Breastfeeding cold turkey painful boobs HELP!

[TKG16]

My little one is 18 months. Eats well. Have had whole days apart when he’s had no breast milk but he’s always fed before bed and then wakes throughout night and we’ve ended up taking him into bed where he’s fed /slept for hours. In day when he’s bored / wants comfort etc he also wants to feed, although I’d been trying to change this recently. Still fed through night, so grandparents kindly said they’d take him this weekend so I could get some sleep and try to break the cycle. The problem is having been cold turkey since Friday my breasts are now so engorged and getting sore. I don’t want to stimulate milk production by expressing but don’t want to end up with mastitis and don’t know what to do for the best. Know all the advice is to drop one feed at a time, but he was always kind of on demand and so that hasn’t worked as couldn’t see an end in sight.

Could you just express a bit of milk to ease that over-full feeling? But not as much as for an actual feed

Cold turkey is really not advisable you still need to express and then reduce the expressing.

As above, hand express just enough to relieve the pressure. Hot flannel or warm shower to encourage natural let down.

If the pain doesn't clear, or you see any redness on your breast go to the doctor.

Try a very ful, hot bath with breasts submerged.

I know it sounds weird but cabbage leaves - there is apparently some chemical they emit that helps, also if cold from the fridge = bliss chemical or not. But I would go with express enough to be comfy as it won't be a huge amount.

Cold turkey is a bad idea. Release some of the pressure by a bit if expressing and hot flannels. Reduce your feeding much more gradually. Start with no more taking him into bed and feeding through the night. A destructive habit

Cold turkey will just give you mastitis. Express just enough to take the pain away.

Absolutely agree with other posts. You are headed for mastitis if you carry on. A small amount of expressing isn’t going to keep your supply going forever. And actually whatever you do express could be given to the baby?

At about the same age, I gave DS one last feed about a week after I had stopped for this reason. I was worried that he would want to start againn but actually it was fine and really was the last feed?

Cold cabbage leaves in your bra

A little bit of hand expressing to take the edge off the pain and try taking sage tablets, you can buy them in Holland and Barrett. They really helped me.
I dropped feeds down to two a day when I went cold turkey was still in agony!
Hope it eases soon.

A couple of doses of Lemsip or similar decongestant helps dry up your milk pretty quickly.

I was going to say cabbage leaves too

Another vote for cabbage leaves! I'm usually one for establishment medicine over natural remedies 😂 but I'm sure cabbage leaves helped me.

Yes cabbage leaves helped me physically. Emotionally though I got very unwell, so never advocate cold turkey now.

Frozen cabbage leaves in your bra! So soothing and helps reduce the milk production. Really does help I promise.

If the above doesn't work one of the contraceptive pills will stop your milk production. You'd not need to take it for long. The doctor will know which one it is.

Best hand express just enough so you feel comfortable. It really isn't advisable to go cold turkey, mastitis is awful.

Another for the cabbage leaves. They used to advise that when Mother’s who couldn’t BF for whatever reason had to stop. Never tried it but my DM and DGM swore by it.