Stopping breast feeding, anyone else gone cold turkey?

[Dalrymps]

After too much pain on one side and now starting with pain on other side from overuse i decided to switch to formula before i got too stressed out, was dreading each feed, not what i'd planned but am sure it's the right choice for me and feel much happier now i've made my decision... Anyway, one midwife said to slow down and express occasionally to relieve pressure and will eventually stop producing milk but i spoke to another one today and she said this is just prolonging the discomfort as my boobs will carry on producing milk longer if i keep expressing and will keep getting uncomfortably full in between, she said best to just leave my boobs alone, wear a supportive bra and take paracetamol and after a few days should be better, have gone about 10 hours so far, theyfeel really full but bareable, taking paracetamol every 4 hours, just wondering, has anyone else done it this way and how long did it take before milk stopped? By the way, baby is 3 weeks old and was feeding every 2 hours alternating betwen each breast so each boob got a feed every 4 hours.
Anyway let me know of your experiences

[absandme]

no experience but please be cautious about mastitis..... I have always heard cold turkey isn't too good!

you sound confident in your decision, well done!

A friend of mine expressed a tiny bit to releive the pressure and found that helpful!

[juliewoolie]

Hi,

I defo dont recommend going cold turkey my LO is now 24 wks and I am slowly stopping. I have been advised to feed off the boob then miss a boob and do formula. So one on one off. I am now doing 3 boob feeds and 3 formula feeds a day. If you go cold turkey your breast will get very engorged and the possibility of mastitis is greater.

Doing it this way is giving my boobs the chance to slowly stop naturally and also for my LO to get used to not breast feeding.

Good luck.

[Dalrymps]

hmm yeah i'm gonna see how it goes, if it gets too bad i'll express a little... did mention to the midwife was scared of mastitis and she said i 'shouldn't get it' but to call if i have any concerns/red patches. It's hard to know what to do for the best when different midwives advise different things? also i suspect there is a small possbility i could have nipple thrush although i may be being over cautious, mentioned to the midwife having occasional shooting pains and nipples looked a bit white and sort of 'fizzy' in the bath today but she said this can be the case without having thrush but to see how it goes and see the gp if concerened. This is why i decided to stop giving lo the expressed stuff as if there is a chance i have thrush i don't want to give him it. As you say though, could express occasioinally just to relieve the pressure? Oh i just don't know!

[Dalrymps]

bump

[oliveoil]

I know I will probably get shouted at but are you sure you want to give up b/feeding?

only at 3 weeks you are only just getting a supply going and it will improve?

if not I will shut up

with regard to 'cold turkey', I did this but around the 5 month mark

both of mine were a NIGHTMARE to get onto bottles so once they had taken a bottle, I shut my boobs away (apart from occastionally at night)

I expressed a bit each morning if they were Jordanesque and eventually it settled down

no mastitis or thrush or anything

[Dalrymps]

I'm as sure as i can be, i understand why you ask that though, if i were looking at this thread before i was bf i would probably think the same, initially wanted to bf until 6 months but just can't cope with the pain anymore, i know it may have got better but it was stressing me too much and i was crying whilst feeding and i wanted to enjoy lo, not dread every feed!I probably will regret the decision in some ways but also am happy have swapped to ff and lo has taken to it fine

[Dalrymps]

bump

[Bex22]

Dalrymps, pleased you have been able to change to formula so easily-guess that's because you have been breastfeeding for a short time. I'm trying to stop at 6 months and baby just seems to hate formula- how did you manage and how long did it take, Oliveoil??

[suzi2]

If you're not 100% sure about the stopping I think it would be worth giving one of the BF helplines a call (BFN have always been good in my area) and see if anyone can help you out. Breastfeeding shouldn't be painful. Fair enough, most people have a bit of pain/discomfort to start with but that's probably more due to a bad latch/position. If you can get the latch tweaked a bit then it can make the world of difference. I'm not sure if anyone's checked you over but it would be worth trying to see someone in the know on this. And TBH, that's probably not your MW as they're generally not particularly knowledgeable about breastfeeding.

As for the cold turkey stopping, it could put you at risk of mastitis. I would suggest that the best thing to do is to express a little to make yourself comfortable every 4 hours or so, but not so much that you keep a supply going. Just an ounce or less perhaps. It might take a wee bit longer that way but within a couple of days you'd find that the discomfort was passing and you may only need to express a little now and then for another few days.

[suzi2]

Sorry, maybe should have said where I was coming from. I know many women who have had pain, bleeding nipples, cracked nipples, blocked ducts etc and have had a BFC help them with adjustments to their latch and have then gone on to feed pain free for months afterwards. I had a cracked a bleeding nipple with my DS and a very good mw worked with me and DS until his latch on that side was good and he wasn't catching me anymore. It healed within a couple of days and I fed him for a year.

[chipmonkey]

Dalrymps, on ds2 I got mastitis after missing ONE feed. ( Bloody MIL gave him too much milk when I was out so he didn't want to feed at all!) Please go easy, mastitis isn't pleasant

[Dalrymps]

Thanks for the advice chipmonkey, i had a hot bath tonight and massaged boobs a bit just to relieve the pressure and stop the milk going stangnent in the ducts, will keep doing it when i get uncomfortable, might take a bit longer but as you say i don't want to get mastitis...
Yeah bex22 the switch to ff was quite smooth, as you say i've only been bf for a short time so think this helped, only advise i can give is that i gave ebm in a bottle a few times and once lo was used to that gave formula, however if it's not warm enough he rejects it and spits it out so thats one thing to consider?