Weaning - Bothell, WA

I'd say pump a little, just until you are comfortable. You will probably need to do it a couple of times per day for a few days (up to a week maybe?), but you will be able to give her the milk in a cup, too, so it will still benefit her.

Hey K.,
I don't know if it'll help you w/ the pain but I would go and stand in a hot shower to release some of the engorgement. It helped me a lot and at first, I found myself taking 2-3 short showers a day. It gets better, I promise! Hope that helps you in some way.
M.

If you don't want to continue feeding her breast milk (by pumping) then I would suggest taking sudafed. It will dry you up pretty quickly. Another thing you can use for the pain is cabbage. I know it sound incredibly crazy (I thought my MIL was insane hen she first told me about it!) Get a head of cabbage and remove the leaves. lightly crush/bruise the leaf with a rolling pin to get the juices going and place over your breast inside of a well supporting sports bra. There is something in the cabbage that will dry you and reduce the pain. Make sure you remove and replace the cabbage as it gets warm and wilty or you will end up with a heat rash (don't even ask me how I know this!! haha!!!) Don't plan on going anywhere that day, as you will smell gross!

I swear it works, I've done it with all 4 of my kids!

Good Luck!
S. :)

The cold cabbage leaves absolutely worked for me and my sister. (Our little ones were born two months apart.) It does take a few days. If it gets too uncomfortable, you can manually express some milk while you're taking a shower. It'll get better soon!

Hi - you will probably need to keep pumping a little to relieve the pressure and engorgement. You just need to make sure that you dont empty your breasts when you pump. Eventually it will get better and you will make less and less milk. You can also had express in the shower too...helps to have the warm water. I would not recommend just stopping pumping though...it could get painful if you get too full.

Wet Cabbage leaves in your bra. It can get kind of messy and REALLY stinky, but it really truly helps to draw a lot of the moisture out of your breasts and you will feel better. Since you are a SAHM it should be fairly easy for you to do!! Good luck :)

I have weaned twice now and what I found is that Advil and a tight sports bra is what helped me (wear it 24/7). Pumping will only prolong the pain so avoid it. Honesly it takes about 3-5 days to finally feel better.
Oh and hot showers helped.
-Jessie

I breastfed until my baby went on a nursing strike at 9.5 months, and then I pumped for the next 3 months so I wouldn't have to use formula. When we started him on cow's milk at about 1 year, I weaned myself off the pump by gradually (over about 2 weeks) reducing the number of times of day I pumped (I dropped a pump session about every 1-2 days), and the amount I pumped at each session... it seemed to work just fine - no problems and no need to do anything else. As several other people said, don't pump until empty, just pump until comfortable.

It will get better! DO NOT PUMP

Don't pump it will make the engorgement last longer. You need to just last it out. It is uncomfortable, but nature made it that way. I remember it hurting a lot and all of a sudden it didn't hurt at all.

This happened to me, too. Your body needs more time to adjust since you have been nursing for so long. I weaned over two weeks and it was not enough. I ended up nursing again and doing it over the course of a month, more gradually.

In addition to the cabbage leaves and cold compresses you can try peppermint tea. My sis has nursed 4 kids and she swears by peppermint tea :)
Also you should not pump (it will keep your supply going), but gently express by hand, just enough to relieve your discomfort and avoid mastitis.

K.,

Don't pump! SOme light hand expression can help relieve the worst of it, but don't do too much. Warm showers, as mentioned, and also cold packs - frozen peas worked well for me. The worst was over in a day or two. Hang in there!

best
K.

My lactation consultant and the books I've read on this subject all say that the way the milk dries up is that the breast must stay 'full'. That being said, if you allow too much engorgement to occur you put yourself at risk for mastitis which you don't want to do. Pumping is fine, but only to a point where you relieve the pressure, don't pump to drain fully. Binding the breasts is a no-no from what I've heard because you are again risking mastitis. Binding is something they used to recommend, but don't anymore. Cabbage leaves, sudafed etc are all great ideas. Good luck to you.

Congratulations on your commitment to breastfeed beyond a year!

"Cold" is your best friend-take two of your daughter's disposable diapers and generously fill with water and then place in the freezer. When you wrap the diapers around your breast (the liner touching your breasts) the frozen diaper will provide continuous cold. After 15-20 minutes just take the diaper off your breasts and refreeze to use again in 2-3 hours.
Pumping is for a brief release of your breast fullness if your truly can't tolerate the pain.
It is typical to have 2-3 days of engorgement after the "final feeding". The risk of a breast infection is very low, this swelling is simply because the milk is not flowing and causing a little traffic jam in your milk ducts. Take an over the counter anti-inflammatory i.e. Ibuprofen and that will provide some additional pain management and decrease the tissue swelling in the breast.
I hope this information helps.

Take care,
D.

cold showers, ice packs. don't pump if you get really engorged just release a little with your hands, if you pump you will only encourage more milk production. hot water will bring your milk in till the engorgement has gone down. it will take a couple of days to a week or so. remember it took a couple of day for your milk to come in and it takes longer to leave just like the baby weight, haha.

Hot black tea bags that you have started to steep (just throw a few in a pot and bring to a boil then let them cool slightly before applying). The herbs releive the pressure and heal up any infections. A midwife helped me out on that one. It gave me so much relief and was very aromatic. Someone told me cabbage leaves but I never did get to try that one.

I hve a 3yr. old boy that I breastfed for 17months and an almost 9month old that I am still breastfeeding. I have also been stuck with mastitis twice. The thing that helped me the most when I was engorged was to take a hot shower and the pump just enough to let the pressure off. If you pump too much your body stays in milk making mode. If you try to suffer through it u run the risk of infection, and really messy wake up calls. Good luck, and congrats on feeding your baby for so long. If you dont realize it... maybe you should buy yourself a special something for the hard work and physical sacrifice that comes with all stages of breastfeeding.

I have 2 suggestions:
- Cabbage leaves in bra. Keep the cabbage in the fridge and just peel off a leaf when the one you're wearing wilts. It's like a very mild, fitted, cold pack.
- No More Milk Tea by Earth Mama Angel Baby

I think it took me a couple weeks (but I didn't know about the tea at the time). Good luck!

Hi K.. When I stopped pumping for my twins I had a horrible time with engorgement and even mastitis. What I learned was that I was doing it all wrong. I thought if I really emptied myself out with pumping that I could go longer in between pumpings and eventually stop all together. what I was doing was actually telling my body to produce more milk as I emptied out. What you want to do is pump or hand express just enough to remove the discomfort and then stop. "This will tell your body that you do not need to produce as much milk. If you need a faster solution (and I did), I got some concentrated liquid sage in a tincture bottle and took that for a few days. within the first 24 hours, I noticed a huge difference and I was completely dried up within that week. truly amazing. I ordered mine online from www.herblore.com as I had worked with the herbalist who owns that website when I needed help with my milk supply. I told her the trouble that I was having with weaning and she sent me the bottle of sage. did the trick for me.

Don't pump! That suckling motion will keep your supply up. Use cold compresses, and maybe squeeze a little out in the shower. But it should go away in a few days. If you get a plugged duct you may have to pump or nurse again to avoid mastitis, that kept me from quitting twice!

it seems like it took me about a week of just leaving it be. maybe tylenol or a hot shower and express some to relieve. but if you pump, you will stimulate milk production.

You can pump just enough to take the edge off, but don't pump to drain. Ibuprofen can help too.

yes, it will get better - but you might want to reconsider and continue to breastfeed her.... i nursed mine for 2-1/2 and 4-1/2 years and loved it... if it's a matter of not wanting to nurse as much or as often as you were, you could cut back on the number of nursings per day (and night) and still continue to breastfeed. the book How Weaning Happens is really good about different ways of weaning and partial weaning.

Feed or pump one time a day on each breast, for a couple of days if need be, then skip one breast one day, then skip the other breast the next day. If necessary do that for a few days, then stop altogether. That worked for me. You don't want to be engorged and get an infection...

Don't pump if you want the milk to dry up. Use warm showers to ease some of the discomfort, but the longer you pump or feed the longer it will take to dry up.

I was told that pumping would make it worse and to use binding or something very close to the chest for the engorgement.