how to stop BF without the painful boobs

[emz31]

Have finally managed to get my 6mo DS onto the bottle after 5 months of trying-woo hoo!!however, i now want to stop BF altogether but not sure how to do it. i only did 2 bfs yesterday and woke up this morning like pamela anderson, really painfully engorged boobs. had to express 9 ozs off, but realise that this will only encourage production when i want to stop it - how do i go about this or do i have to put up with a few days of really painful boobs?

[Gillian76]

Hi emz31. I stopped bf my son at the same time and I have to say it was sore for a while. I just fed him once in the morning (found that was the worst time) for a few weeks. After a few days, it settled down. I stopped feeling sore and engorged as my body got used to the single feed.

When I eventually stopped altogether, it was fine.

Don't know if there's a better way of doing it, but HTH!

[SueW]

Express just enough to relieve the engorgement. You should find it doesn't take long for your body to realise it doesn't need to produce milk any longer.

[moongirl]

emz31how did you manage the bottle in the end? My DD is 5 months and been trying cups and bottles for 4 months. She takes an oz then (politely mostly)refuses anything more until i feed her. I've decided i want to switch now and due back to work in 3 weeksarrrghh.

[emz31]

by complete fluke moongirl! have been trying since he was 8 weeks old and spent a fortune on bottles but he just used to scream the place down. he's on 3 meals a day now and takes a little water with meals through a beaker, but basically, i bought the MAM anti colic bottle with softflow teat and left him with his dad for the afternoon (so i wasn't tempted to whip out a boob when the going got tough!) and when i came back he'd taken 9 ozs like a dream - not even bothered about boob now! - so, don't know wether it was the new bottle or just that he was ready to take it - also, psychologically, i was ready to give up, whereas before i think deep down, i still wanted him to BF. hang in there, if my stubborn little monkey can do it then i'm sure you'rs will.
HTH

[mears]

The only way not to get sore boobs is to gradually reduce by one feed at a time with a few days inbetween. Do you need to stop immediately or can you scale down over a couple of weeks?

[emz31]

have only been giving him 2 feeds a day am and pm, cut out am yesterday and am cutting out pm tonight - DS was always a boob man so just want it over and done with so he knows where he is really. my boobs are killing me though and as i type am sitting here with 2 cabbage leaves in my bra - highly attractive and don't think it's helping but any other advice to relieve the pain would be most welcome! ta.

[mears]

You could express for relief when needed. Expressing does not stimulate the breast to produce milk as much as the baby does. Don't give him any feeds at all. I would give him the EBM though - should never be wasted.