Stopping breast feeding

[WeedlesHatOfDisappointment]

On the advice of Drs, I've been told to stop breast feeding as of today. I'd obviously like to do this as quickly and painlessly as possible. Any advice? I know about savoy cabbages

Could you go into more detail? Obviously if you'd like to stop that's fine. But GP's do not have much training on breastfeeding, so it's always worth checking if stopping is necessary :)

How old's little one?

P.s there is an infant feeding topic, which can be good for advice. Admin can move this over for you if you wanted it there.

If this is absolutely essential (and not a medication issue where the Dr has not researched compatibility of meds with breastfeeding) then it is probably going be necessary for you to express while stopping to reduce the chance of blocked ducts/mastitis. If you take the number of times you would bf in 24 hours, and on each occasion , just express a small amount. Every few days, drop a 'feed', so the process will take a little while, depending on how much you are feeding now.
The Dr might be able to prescribe something to help your milk dry up, which would speed up the process.
Hope you are ok with bf finishing this way OP

Can you express so your DC still has breast milk and you can slowly stop?

Little one is 7 weeks old. I'm on my 3rd time of mastitis, and ended up in hospital today for iv antibiotics. 2 doctors have told me to stop due to the mastitis, and the types of antibiotics. To be honest, I'm happy to stop now as well.

I just introduced one more formula feed each day until they took over. I didn't get engorged that way. Ds was 6 weeks old.

Owch op that sounds like you've had a rough ride. Well done for getting to 7 weeks.

I'm disappointed that the perfect prep didn't exist when ds was a baby! Looks so fast!!

We actually bought a perfect prep after mastitis number 2, where I was going to give up. Used it tonight, it's amazing! DS is quite milk drunk at the moment

I had recurrent mastitis on DS2. In the end I gave up while still on oral antibiotics - I just pumped as little as possible to relieve pain and used cabbage leaves in my bra and took paracetamol and ibuprofen. It still hurt like hell for a couple of days and I started the pill around the same time which helped dry up the milk.

Think thats my plan moo just keep thinking this time next week, I shoukd hopefully be sorted!

Bloody ouch! Anyone have an idea of how long it takes for it to get better. It's very painful at the moment, I can't even pick up ds. Luckily dh is off now till monday. Will I be better by then?

When I stopped with dd1 I was only feeding twice a day and I was in agony! You have my sympathies! I think the pain was awful for around two days then eased. Best thing for me was to take paracetamol, hand express a little when it was agonising to just take the edge off and massage my boobs in a hot shower. I would def do those things as you're probably in more pain due to mastitis. Sorry you've had a rough time.

Thanks anna last night and this morning I'm in a lot of pain, but hoping it will ease off...

I stopped at a similar time and the worst was over in a couple of days. Regular ibuprofen and plenty of massaging in a hot shower just to take the edge off. The perfect prep was amazing, used to come everywhere with us!

Painkillers have kicked in thank goodness. I'm not moving from my bed today....

Oooh Weedles you poor thing. Mastitis is awful. I had four bouts in a row with DS1. It always started the same way, with a big angry red stripe on my left boob, and was agony.
As others have said, cut feeds one by one and express a bit off for comfort to try and stop getting engorged.
Expressing by hand, in the shower, with hot water going straight onto the painful boobs, worked for me. That, and underwater in the bath. Don't express off too much milk as that'll only tell your body to make more.
Well done and I hope you're better soon.

running think I'm too late to drop feeds one by one, as the drs told me to just go cold turkey. I'm 24 hours in, so here's hoping the worst is over. I'm just annoyed i had the chance of getting a proper night sleep, as dh did the 3am feed, but I was up as well, in pain I'll keep powering through...

Cabbage leaves are wonderful. Basically anything cold on your boobs is nice.

Pain isn't too bad at the moment, as long as I don't bend over! Plus, I've scored a fish and chip dinner, as neither dh or I can be bothered to cook

Just thought I'd update if anyone else is in the same situation, and comes across this thread.
The first 48 hours was pure hell, If I'm honest. I don't know how I would have coped looking after ds, if dh hadn't taken holiday. Nights were the worst, as it was painful in any type of lying down position.
Last night, however, I was able to lie down, and only had slight plain, which meant I slept am lot better. Boobs this morning are starting to feel softer, so they should continue to get better each day.
Long story short, if you are having to stop breast feeding cold turkey, prepare yourself for the first 48 hours to be painful and uncomfortable, and try and make sure you have some support. After that, it gets so much better.

Except, I've just realised I started this in chat, so it's going to disappear anyway! I'll ask for it to be moved....

Well done WeedlesHatOfDisappointment, best of luck and congratulations on your DS.

We've moved this thread to infant feeding now to help others in the future.