breast refusal -> engorged breasts - what to do now??

[thinkingwhattodotoday]

my dc (10mth) has just started to refuse the breast. it might be teething or just that she is now a bit old for it and doesn't want to.
anyway, I expressed milk yesterday from just one breast as i wanted to feed her it. she drank the milk but hasn't breast fed since friday.
the breast i expressed from it now huge and totally engorged and vv painful.
what should i do now?? would more expressing make it worse long term??
if i just ignore will it eventually go down??
and what about dc does she need formula - should i express for her (don't want to do this long term)?
if i switch to cows milk how much does she need??
tia!

[FetchezLaVache]

AFAIK if you express it'll keep the supply up, which you may or may not want to do, depending on whether you hope to start BFing again (assuming this is just a phase) or take the opportunity to wean her off the breast. I wonder if you could perhaps express increasingly small amounts over the next few weeks to reduce production gradually- would that work?

[sc2987]

It sounds like a nursing strike (babies don't generally self-wean till over 2 years, not 10 months!).

If you pump, try hand-expressing afterwards to get more out to give to her.

www.kellymom.com/bf/concerns/baby/back-to-breast.html#strike