Have stopped breastfeeding and boobs really hurt - when will it stop

[Pingle]

In pain and with freako large and small boobs and not sure how long its going to go on! I stopped breastfeeding 2 weeks ago when my son was 6 months. I was giving him 4 feeds a day and the evening one was a bottle. Boobs went mad when I stopped (cos I'm now back to work and also taking medication for arthritis which means baby milk now toxic) and hurt so much I did a couple of pumps in the first days. 2 weeks on they are not so big and I thought were starting to go down. But just today my right boob has become engorged and painful again (the other one is still goping down so I look like a freak!). I haven't pumped for 3 days so not sure what is going on. When will it stop? Should I pump again or will that just make it worse? How long til my boobs go back to normal?
Any pearls of wisdom gratefully received.

Pingle, I don't know, but I'd like to, so here's a bump for you!

I am wondering - if I'm going back to work at the beginning of August, when do I have to start scaling back the bf so I don't have pornstar boobs?

No pearls of wisdom, I'm afraid, but I wouldn't pump unless it's really uncomfortable/lumpy. If you do express, then remove just enough to relieve the fullness. Expressing too much will only send the message to produce more milk. It took my boobs a good couple of weeks to calm down when I stopped, and I was down to just 1 feed/day. I imagine if you're going from 4 to nothing, that's quite a lot of adjustment.

Sanguine - I would drop the feeds gradually if you can (eg drop one feed per week), to give your boobs some time to adjust.

However, I'm no expert, just basing this on my experience of breastfeeding. I'm sure there will be others on here who can give you more informed advice.

My boobs still got engorged even after a week of no milk action. I just expressed what I needed to to feel comfortable (often around the 6 gallon mark) and found that the gap got longer and longer and then just stopped. IIRC it started at every day or so, then every 53 - 4 days, then weekly, then 10 days, then nothing.