How do you STOP milk supply?!?

[Lallas' Mum]

I have had to stop breastfeeding my bub as he has a lactose intolerance and suffers quite badly if he has breastmilk or normal formula. The problems is I keep getting letdown (it has been a week since I last expressed or fed bub). My milk just doesn't seem to be slowing down much at all. I am getting terribly painful lumps in my boobs that causes me much discomfort. I have to massage my breast in the shower to relieve the pain, but when I do milk comes pouring out and of course they then fill up again. I really should must have been a wet nurse in my past life!!

Does anyone have any tips on drying up your supply?

Tracey
Mum to Alec 19 months and Zak 5 weeks

[cleighsa]

i had this very just prob last week.
i was feeding my 10mth old only once a day and last sunday i stopped. all week my boobs kept getting bigger and harder and sore. my bub has been sick with cold and teeth and hubby suggested to try and feed her breast milk for health reasons. i only fed her once on each breast and now im completely deflated and not sore anymore. and i dont think i have anymore milk either.
im not sure if this would work for u but thought id share it cause it happpened to me by accident.
good luck :)
leighsa

[mumof2girls]

I was like a jersey cow and the only way I found that helped was my hubby would bind my chest day & night and I stopped producing milk, it wasn't overnight (about a week) but I also had no pain either.

Good luck!

[Jimmyjones]

I had to stop feeding after a week with my bub and when I stopped my boobs were a.HUGE
b. sore
c. hard as a rock

It went on for a few days and I used a cold washer that had been in the freezer and cabbage leaves...yep they work. I tried to only have a shower with the water on my back only as the warm water made my milk run which just produced more milk which I didn't want to happen and then I just hang on for the ride for a few days (no cuddles from my hubby.

Good luck!!!

[lil monkey]

hiya,

I am about to stop breastfeeding in the next few weeks and my doctor has said that if you go back on the pill, it will dry up in a few days!

So, if this is an option for you then take it as there is nothing worse than sore, rock hard and lumpy boobs!! :D

[Chickadee]

I dried up quite quickly without pain, but then I'd been expressing for awhile so my supply had been dropping anyways.

But the cold cabbage leaves do work for relieving sore hard breasts. I used them when my milk first came in - gave my hub had a good laugh! :D

[Lallas' Mum]

Thanks for all the advice - especially about cold washers and showers.

Having hot showers and massaging my breasts was probabley doing far more harm than good.

I have decided to express a little once a day to relieve the pressure instead of the hot shower/massage combo. I find expressing very unpleasant as I feel like a dairy cow and it affected my supply anytime I did it with my last son so I'm hoping it will affect supply again (as well as provide relief).

I also need to rethink contraception as well so going back on the pill I'm hoping will help.

One more little thing that I found helped is getting someone else to give bub his bottle instead of me. I was getting let down while bottle feeding bub (I think I'm a little too maternal sometimes) and when someone else did it I wasn't getting letdown. It's wierd the way our bodies work sometimes!!

Once again thanks for the help.

Tracey
Mum to Alec and Zak

[bzymum]

The herbalist I saw suggested the best way to dry up milk was to rub castor oil on your back -right behind your breasts in a circular motion, This would draw the milk away a friend did try it and said it worked miracles! :)




Justin age 4
Macaila age 2