Help! How can I dry up my milk & relieve engorged breasts!

[chubbychipmonk]

DS 5 days old, started him on a bottle yesterday as I only wanted to BF for first few days.

He's been doing great on bottle but my milk has now all come in and I've got very sore, engorged breasts.

Have read conflicting advice about whether to express/ pump a little to relieve the pressure or whether to leave well alone? So far I've just been wearing tight bra, taking paracetamol, ice packs & Savoy cabbage leaves.

Will it just go away & dry up? With my first DS I fed him for 5 weeks & allowed milk to dry up gradually but this time I just want it gone! How long will it take for breasts to return to normal?

Am soooooo uncomfortable

I stopped breast feeding at 5 days and went cold turkey! No expressing, midwife suggested no stimulation to breasts/nipples. I used Savoy cabbage leaves and was told to massage any hard spots in the breast to avoid mastitis. After the first day the pain was better and bareable. Needed to wear breast pads for a couple of weeks, especially at night.

I stopped BFing at 12 days and my MW recommended a tiny bit of hand expressing 3x per day just to take the edge off the pressure/discomfort. And then gradually reduce to 2x per day and then once over the next week or so...it worked and dried up within about a week.

I gave up last Thurs after 24 days and expressed a small amount til Sat, and just kept a check on hard patches in boobs. Had to wear breast pads Sat but not since then and boobs back to normal by Monday - apart from the peeling nipples, result of DD gnawing them to bits!

Best to express a tiny bit for comfort a couple of times a day to start with and then try to decrease the number of times over the next 1-2 weeks. Just keep an eye on hard lumps to prevent mastitis. But when expressing don't get carried away because it feels like such a relief. Literally just one or two squeezes each side. It tricks your boobs into thinking you need much less milk than is in them.