Major engorgement after sudden weaning

[toomanyflatwhites]

Aged 19 months and months of hell DD weaning rather more abruptly than planned this weekend - long story short, I needed to sort out her sleep so decided to get her to bed without BF, but planned to keep one tea-time feed going - instead she only fed for 5 mins on Day 1 of my plan, slept easily and stayed asleep all night!

This contrasted to our usual situation, which has been a quick tea-time feed, 1 hour feed to get her to sleep, and then two night-time wake-ups with a feed an hour long each time
She has adjusted amazingly well but my boobs - not so much!! Her last proper night of feeding was Friday, with a v brief feed on Saturday (so we're on day 4). I've never done well with pumping, but have been trying just to take the pressure off but nothing comes out - am at the point where they are rock hard, lumpy, v painful if anything touches them - I am taking Sage tincture, ibuprofen,!sudafed and stuffing cabbage leaves in my bra like there's no tomorrow - anything else I can do? Or can someone please just tell me how long it will take to feel better?

Youch - feel your pain. This happened to me when DS2 self weaned at 10 months and dropped 4 feeds to none abruptly. Was really uncomfortable for a few days but it did quickly settle down- I was able to relieve the worst pressure by hand expressing (just pressing the hardest lumps!) in a hot shower. Good luck.

Thank you! I did try both with a pump and hand expressing but it seems totally stuck...maybe I left it too long and now it is blocked? No signs of fever or other illness so I think (hope) I'll escape mastitis or anything like that, but am looking RIDICULOUS and trying to stop anyone banging into me on the tube

Did you ever have a hot spot or lump that you were able to position baby to feed through? Would you feel terribly uncomfortable having your partner doing the same?
My DD2 went from 3 business like feeds a day to nothing (after I had an unscheduled night on Tequila). As a result I ended up with two very painful blocked ducts in one breast and I had to pop DH on briefly to clear them.

If this is not a possibility you will have to try as many different angles as you can with the pump to clear the ducts involved,

Or if that wouldn't be possible, do you have a friend that has a bf'ing baby you could pop on?

i heard baby's chin nearest to the blockage might help to help clear the duct hopefully.

When it happened to me I just sat in the shower massaging them (and just directly squirting the shower on them when my hands ached) until the pressure let off... used a fair bit of hot water, but it was necessary!

OP are you me?! I also weaned DD2 19m this weekend for similar reasons, v abruptly (though she is NOT taking it well and is def not sleeping through)... currently sat at work feeling achy as hell.. not helped by DD expressing her outrage by trying to pummel my engorged boobs at every opportunity :(

Ibuprofen is helping though. And I’m taking antibiotics as I thought I was getting feverish/mastitis.

I’ve been here before when I weaned DD1 and it should hopefully get better in the next day or two..

Ps I also find hot shower helps... even standing in it thinking about baby can get some letdown going.. and massage with hot shower.

@roundthehorn Your DH?!

I can only suggest pop your baby on for a quick feed - one feed isn’t going to ruin weaning and it’ll ease your pain!

Don't pop the baby back on!! I hand expressed a tiny bit off the worst boob in the shower last night... and today, day 5, things are definitely starting to improve. Better still, the baby is no longer asking for a feed

Thank you SO much everyone!
And yep @roundthehorn not sure if I want to even make that suggestion to DP, although I have heard it said elsewhere too!
@wtftodo I was SO tempted last night to just give her a bit, for the first time since I started on Saturday she was really hard to settle and I think she might have been feeling crap as she was just crying and crying and actually did do the backwards dive into position - am amazed that she hasn't done that before now, but it took a lot of willpower on my part not to just take the easy route - I just think it would have been super confusing for her and I would still go through this stage again later!
I stayed in the shower for ages this morning and it eased a little, back to rock hard again now (and just one side is massive!) but we're on day 4 so hopefully like you @wtftodo I'll see some improvement tomorrow.

No idea why that whole post went bold!!

Dd will not be confused by a quick feed to ease the pressure. Maybe now rather than a nighttime feed. Make sure you do both breasts so they're not uneven. You may find they do not engorge again. Alternatively, cold flannels, hand express/ massage in the shower.

I basically just used cabbage leaves straight from the fridge and stuck it out (about 8-10 days). It was horrific, but this too shall pass and all that.
The third time I was at the checkout with two more cabbages and the lovely checkout lady said ‘oo what are you making?’

@blackdoggotmytongue would love to know what you told her...!