Engorgement Pain

Poor thing... I feel your pain :-(
Girl... Express you milk for now. Make yourself comfortable. Than put the cabbage leafs on your breast. The milk you pump you could use it by putting it in a slipping cup for your son. The doctor said he needs to drink and eat more on his own right? putting breast in a slipping cup use be fine or even cereral. Don't make you self suffer!! After you pump, you could put the cabbage leaf daily. Day by day your milk should reduces and dry on it's owe since you are not breastfeeding anymore. Don't make yourself suffer.
I always suffer with BLOCKED DUCTS!! It hurts soo much!! I can't even sleep!
P.s is your doctor a Man? I don't understand how they will tell to do it cold turkey!! little by little maybe but not cold turkey.

Good luck!!

Congratulations on nursing your son for 1 year. A fellow (former) breastfeeding mama. I KNOW first hand how difficult and rewarding that relationship can be.

Since it has been 72 hours since his last nursing, then you may be *that* much closer to the end of the tunnel anyway but I just wanted to chime in and let you know that cold turkey isn't your only option. I extended breastfed my little "schmoo" (lol) for a little over 2 years. Though she did prefer to nurse versus eat solids, I know that a lot of it had more to do with comfort than satisfaction. That being said - in spite of what you've been told- mama milk still has plenty of good stuff that your son could benefit from. It just has to be boosted with other solids that can be fanned in by limiting how often you allow him to nurse. Gradual weaning is always easier emotionally and physically (esp. for you)---- but I digress....

Here are some tips on coping with the discomfort of being engorged:

Physical comfort during weaning
Do not bind your breasts to help your milk "dry up." This is an outdated practice that can cause plugged ducts, breast infection, or breast abscess.

If your breasts feel full and uncomfortable when you don't nurse at a specific time, then express just enough milk to relieve the fullness. You can do this by pumping for a couple of minutes or hand expressing. The less milk you remove, the quicker your body will realize it doesn't need to produce. Sometimes just taking a hot shower will do the job - anything that relieves the fullness is fine. If you are comfortable without expressing at all, that's okay too.

Do express or pump if you get uncomfortably full. It's not good for your body to not have any way of relieving the fullness. Pumping or hand expressing just enough milk to relieve discomfort will not prevent your milk supply from decreasing. What causes milk production to stay the same or increase is adequate milk removal. If only a small amount of milk is removed from the breast, then milk production will decrease. In addition, expressing a little milk will relieve your discomfort and make it less likely that you'll develop plugged ducts, a breast infection, or an abcess.

These things are commonly used to increase mom's comfort during the weaning process:

Ibuprofen or other pain relievers
Cabbage leaf compresses
These things are occasionally used to reduce milk supply during the weaning process:

Herbs and other natural treatments for reducing milk supply
Birth control pills, especially those containing estrogen
Sudafed (pseudoephedrine), a decongestant

Sounds crazy, but everyone told me cabbage and frozen peas. They say that cabbage contains an enzyme that helps your body stop producing milk. I don't know how much of this is true, but sometimes just doing something makes you feel better. I would lie down with a cabbage leaf on each breast and a bag of frozen peas. By the end of day one, I could at least bear the pain, by day three there was no pain, and by the end of the week we were back to normal (or at least as normal as you can get). You could also try Tylenol. I don't think that medication helps this pain, but it could produce a psychological healing affect.

Express enough milk to make you comfortable. It really hurts to be engorged. I use to put warm, not cold compresses on to ease pain. Its an old wives tale, but my cousin tried this and it worked for her. Get cabbage leaves and put them in your bra. There's something in them that dries up your milk supply. I know it sounds weird, but it worked for her.

Get a breastpump,then you can slowly stop developing milk,don't know how slowly,but that's how I ended up not producing anymore,my daughter wouldn't nurse but I wanted her to have breast milk and the doctor said by continuing on the pump my milk flow would evenutally stop,and you can still give your son any breastmilk you have while you have it.

When my son turned a year I slowly weaned him over a month. I tried cold turkey and I was in so much pain. Once I finally got him down to about one nursing session a day it wasn't as bad. When I was in the hospital when I had him I overheard a nurse tell someone else to put cold cabbage leaves in her bra to help the milk dry up. I know this sounds absolutely odd, but I did that when I finally stopped nursing my son and I worked wonderfully. If your breasts are engorged it is soothing because it's cold, but some chemical in the cabbage dries your milk up. I usually don't believe in that kind of stuff, but it works. I don't know if you really need to stop nursing your son because your pediatrician said you had to quit. You could probably continue to nurse him once or twice a day as long as that is what you wanted and your son wanted. I weaned my son at about 13 months because once he was walking he really lost a lot of interest in nursing.

Good Luck!
L.

I have breastfed all my boys and when I am ready to ween I drink this tea. It's safe but it doesn't taste the best (unless you add honey). It's an old Korean secret and my mom taught it to me... I'd be happy to tell you too!!
you just put about 6 cups of water to 1 cup of dry malt powder. Have it sit in a bowl for about an hour and drink up. You don't have to drink it all but it opens up your ducts and everything will release and not completely fill back up. It may take a couple of days but it works.... Tell me if you want to learn more!!!

There is NO reason why you cannot nurse your son still! Your doctor is right to tell you to wean him if he is breastfed exclusively, but there is no reason why he cannot breastfeed some during each day. Contact La Leche League for more advice on this. However, if he is not really acting like he misses it, keep on doing what you're doing. At this point, being 72 hours since he has nursed, if you truly do not want him to continue, then do not pump or anything else. What you can do, is take hot showers and massage your breasts while in there. It will release some of the milk without actually pumping so that they think they are being used. There may be a pill that your doctor can prescribe to dry you up and some birth control methods, like the patch, can dry you up very, very fast. Call your OB/GYN.

M. M.

I agree with Heather--maybe you can have a moment for just you both. That would help decrease some. I would try contacting a nursing consultant though because that sounds strange why you cannot wean slowly. When I quit I did take warmish hot showers and had to massage them in the shower. Good Luck!D.

I know there are some lactation consultants who right on this page with some GREAT advice, so you will get some answers soon. In the mean time I would not pump cause as you said you will make more milk, you can hand express just enough to relieve the pain with out have in your body think you are stll nursing. I too had to quit cold turkey and I remember the pain, and I did hand express,just enough to relieve pain, and no more. I'm sorry you had to stop, I was devistated when I had to quit.

Also just on a side note, is there a reason you can't nurse once a day? Like a bed time nurse, or cuddle time???? Seems a little harsh on both of you for him to demand that you just be done.

H.