Anyone know anything to dry up milk supply?

[Rachie1986]

Just that really. I've heard of things to boost supply, but anyone know anything I could take to stop supply if I want to stop feeding?

Dr says they don't prescribe anything anymore.

Is there a reason it has to be quick? Just don't feed, express a tiny bit if you feel like you're going to burst and wait. Savoy cabbage in your bra sounds like a myth but really does help with engorgement (you do smell a bit cabbages though). Watch for any signs of mastitis.

Rachie, your doc is right. There are concerns about side effects which can be serious. Nature does the job by itself - not feeding reduces supply. If there has been an established milk supply this needs to be done gradually.

If you would like more info, then happy to share, but I'd need more details on your situation.

The decongestant in Lemsip can help a bit. As SPB says, watch for signs of mastitis.

Someone said to be placing a paste of flour and water on the breast. No idea if there's any truth to it. Maybe worthwhile googling?

ShineSmile, I think the "someone" who said that flour paste applied to breasts will dry up milk is probably mistaken

Someone mentioned sage tea to me for this- has anyone tried it?

Thanks everyone

Tiktok - dd is 6 months. Have been dropping daytime feeds ready to go back to work. Currently do 7am feed and 6pm onwards (frequent evening feeder). Have struggled dropping feeds as my supply seems really strong - it's taken 5 weeks just to drop 2 feeds and I'm still really full and uncomfortable by the 6pm mark. I'm just worried how to drop the rest without it being agony. I used to express a bit, but am not good at hand expressing and when I used the pump it seemed to just stimulate me to make more milk and I was getting fuller and fuller..

I need to drop the feeds over the summer as I can't face standing infront of a group of teenagers with rock hard leaky boobs (am a teacher!) if I don't sort it by sept and have to try and give up then.

Am just so scared of it being agony all the time, it's making my PND worse just worrying about it.

Sorry for whinge!

If your LO is 6 months and is starting solids you may find it gets a lot easier to drop feeds over the summer as her solids intake ramps up - I continued to breastfeed but I was feeding a lot less once both boys really got the hang of eating, they just sort of dropped feeds by themselves and my supply adjusted to match.

Agree with leedy's points above - when my DS was about 7.5/8 mo he started to "get" solids and started to BF a lot less during the day. I didn't do anything to encourage that, to just happened naturally.

DS only feeds from one side and I had a few days where I was really sore and exceptionally lopsided :) I just expressed into the sink for about 30 seconds a few times a day and then in the shower. I'm not good at hand expressing either so this was literally a few squeezes at a time.

My body adjusted remarkably quickly and I've no problems now.

And the medication that used to be given to dry up milk has some nasty side effects so it's not something to be considered anymore I believe.

Oh and Kellymom has a section about herbs etc that can lower supply - from memory one thing is peppermint so if you are very uncomfortable you could try some peppermint tea?

Just to give another option - it would be unlikely you'd be rock hard or leaky by September, because milk supply really settles down once you've got things established. It would be possible to just feed at evenings and weekends and have normal boobs the rest of the time.

Yes, that's what I did eventually, wasn't a problem at all in terms of engorgement/leakiness.

At 6 months it might take this long to drop 2 feeds, but it will happen much faster as time goes on and you move to more solids. It's also much harder to drop feeds when you're home with the baby - when I went back to work this time if been struggling to drop daytime feeds for about a month, but after a week everything had almost settled with just a little fullness in the afternoons and after 2 weeks it was gone (even though I was still feeding at night). I did have to wear slightly looser tops in week 1, and a couple of times hand-expressed a little into a breast pad in the loos, but it was not noticeable.

If it is really getting you down, do you have someone else who could take over during the day for a few days to make it more of a short sharp change? Or if not, are you making sure to be outside or doing something interesting at the times you'd usually feed? Ds was a little older but it helped me a lot to fill him up a little before the usual feed time and then take him out to the park to roll around and have a change of scene.

Thanks for all the advice :-)