what happens to your boobs if your not breast feeding?

[keely027]

after birth, how do i stop milk production? do they give you something at the hospital?

Not sure, but I planned to breast feed and it didn't work out, so my boobs got very very sore and engorged and then about a week after I gave birth the soreness subsided. It took a while though for them to go back to a 'normal' size and texture.

Nope, your milk comes in at around 3-4 days. They go engorged-which can be painful but that goes within a couple of days and the milk starts to dry up. It took about 3 weeks for mine to stop leaking completely. You WILL need breast pads despite not breast feeding. I made that mistake with my first and discovered how messy it can get. A good 2/3 boxes should do it.

I don't plan to breast feed and my mum told me that she was given a drug in hospital to stop her milk coming in. I asked my midwife about this and she said there was no such thing. Wonder if this is more "breast is best" coercion ?

or just sleep with a towel underneath you, i leaked worse at night, soaked the bed practically, I found having a nice warm shower helped to get some out aswell, and helped with the swelling and soreness.
But it can take a while.
I was still leaking periodically 2 yrs after!

think they used to give women tablets a generation or so ago, but don't think that's typical, unless there are really really tragic reasons.

I don't think so winnie, i asked after i was leaking still at 6 months as it was embarressing going out with a light top on, and GP told me to use breast pads it went away eventually.
Im not sure i have ever heard of anything to stop milk production, its caused by hormones, so maybe you should research about the hormones involved.

see my mum said the same thing about being given something in the hospital, but she is a bit batty ;)

There is a drug that stops milk coming in, I have heard of it being given to mothers of still born babies, though I am not sure this was on the NHS.
The NHS wouldn't fund the use of a drug that went against their pro-bf policies if there was a surviving baby.

Some places will give you an injection - my SIL had this. However, she went private and I don't think the NHS does it. My MW recommended savoy cabbage for the pain! It did work, weirdly.

You just get 'boob migraine' for a few days IIRC.

They gave my mum a pill (for sad reasons) and she said that once she finished the pills they just got all engorged then.

It obviously differs for everyone but when I stopped expressing my boobs were so painful all night I was in tears (hormones too?) but the next day it was fine

The NHS doesn't give you a drug even if your baby is stillborn. I just had to wait it out.

savoy cabbage?

My mum def had an injection - 30 odd years ago. I know this as she had wanted to bf but was given it by mistake and was unable to bf after that.

Or perhaps Winnie, it's because while tablets like that do exist, they are very very strong hormonal tablets, with large side effects. Therefore in most cases the risks of taking them outweigh the benefits.

Fully appreciate that not everyone wants to breastfeed, but I really don't think there's some massive conspiracy in this case..!!

Savoy cabbage leaves in your bra. It has to be savoy, apparently. Wear breastpads too!

how do the leaves work? i dont want green boobies :)

Mine turned into huge veiny rock hard monsters for a couple of days and then started to shrink back down again. Leaked for a couple of weeks.

There is a drug that stops milk coming in. I was supposed to have it due to historical surgery (10 years ago, not like Horrible Histories business :)) but they forgot to give it to me.
It wasn't so bad, and I did manage to feed a weeeeee bit, so at least DS got some colostrum.
My boobs hurt and looked freaking awesome. Then they stopped hurting and looked a bit shit.
Now they are a bit further south than before but nothing ridiculous.
Don't know if a drug could have any of it really.

Maybe it would be easier to gradually stop BF rather than never start? It would give your baby the colustrum that is produced in the early days and maybe it would help you too?
Or you could even express some of it off to be given in a bottle?

oh no, have massive phobia about nipples and boobies being tampered with. have to draw the line in the sand somewhere :) gone throught 6 years of IVF and had lousy preganancy and now been told i need a c section. my boobies are off the market :)

What about if you just use a breast pump? Apparently this can affect supply so won't the milk just gradually reduce and stop?
That was my thinking- not too keen to bf long term- pump off what appears and feed it to the baby and hope it gradually reduces.

My milk dried up without a whimper, no swelling, no soreness, no leaking.

There is a drug but the nhs wouldn't give you it as it would go against their bf policies I think?
I didn't bf at all and it wasn't terrible, just a few days of soreness and they did leak a bit so you will need pads.
Tool that is terrible they left you to it, it's definitely still available, my friend was given tablets to stop her milk about 3 years ago when she miscarried at 20 weeks