Sudden weaning from breastfeeding - Help please

[SpottyMonotty]

Any tips to reduce the pain of stopping suddenly? I can't get a handle on hand expressing and I don't have a pump. I can only get drops out and my breasts are so sore. I've had cabbage leaves on all day, which are lovely and cold which I believe helps. Any idea how long it takes for milk to stop being produced? If I still offered my baby one feed a day of breastmilk will that help or extend the agony? Any tips welcome

[HumpHumpWhale]

How many feeds were you doing before you stopped? I'd cut down one feed at a time. Going cold Turkey is a recipe for mastitis.

[Frickssake]

My son bit me at 6 months. Neither of us wanted to breastfeed again. Warm baths and expressing by hand worked for me

[Jokie]

Peppermint/mint is meant to help reduce supply so try some mint tea?

[Bluewall]

How many feeds were you doing ? If it was a few it's best to drop one at a time then let your milk adjust for a couple of days before dropping another.

[SpottyMonotty]

I was doing 7-8. I don't want to wait weeks, I need to stop quickly. Frickssake how long did you do the hot baths and hand expressing for?

[CustardCreamLover]

Can you take something to dry you up? I think certain herbs can interfere with milk production (possibly peppermint?). Have a Google.

[nespressowoo]

If you want to stop quickly you need to stop all feeds. If you remove milk from the breast you will just make more. Wear a tight fitting bra. Decongestants can help dry milk up.

[User12879923378]

Can you borrow or hire a hospital grade pump? I know some people hate the idea but you can sterilise the flanges or buy new ones for yourself to fit to a borrowed machine.

[BabyDarlingDollfaceHoney]

Why do you need to stop so suddenly?

[AllTheProsecco]

Sudafed helps dry up

[queenqueenqueen]

Why do you need to stop?

[EastEndQueen]

Midwife here - really wouldn’t recommend just going cold turkey as you are putting yourself at major risk of mastitis.

I would normally recommend cutting down one feed at a time but if you need to stop fast for some reason then you could replicate this by expressing at those feeds. See if a friend has a pump you could borrow - mine has been lent out everywhere! eBay has basic hand pumps for around £5 too.

If you are expressing just to get the worst off and throwing away the milk rather then giving it to DC them you don’t need to sterilise the pump or anything so expressing is less hassle

Finally there are medicines which stop lactation, but a doctor wouldn’t normally give them at this stage (they are usually for women who has sadly lost their babies so the milk production doesn’t cause them further pain) but if you are stopping BF quickly for a very serious reason/ major life trauma then I would ask your GP and they may consider prescribing

[Brown76]

Sage is the magic herb that dries up the milk (just normal dried sage from supermarket) 1/3rd tsp 3 x per day, Sudafed also works, and cabbage leaves. But that’s a sudden stop and continuing to feed a bit while taking these measures will help. Could you do twice a day for a week then stop?

[Bluewall]

Going from 7-8 feeds to nothing it's going to be painful. If you really don't want to fees anymore you would be better getting a cheap pump and expressing maybe a couple of times a day at least and then cut it down every few days. Even if you could spread it out over 10 days 2 weeks I think that would be less painful and less chance of getting mastitis which you really don't want !

[Ihatehashtags]

I would not recommend it. My midwife told me I should stop cold turkey and it was torture. Absolutely terrible advice. I got such bad mastitis.

[SpottyMonotty]

Thanks everyone. I've breastfed twice today to ease the pressure and used cabbages leaves the rest of the time! Breasts are a lot less painful now and milk seems to be reducing. Hopefully another day or two and then I can stop completely.