Help I want to wean my little girl of me without getting masititus again

[weemcgee]

Hi my little girl is now 22 weeks I have had Mastitus three times and thrush on the breast. I decided enough was enough when I got mastitus for the third time a couple of weeks ago. The problem I have is my right breast in particular gets really engorged I am terrified of getting mastitus again. I have cut out one feed and replaced it with a bottle of formula milk. My little girl has just started solids a couple of weeks and is now eating twice a day. Can anyone give me advice on how I should cope with the engorgement as sometimes it is so painful I have to express some off in the middle of the night to be able to get back to sleep. I also have tiny lumps and try to massage it out incase it gets blocked. However, I know by expressing it stimulates the breast so I feel a bit overwhelmed about what to do here! I'm going on holiday to the south of France in couple of weeks and really wanted to wean her off me as the thought of having mastitus on holiday is not really not appealing but not sure if I should be doing this more gradual over a few weeks, month, months, etc.

[MigGril]

I don't think you'll be able to stop in just a couple of week's to be honist espicaly with the ongoing problems you seem to be having. Is it just the mastitus that is making you want to stop?

There can be reasions for recurring mastitus, have you had your latch checked?
Has the inital mastitus been treated effectively?

Mastitus is swelling of the breast tissue and is offten caused by a blocked duck and milk not being removed effectivly from the breast, there is some really good info hear www.breastfeedingnetwork.org.uk/pdfs/BFN_Mastitis.pdf on self help measures. It would be wise to get this sorted first before you go any further with stopping as you can risk it getting worse if it's not sorted out.

[weemcgee]

To be honest that has a large part to play in my decision. I wanted to get to six months but I was so ill with it last time I thought enough was enough & I'm nearly at the 6 months mark so I feel good I've managed to continue even with all the set backs I've had. I had problems from the very beginning with getting my little one to latch on because my breasts were so engorged she just couldn't latch on. I had lots of help from midwifes, health visitors, breast feeding experts. All of them said that they thought I had a fast let down & one midwife suggested using a nippleshield to help slow the milk down. It actually did the trick. I eventually managed to get her to feed without the shield in week 8. All of the experts said my attachment was textbook. I even paid a breastfeeding lady to help me because I was so desperate to feed her and give her the best start. The breast feeding expert on her last appointment with me said she felt she had failed me as Islay wouldn't latch on without the shield. She had a 20 year success rate. As you can imagine I didn't think it would happen but I still kept trying & she eventually just latched on.

Thanks for the info on mastitis but I becoming a bit of an expert about what to do when I get it. The doctor couldn't understand at the hospital why I got it again because he couldn't detect any cracks. I really thought I had the whole breastfeeding sorted until about four weeks ago when I got it again & then it came back a couple of weeks ago.

As selfish as this sounds I'm quite looking forward to having my breast back. I love my wee girl more than anything but don't think it's right her seeing me crying my eyes out feeding her. It's been hard emotionally & I just want to enjoy motherhood.

I have had so much advice about breastfeeding but not sure how to stop. Any help would be much appreciated!

[MigGril]

You need to drop one feed at a time and with your history giving a week between droping feed's is probably the best way to go. Some people manage to drop a feed every few days. But I'm gessing you don't want to risk mastitus again.

There is a bit more info hear www.kellymom.com/bf/weaning/weaning_techniques.html

Well done for getting this far. If you have anymore and want to BF there are nursing posstions which will help with fast letdown, much better then using nipple shilds.

[weemcgee]

Thanks MigGril for all the information. I'm going to continue feeding for awhile. I've dropped 2 feeds but going to keep feeding her at night and in the morning for awhile. I just feel better I know what to do now when the time is right. I'm not using the shields anymore but it wasn't only the let down but my breast were really engorged in the morning till lunch time for about 6-7 weeks. My little one just could latch on & the shields helped her latch on to something as my nipples are quite flat. Thankfully it all calmed down after that. I'm interested to know about the different positions incase to prevent a fast let down incase I have baby number 2 & have this problem again. Even with the shield i was spraying everywhere. I used to have to bring a few towels as i would be soaking after feeding her. I was wondering if you have a link or know where I can get the information. Thank you so much again for all the advise & links!