PLEASE HELP - ANYONE WHOS STOPPED BREASTFEEDING

[gossifer]

Hello

I've just recently(Saturday) stopped the 7am/7pm/9pm breastfeeds. I expressed until Tuesday night, twice a day, a little bit less each time. My boobs stopped feeling engorged. They now feel bruised inside and there feel like lumps.
Is this normal, or should i still be expressing?
Help!
And thankyou
Gossifer

Sounds like blocked ducts? Have you tried hot baths and hot flannels to clear it out? I know people say to avoid heat on them when you're quitting because it encourages milkflow but the only way I could clear my ducts without mad amounts of pumping was with heat!

Have you tried chilled savoy cabbage leaves down your bra? Sounds weird, but works for some! Maybe try an ice pack or frozen peas first and if they're still horribly lumpy try hot things.. and then if they get worse go to the doctor or see your health visitor..

thanks fastasleep
will see what i've got in the freezer, and if that doesn't work, a hot bath!

fastasleep
do i then try and express the unblocked duct?

bump

thanks

I would only express if you absolutely feel you have to, or it just won't stop... if it's really really hurting then try starting off your easing out of expressing regime again, start of with twice a day again to ease the pain then cut down the time you do it twice then do a longer one once a day, then cut down the time gradually until you don't feel the need anymore...

It worked for me, but I was steadily cutting down for months and months... breasts are so blooming tricky!

Have you stopped three feeds in one go? Maybe ease off more slowly? Drop one,then a week later another and so on?

It does sound like blocked ducts, I think you might need to express more, and slowly reduce again. More slowly this time, though. (Oh, and while you express, if you massage the bumps, they will go down faster.)

To go from three feeds a day to none is a big step - when I stopped with DS1, he was down to one feed per day, so there was no pain.

How old is your little one?

Savoy cabbage, can't recommend it enough and expressing/massaging, sounds like blocked ducts, try and clear them quickly before it turns into mastitis, which is horrible.

he's 8 months old nearly
i went out on saturday for the longest time i've been away from him (been feeling v.down and needed abreak) and got v.drunk, so expressed when home and the next morning; he didn't miss it at all, in the way he did when i started to drop the day feeds, so i thought why not now stop altogether
maybe done too fast

Oh yes mastitis is horrible! I was so desperate I got DH to have a good old suck on them when I had mastitis... poor man...

I stopped when I was on 2 feeds, am was a normal feed but pm was if dd could be bothered! One of my breasts was painful for aabout 2 weeks (the other was fine). I wore a tight bra and had the lumps you described. Hot water and flannels helped and after 2 weeks I managed to hand express a little off (by hand expressing you won't be doing it enough to stimulate your supply) which finally eased the pain.

Sympathies as it's horrible.

gossifer, if you don't want to stop why not try feeding him, maybe just one feed a day and that would help with the engorgement.

hi
when i stopped feeding I cut down the expressing to expressing in a hot bath/shower..had the lumpy bits and burning but it did ease after a couple of days.

When I stopped feeding DS2 I did it completely cold turkey and although I was terribly uncomfortable I found that hot showers and gently massage in the shower stopped the engorgement/lumps getting any worse.

hello
thankyou all for advice & support
i love mumsnet
dp ran me a v.hot bath and i lay there & massaged the lumps and then expressed a bit from each boob
feels much better, obviously stopped expressing too early
thanks again

Gossifer - how are you doing ?
I was going to start a really similar thread but then I found this one so I thought I'd see how you're doing first.

I stopped b/f about a week ago after slowly reducing over the last 2 months. Was fine for first few days but now feel kind of bruised around nipple area. No sign of engorgement and not like when I've had blocked ducts before - e.g. it's even and in both breasts & not lumpy. ANyone think this is the same thing or something else? No discolouration or anything to see at all. Just a bruised feeling.

dear magscat

so sorry i haven't been on since last week

how are you? does sound fine to me, i think you really have to worry if there are lumps, but if just bruised then its your boobs just changing back, its really hard that there is no advice anywhere though isn't it?

gossifer

Thanks Gossifer. Still no lumps but still feeling tender - maybe like you say it's just the changing back. Don't remember feeling like this with ds but I didn't feed him as long (4 months as opposed to 8.5 this time).

Hope you are feeling ok

PS - changed my name for Halloween !

Magscat

Hello Witchycat
My boobs still tender too, no more lumps though.
Wish ds knew that, likes to climb all over them at the mo!
Hope you feel better soon

I had a bout of mastitis whilst bf and I found that one of those hot warmer things that you heat up in the microwave was a big help. Better than a hot watter bottle as it forms to your shape and stays put better