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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

Original poster

How do I stop breast feeding?

15 replies

luchinka · 22/05/2008 11:37

DS has been mixed fed until now but for various reasons I need to transition to FF. I don't want to go into why. Should I go cold turkey or express a little bit and gradually express less and less? How long will this take to dry up the milk? How much should i express and how often? DS hasn't actually been on the breast since yesterday morning first thing. I expressed a feed at 10pm last night and then a tiny bit at 3am to relieve discomfort and now I've expressed a little more this morning as they were very sore.

OP posts:
beansprout · 22/05/2008 11:38

How old is your ds i.e. how many feeds a day is he on?

bundle · 22/05/2008 11:41

cold turkey doesn't sound a great idea...

Original poster
luchinka · 22/05/2008 11:53

He's 2 months but was 4 weeks early. He's on about 3 hourly feeds, sometimes less. I try to get him on the boob every time but it's really hit and miss. Like I said, i don't want this to turn into a thread about my decision to stop, but I would appreciate some advice on how to go about it. I have a book which advises stopping and wearing tight bra but got too painful and all other advice seems to be to express, lessening amounts.

OP posts:
fannybanjo · 22/05/2008 11:54

My DD self-weaned at 7 months, she started to refuse the breast so I had to "cold turkey" and I would not advise you to do it, it is fecking painful. I would probably do what you are doing, just express to relieve discomfort and in a week you should be normal.

Martha200 · 22/05/2008 11:58

A month ago I thought about going cold turkey for various reasons, but went for the road of when I switched to formula I expressed when I felt really uncomfortable, about x3 a day I then used what I expressed as one full feed of EBM in a day alongside the ff.. I expressed until I felt more comfortable, you will find when you express it will naturally dwindle as baby feeding keeps the milk producing I have not expressed for a week, am not fully dried up but my breasts feel fine.
Hope this makes sense, in a bit of rush.

Original poster
luchinka · 22/05/2008 12:00

Thanks very much. I'll try expressing just enough to relieve the pain and hopefully it won't be too long.

OP posts:
Martha200 · 22/05/2008 12:03

oh and I froze some of the ebm too to save for trying with baby rice later down the line!
I'd recommend the expressing too because you might find if you don't no amount of breast pads help with keeping your top dry, that and the pain.. made sense to express, and try and use it in a useful way.

princessllama · 22/05/2008 20:14

hi luchinka, am in same boat, can hardly hold a conversation because of the throbbing. it's been almost 24 hours since baby was on but feel like milk isn't going down. breast milk going everywhere. trying to hand express a bit when bad pain but not easy with an 18month and 9 week old baby who won't be put down and screams all the time. and to those who read this and try and convince me to continue-he is lactose intolerant and the top specialist in the uk on the subject has told me to stop the bf.
let me know if you find anything that works luchinka

fannybanjo · 22/05/2008 21:58

Princessllama what a shame for you and your baby. You will find you will probably be engorged for a few more days unfortunately. It then just seems to disappear overnight.

Original poster
luchinka · 23/05/2008 12:49

Sorry to hear you're so sore princessllama. Express a little to ease the pain. Have you got a pump? I've got an electric pump and each time I got really sore yesterday I took off just the minimum to ease the pain. Also have been taking ibuprofen which seems to help. Haven't expressed since 10pm last night and although very full not too sore today.

OP posts:
Louise76 · 23/05/2008 12:51

Luchinka and princessllama - I have recently given up bf - last bf was 12 days ago. I cut down the feeds really slowly, dropping a feed every 5-7 days and have not had too much discomfort. When my boobs were engorged I expressed as little as I could to take away the pain and wore a close-fitting nursing bra with breast pads and took ibuprofen. I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly the pain goes away! My boobs were a bit lumpy for a few days but in the last couple of days they have seemed normal.

I have heard that drinking sage tea and cabbage leaves in your bra help to reduce the discomfort but haven't tried them.

Good Luck and you won't get me trying to persuade you to keep going or see a BF counsellor. If you want to give up go for it! Stopping has given me back my sanity and stopped me feeling ill!

StealthPolarBear · 23/05/2008 12:55

cabbage leaves do definitely help to relieve engorgement - I remember being amazed it actually worked
I was told it had to be a savoy cabbage - not sure if that's true

leesmum · 23/05/2008 13:18

Luchnika and Princess (hi mate)

A friend of my was a in a similar situation and she drank epsom salts which helped. I think they might give you an upset tummy and make you go to the loo a bit more but it is supposed to help. Someone might know a bit more about it hopefully xx

fannybanjo · 23/05/2008 20:32

Epsom salts - I take my hat off if you can stomach them!

NigellaTheUndomesticGoddess · 23/05/2008 20:37

Juliettes nurse used wormwood iirc

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