I was dry and then bound my self all the way around my chest with elastic bandages. You may need to get several. After a week, I was dried up. Since you are hard now, you may need to pump out for comfort sake. Binding is much more comfortable than slowing down on pumping and feeding.

I hope you feel better.

E.

Hi L.,

Pumping is definitely out if you want to dry your milk up. You do not need to ignore your breast health either. Rock hard breasts is never a good thing. Try cabbage leaves. They work wonderfully to relieve engorgement and will also dry milk. You'll want to position chilled cabbage leaves (with holes poked in the leaves) around the nipple until the breast is covered. Leave on about 15-20 minutes. I can't recall the interval of time until you repeat, so I would consult with a breastfeeding consultant. You can visit www.lllalmsla.org/support to locate a La Leche League leader or April is listed for Northeast MS ###-###-#### or ###-###-####). Hope this helps.

M. T.

Congrats on having a freezer full of pumped breast milk!! Wished I had done that when I was pumping and feeding my first! Anyway, my guess is it's basic law of supply and demand. Do you wish to continue to pump breast milk for him? At 7 months he still needs breast milk, not as often and probably depending on how much solids he eats will alter how much milk he drinks. Do you have enough milk to get through a year? Your milk supply will run out, if you do not pump or have him nurse. If your breasts are hard, then pump, they may need to release some of that built of pressure for not having pumped in a week.

The beauty of nursing exclusively vs pumping exclusives is that as the baby gets older he/she drinks what they want/need and then stops. The body is an amazing thing an adjusts to what is needed. If you were nursing him and as he got older and drank less and spaced out as needed your body would adjust. The fact that you were pumping your body didn't know any better, it kept producing what it thought it needed. You can and probably should slow down to pump every other day then try pumping every two to three days.

If you're still having problems call your local La Leche League representative in your area or contact any lactation center and they can definitely help you with any other questions you have!

Good Luck!
A. B

If your breasts are rock hard then perhaps you're moving too quickly towards "weaning." It won't set you back too much, if at all, to pump just enough to relieve the engorgement. You don't want to empty a breast because that signals your body to continue making milk. But if you don't remove some of the milk you may also risk getting mastitis (no fun at all). I also pumped exclusively for my son and had to wean from the pump. You'll probably continue producing milk much longer than you'd expect but as long as you aren't emptying the breast your body will get the message to slow down. Kellymom.com is a great lactation consultant-run site that has lots of info regarding breastfeeding. You might find some helpful suggestions there.

Hi L.

I would pump a little to relieve the pressure ouch!!! I know how painful this can be. I am a mother of 4 breast fed babies. I was never lucky enough to get allot of milk when I was pumping though.

You can try this remedy!

Cabbage Leaves for Engorgement
Severe engorgement about the third or fourth day after the baby is born can usually be prevented by getting the baby latched on well and drinking well from the very beginning. If you do become engorged, please understand that engorgement diminishes within 1 or 2 days even without any treatment. Continue to breastfeed the baby, making sure he gets on well and nurses well. However, if you should get engorged to the point of severe discomfort, cabbage leaves seem to help decrease the engorgement more rapidly than ice packs or other treatments. If you are unable to get the baby latched on, start cabbage leaves, start expressing your milk and give the expressed milk to the baby by spoon, cup, finger feeding or eyedropper and get help quickly.

Use green cabbage.
Crush the cabbage leaves with a rolling pin if the leaves do not accommodate to the shape of your breast.
Wrap the cabbage leaves around the breast and leave on for about 20 minutes. Twice daily is enough. It is usual to use the cabbage leaf treatment two or three times or less. Some will say to use the cabbage leaves after each feeding and leave them on until they wilt. Some are concerned that such frequent use will decrease the milk supply.
Stop using as soon as engorgement is beginning to diminish and you are becoming more comfortable.
You can use acetaminophen (Tylenol™, others) with or without codeine, ibuprofen, or other medication for pain relief. As with almost all medications, there is no reason to stop breastfeeding when taking analgesics.
Ice packs also can be helpful.

Hope this helps!

Take care

J.

Hi L. H

I remember my mom after having a baby along time ago. She would used a ointment that had camphor in it and rub it on. It gradually dried them up. Ask the Pharmist if they have anything that would help with your problem.
I just cannot remember the name of the ointment.
But it I gave you and idea.
Have a good day Today
Vicki W.

You can pump or express the milk by hand just enough to relieve the pressure. If you are not emptying the breast when you do this, you will most likely not produce a "replacement" supply for that small of an amount.

If your breasts are hard pump to comfort, do not express all of the milk, just enough to feel comfortable. This is the safest way of drying up your milk supply. Your supply will continue to decrease over time, but you don't want to risk plugged ducts or mastitis.
-K., CLC

I nursed my 6 year old for 9 months and weened slowly. I have six month old twin boys and I nursed them for 6 weeks and slowly stopped pumping and nursing and my boobs did the same thing. I would try advil and if you need take a hot shower. I know they say not to but it will help with the pain and i have also heard to use steamed cabbage leaves??? The rocks should go away soon! Good luck

i had a similar experience, and my left boob got so hard that I ultimately HAD to pump. But I did just enough to relieve the pain. And then suddenly, there was no more milk. Like within a day. i worried i would produce more milk, too, but the opposite happened. maybe try pumping just so it doesn't hurt and see.

I would pump or hand-express a little until the hardness goes away. It may make you produce milk a little longer, but if you let it go on like this, you could be setting yourself up for mastitis or some other infection. When my SIL weaned her son (at over 2 y/o), she was just nursing him a few minutes at night for several weeks, and when she quit (she used a tight bra to help her dry up), she developed a hard knot in one of her breasts, and it ended up being a clogged milk duct. She was able to take care of it herself (massaging the spot down towards her nipple, and it finally got the milk clog out), but she was getting close to having an infection. And she was barely nursing at all.

Hi L.
I'm not sure after reading your request if you are actually stopping altogether or just slowing down the pumping. So, I'll try and answer your request about relieving the discomfort. Even though you've stopped pumping, you may have to pump a little just enough to relieve the discomfort, otherwise if your breasts stay rock hard you could develop an infection. Yes, by pumping that does stimulate but not as much if you were to totally empty your breasts. As you know, milk production relies on supply and demand, if you don't rely so much on the demand that will tell your body not to supply as much. Take Tylenol if you need to help the discomfort. Also, I found that using warm alternating with cool compresses helped as well. You can also try online resources such as babycenter.com and kellymom.org and la leche league.org all have answers to milk supply. Hope this helps! Good luck.
P.

my breast done the same thing..they were rock hard and hurt like no other..my doctor told me it was just a part of how they start to stop producing milk..as i said it hurts but it is normal

Go ahead and pump that out of both sides. If it has been a week, it may fill up again but it will take 2 weeks this time. You have to do it just like you did by the hour.
If in 2 weeks it comes back, then pump it and then it will take 3 weeks to come back next time. Just keep doing that till it doesn't produce anymore.

Let me tell you from experience. If you want BIG boobs then don't pump it all out. I was really sore on my left side and that was the only one that I did not empty completely. I now have 2 diff size boobs. Of course it really doesn't matter to me. It is not like I am ever going to put them on display BUT the point is.....I think that if you do not pump it completely out, it sort of stays that size.

Personally I don't like boobs and they have served their purpose. I just as soon have small ones.
So just a little fyi.

I say go ahead and pump. It will release you. I never had that much milk I produced, but once I started weening it just went and I never leaked. I don't think pumping even once now would continue your milk that much. If you need to just pump again once in another two weeks and just think of it as continueing your process of weening by really :) stretching out the 'feedings'.

Good luck!
Amanda

Hi L.,
Since you are lucky enough to not have to struggle with supply issues you may have two decent options available. The first is cold compresses (ice packs- or if you like take a disposable diaper and gently wet and freeze- they hold the cold for a long time- by the way if you want warm compressed you can just pop that diaper in the microwave for about 10 seconds and it holds the heat equally as well).

Another option that practically saved my life when I was painfully engorged was using a cold red cabbage leaf. (red cabbage works better than green if you can find it). Basically you take a leaf- wash it in cold water and place over your tender breast for about 10 minutes. This was an amazing help for me- but it did bring my supply way down on that side for a while. Hope this helps. Have you seent the KellyMom website. I found it very helpful. Cheers.
http://www.kellymom.com/bf/concerns/mom/engorgement.html

Hi L.,

You have received some wonderful advice. I wanted to second that warm compresses(for discomfort) and cabbage leaves(to dry up your milk). Also, while you're in the shower you can let the warm water run over, hand express or gently massage your breasts. To massage them just start as far back on your breast as possible and work your way towards the nipple. Do this while the water is running over them. This should help to relieve some of your discomfort as well.

Good luck,
J.

Hi L..
You could try a frozen bag of veggies to help with the pressure. You will continue to produce a small amount of milk for up to 2 years. I know this can be very annoying/painful. I am so sorry. I had to resort to frozen veggies and it helped a lot.
W.

.

That is normal put som cabbage leaves on the girls and take the pain med of your choice. The leaves actually work.

You need to pump the milk out then immediately put on a TIGHT sports bra for the next 2 weeks. only take the bra off for showers and no stimulation to the breasts. This will work for you, worked for me after all 3 of mine stopped nursing.