Are They Supposed to Hurt This Bad After???

I remember that pain. I have 3 children and went through this each time. I tried binding my breast with an ace bandage and wearing sports bras. This helped. Also take some motrin or something of the like to help with pain. It will get better it just takes time.

I am a mother of one and have not weaned yet. When i was in the hospital i had a lot of milk coming in but my daughter was not eating yet. i had to pump but it didn't help much. Instead it increased my milk supply. I was advised to take warm showers to ease the pain. also try cabbage leaves, they dry the milk.

Hope this works.

yes, they do. But what I did to help, was 1) bags of frozen peas and I would just excrete enough milk to releive the pressure, and once your body realizes that you are only losing a few squirts at a tie, it will begin to stop producing and eventually dry up. It took a few days for me before I didn't fel like I had to excrete anymore or the pain/swelling. Congratulations on your successful breastfeeding! :)

I weaned my son at 8 months and a had a lot of discomfort for about a week and a half. I know that you are supposed to drop one feeding every 3 or 4 days, so that your supply gradually lessons. So, it kind of depends how often your were still nursing your daughter. If you just cold turkey it, you could end up getting mastitis, a serious infection that sometimes requirs surgery. So, if it is to painful, I would pump just enough off to be comfortable. Your body will eventually get the hint and stop producing as much milk. Also, I'm sure you know to try ice and or hot showers, it helps a little. Hope this helps and congrats on making it the whole year.

A little about me: 29 year old working mom to a wonderful 20 month old son, 7 weeks preggo with number 2. Married for 5 years to my best friend.

I just weaned my daughter about two weeks ago. After two days of not pumping, my breast were sore and hurting badly. I pumped to relieve the pressure. The last thing you want is to develop mastitis. So, you may have to pump to relieve the pressure. I also used cabbage to dry up my breast. For the next 3-7 days, place cabbage leaves all around your breast. This helps with drying them out. The cabbage is supposed to drain the remaining milk from the breast. Therefore, use nursing pads as your breasts may leak. Do not remove the cabbage until the leaves have wilted then replace. If you can wear them all day this will aid the process. Since I work, I was only able to wear the cabbage at night. You can also drink sage tea which I am assuming can be purchased from GNC.

Contrary to a lot of advice, you can pump to relieve the pressure. Just do it once though and completely empty each breast. After a week of not breast feeding your body should have got the message that you don't need to produce the normal amount of milk. After you pump you will keep producing, but hopefully not as much. Not only will this relieve the pain and but also unclog your milk ducts which will help prevent infection. It will take about two to three weeks for the production to stop or slow to almost unnoticeable amounts. Good luck. Just hang in there and it will get better. And then they will be yours again.

Have you tried cabbage leaves, tear the leaves and place them over the breast, leave on for 10-15 minutes several times a day. This will dry your milk up so make sure you are ready to be done. Hope this helps.

Cabbage Leaves-cold from the refrigerator, one full leaf for each breast inside your bra cups. Change them often to keep fresh leaves throughout the day. Use them all day/night long for several days. This will reduce any swelling. If you do not get any success from this, go see your OB/Gyn for a check-up just to be on the safe side.

yes they do hurt a great deal. Try putting cold cabbage leaves in your bra, they work..not sure why, but trust me on this one. Also, you may want to wean gradually or pump once a day to relieve pressure until they dry up completely.

It sounds to me like you could have an infection and/or breast engorgement, which is too much milk. Unfortunately, there's nothing that can be done about engorgement except OTC pain killers such as Tylenol and ice packs, but you'd have to go to the doctor to treat any infections.

Hope this helps. Good luck.

CABBAGE LEAVES!!!!! Cabbage leaves will help alleviate the milk. Put them in your bra. Also, if it's already been a week, look for red spots on your breast. If you have any sensitive areas, you could have mastitis. If that's the case, you would need antibiotics. Best advice - cabbage leaves. Good luck!!
K.

It does take up to a couple of weeks or more for the pain to completely subside. Each person is different. But remember, your body still wants to make milk and it takes it a while to absorb what milk is there and for your body to understand not to keep producing milk. DO NOT PUMP YOUR BREASTS. That will only lead to more milk production. Some mothers bind their chests fairly tightly like with an ace bandage or towels to place pressure on the milk glands. That is an old home remedy, but I don't know how this really helps. Good luck. Time will take care of the situation most likely. However, if after a few weeks you notice any redness or swelling and seepage other than milk you should contact a physician. It is not common, but some do develop mastitis, an infection in the breast. Don't worry, nature will normally just take its course.

I had incredible pain for a week after stopping with my first child. My doctor told me to stop cold turkey, not to drink liquids and that would dry me up. It didn't work. I also tried steamed cabbage leaf compress, which helped a little. By end of week I was ready to go into hospital and be drugged to stop pain I just couldn't take it any more! Finally the pain stopped. On second child, of course I was quite concerned to stop, but it happened by chance. I decided I wanted to go on a diet. It was medically supervised, and the nurse told me it wouldn't affect my breast feeding. Boy did it! after being on the resticted calorie diet for one day, my milk dried up! So for me, it was calorie restriction that dried me up over night, not lack of liquids.

I had the same experience 7 years ago with my eldest daughter. Even though I weaned gradully, I was in pain, but not immediately. It took 5 days or so before I started hurting. I tried everything: cool,raw, cabbage leaves in my bra helped the most. Make sure your bra is snug--I wore a sports bra. As a last resort, you also might try taking some antihistamine (Benadryl or Tylenol Allergy) because they are very drying, and can even affect breast milk. I remember being in pain for a week to ten days, at least.

The good news is that weaning my second and third children was much easier on me. I just made sure I did so very gradually. I think I nursed my son once/day for three weeks.

Good luck and hang in there!
J.

Hi C.,

It has been a while since I went through this (my twins are almost 8) but I remember it like it was yesterday. The best idea I was given, and it literally saved me, was to go buy SEVERAL heads of green cabbage. Pull the leaves off (intact) and make sure they are cold. (I separated the leaves and put them in Ziplocs so I had a bunch and they seemed colder when they were separated in advance). Take a fork and score the leaves on the side that will go against your skin. Make sure you break the 'veins' of the leaves. Surface scoring is not going to work. Really get into it but stop short of making the leaves mush. Put them under your bra directly on your skin (I put a piece of plastic wrap between the cabbage and the bra). Replace the leaves every hour or two. This WILL help. My breasts still felt heavy but not painful. Good luck!!!!

Dear C. ~
You may very well have an infection of a milk duct, which is extremely painful. In this case, you will also have the symptoms of flu without the cold - even painful extremities.
Try a cold cabbage leaf in your bra (which many nursing homes do!) and take Aspirin which is an anti-inflammatory. Make sure to either take coated asprin or eat something to line your tummy beforehand. This works wonders.
If second suggestion in second sentence does nothing, best to take yourself off to the clinic or doctor who may prescribe antibiotics if there is an infection of the milk ducts (formerly known in old circles as "milk fever").
Shame - get better soon. I hope the pain will go away with just rest and aspirin.
Kind regards
Jewel

Hi. I think it's might be specifically red cabbage leaves that you use in your bra--this will actually help dry up your milk. Also I've heard that sage tea helps dry up milk. Earth Mama, Angel Baby has a tea to help dry up your milk on their website, too.

if you are sore you could have a breast infection, (like mastitis) or something else. you should check with your doctor,breast feeding, though it can make your breasts sore in the begining, should not hurt if you are weaning,usually. (unless you are maybe pregnant again?)

okay, further thoughts
Is there a chance of yeast infection? Have you been on antibiotics lately? Have you started eating or exercising radically different than what you were before? Have you gotten your cycle back? Some women experience discomfort/pain in their breasts just before the onset of menstruation.
If none of these seem at all likely, I would recommend seeing your doctor for further trouble-shooting.

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If you weaned rather quickly, that is taking away more than 1-2 feedings a week, then it might be mastitis, ie - a clogged duct or breast infection.
Is it localized? Or all over that breast? Is it warm to the touch? Is it firm? Is there a red spot? If you take your breast in your hands and massage, do you feel a knot or hard spot? Do you have a fever?

If it is a local, firm hot spot then it is likely a clogged duct. Use heat - warm compresses,heating pad, hot shower water - and massage with your hands. Start at the chest wall and massage outward towards your nipple. You can use sage teas to dry up your milk. Also - and this sounds awkward - get some cabbage. Place one leaf on each breast and inside your bra. As soon as they wilt replace with fresh leaves. This is another thing that will help dry up your milk.

Even though you've weaned dd, your breasts will still have milk in them for a while to come. The lactating breast is never truly empty. Make sure your bras fit well. If they are tight at all, then they can cause a plugged ducts.

Although your dd is no longer nursing, I would recommend pumping to help the duct get unplugged. If it's a plugged duct, 'm afraid if it just sits there that it will begin to fester and turn into an infection.

If you have a fever, you need to go see the doctor.

That's all I can think of for now. If something else comes to me I'll add it to this post.

HTH
K., mama to
Catherine, 4y
Samuel, 14m

If the pain is just from being "full" then you could always pump a little bit to relieve the pressure. Also, I know that when I was breastfeeding and took benadryl (or any antihistamine) for allergy/sinus it dried my milk up so you could try that too. Nurse/midwifives are wonderful for knowing of natural/herbal ways of helping our bodies or you could look up the Le Leche websites and see what they suggest to dry your milk up. www.lelecheleague.org
Good luck, I hope you are relieved soon!

I didn't have this problem but I know someone who did. She used cold cabbage leaves in her bra for a while. It looked strange and sounded completely strange but she swears that it helped her. Also, you can talk to your doctor. He can give you something to help dry up your milk which should help too. Good luck!

I weaned gradually, cutting out one feeding each week. But when I got down to just one nursing a day, I was in so much pain. Pumping did not help. The only thing that helped me was to start nursing again (2 to 3) times a day. Then when the pain was gone, I completely weaned her with no problems.

Cold cabbage leaves tucked inside your bra may be able to help.

You may want to try pumping a little, after all you can still feed the breast milk to your child and it will help relieve the pressure. Also weaning slowly will help prevent a blocked duct or mastitis problem. I weaned slowly and pumped until I was pretty much dry and I didn't have any problems with pain.
Good luck!

If you weaned slowly and gradually you should not have that much discomfort. If you weaned abruptly it is possible that you are dealing with engorgement again or even a plugged duct or possible mastitis. Take some drying herbs like parsley and clary-sage. Try hot showers or compresses and let your breast drain just a little to relieve pressure. If you think an infection is setting in ( red streaks and extreme tenderness on breast area) try garlic and expressing manually. Hope I was of some help.
V.

Hi, C.. Do you mean your breasts hurt because you recently weaned your baby and you are engorged and have hard lumps? If so, as yucky and crazy as it sounds, my doc told me to put raw cold cabbage in my bra. It felt awful! Honestly, though, I don't think I could stick to it. There is also a natural pill you can take to help dry you up. Also, warm washcloths and an anti-inflammatory med might help. If not, you need to call your doc just to make sure it's not something else. You shouldn't have to live with the pain. Not sure this helped, but good luck!

Hi C., I stopped nursing shortly after my daugther turned 7 months and a friend said I should stop cold turkey...wrong! I was miserable and my breast got hard like baseballs. Another mom told me to pump and space it out so that your milk supply diminishes. I started by pumping 4 times a day (when I woke up, 11 a.m., 4 p.m. and right before bed time). I did this for about 4-5 days. After that I pumped 3 times a day...morning, early afternoon and right before bed time. Again, I did that for about 3-4 days then I switched to twice a day. Morning and night and did that for a few days then switched to pumping once a day for about 3 days. I finally stopped and just waited. My breast did get hard, but not as hard as before and they didn't hurt. Each time I pumped I noticed my milk supply was lower than before. I hope this helps. It is time consuming but it won't be as painful.

Pump the milk out!!!! That will relieve the pain. If you stopped brestfeeding "cold turkey" then I would recomend Pumping once a day for about a week. Then see if the pain goes away. All you are doing is tricking your body into making less and less milk.

Mine took at least a week before I was halfway comfortable again. I just sucked it-up...but a friend of mine swore by this method (she has 3 kids). You get a head of cabbage and clean it. Tear off the leaves and put one in each bra cup (the leaves will "cup" your breast). Then just change them as needed...they get really thin after awhile. Something in the cabbage helps your milk dry-up. Good Luck!

I had to wean my little one very suddenly at 1 yr and 9 days. She wasn't biting, but her teeth were slicing me all the way around the nipple. She made the transition very easily, but I cried for 3 days. I would pump only when my breasts would get engorged. That helped a lot. If that doesn't work, I would talk to your doctor. I know there are drugs that can help dry you out. Good luck.