My son is over two years old and had an accident the other day where he chipped his two front teeth. I have had to stop nursing immediately because they are razor sharp and cut me, and they can't be filed until he has healed for two weeks. I am totally swollen and engorged, he was still a big boob boy, and I need some relief! Any suggestions??
Oh BOY! That was a wild wild ride. Never ever ever will I recommend instant weaning. My son actually took it really well, I think that he was ready but needed me to take the lead. He was sad for a few days, but I think he saw that mom was in pain and that helped him understand that boobies were off limit! And was I ever in pain! I was very engorged and tried for the first two days to just let them dry up with the added relief of cabbage leaves, benadryl and sage tea. The cabbage leaves really did relieve a lot of the pain and some of the swelling and the sage tea may have helped, but I was extremely uncomfortable and in pain so I can't tell if it would have been worse without it. I noticed the definite difference of cabbage leaves. The benadryl knocked me out! I was sooo tired, so I couldn't stick with that either, although a lot of people have had success. After developing stretch marks the morning of day three, I finally pumped. A lot! And only once. And I was instantly relieved, although it took a while for my swollen ladies to let down. I think my body got the message to stop making milk. But the three days and stretch marks and the general shock my body dealt with was not worth the path I took. Next time I will wean with the pump if I can't wean with the baby.
With my baby, he has been doing really well. Sleeping a lot better. Eating a lot healthier. So, maybe it was all a blessing in disguise. Thank you for all your help. This was my first time on mamapedia and I really think it is awesome that moms have such a strong sisterhood.
It just takes a little time but for relief I found that massage in the shower helped me a lot while I was waiting for my milk to dry out.
I would think that there has got to be a way that he could still nurse without hurting you. Perhaps using a nipple shield? (or maybe even two of them for extra thickness?) or some kind of a night guard type apparatus over his teeth? If these don't work, I'd recommend pumping for the two weeks so that you can still return to nursing him once his teeth are filed. Unless of course he seems to be totally done with nursing and the two of you were in the process of weaning anyway, but it doesn't sound like that is the case, since you described him as a "big boob boy"! And I'd give him lots of extra affection and make sure he knows it's not his fault that you won't nurse him right now, and tell him he can start nursing again once his teeth are filed (he may even be old enough to learn about calendars and you can mark off the days).
Taking the herb sage will dry up your milk crazy fast. I'm serious. You can put it in food, or just in a capsule. A couple of days and you will notice a huge drop.
Pump for relief only if you're ready to wean, otherwise, full-on pump if you plan to go back to nursing when his teeth are fixed.
Pumping for just minor relief will help your body to know that it needs to produce less.
I don't think it is necessarily antihistamines (in the earlier reply) since allergy medications tend to be ok for nursing moms. You could try something with a decongestant (i.e. phenylephrine) as those are not advised for nursing moms as they will decrease milk supply.
Good luck.
Poor you and poor boy!
If you want to be done fast, I would second antihistamines (the ones that dry your sinuses out - stick to the package for dosing), but only if he's really not getting any more milk. Do not pump! Instead gently hand express only enough to relieve any engorgement. Any kind of nipple stimulation will be counter productive.
You could also decide not going the "instant weaning route" and instead pump when he would usually nurse and give him your milk to drink. Then wean from the pump slowly, like you would if you weaned him, by eliminating one pumping at a time.
Good luck.
Cold cabbage leaves. Cold because it is soothing. Just take a leaf off, put it in your bra, and wear it til it is wilty. Then do another one. My breastfeeding class instructor told us this, and I know several moms that swear by it. Hot showers to let a little milk out will help the pressure, and if you absolutely have to, expressing a small amount of milk will help too. But don't do too much or it signals your body to make more milk. Antihistamines will dry you out. They are safe to take while nursing, but the pharmacist will tell you they decrease milk supply. If it gets too bad, call your doctor, they can give you a prescription.
I'm sorry you had to go cold turkey like that. That can't be much fun for either of you. Hope you both get through it soon.
Hand expressing in the shower will extract all the milk out and then as long as your baby doesnt suckle on your breast and you dont pump, your breasts will stop producing any more milk eventually.
I use cabbage leaves. Cut off a chunk big enough to cover the nipples and without the big veins and place them in your bra. Mine dried up in two days.
I had a friend who used camphor. It dried up the milk quickly.
The previous posts are all good. I also took warm showers when I felt full and they would naturally leak enough to give me relif.
Ibuprophen worked for me. I took two twice a day and I dried up in like two days.
The nurses at the hospital told me to take an antihistimine once a day. Some sort of allergy or cold medicine. She said to use it since their whole purpose is to dry up the body and breast milk is included.
lots of sage tea, as much as you can drink. sorry about what's happened.
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lots of sage tea, as much as you can drink. sorry about what's happened. Check out the portland milk bank if you are in search for milk for your baby.
cabbage leaves help. I believe you can go to your doctor for some pills, if you wanted.
Pump it and give it to the next lady (Jamie P.) who submitted a question, sounds like she can use it! LOL! Kidding!
If you plan on resuming nursing when your child's teeth are fixed, of course, pump and store. If you're ready to wean anyway, have you tried letting the water run on your breasts as hard as it can and as hot as you can stand it while you're in the shower. I remember how much milk I always had-I could have been a wet nurse (even with my little, tiny breasts!)- and they leaked even if I was an hour or more away from the baby's next feeding.
Good luck!
Benadryl dried me up fast!
If you want to continue nursing when he has healed, i would pump for a couple of weeks. If you plan to wean then you should definitely not pump since that will signal your body to make more milk and only prolong the pain. Wear a snug bra, take some ibuprofen and wait it out is really all you can do.
pump, pump, pump!
You can then donate it to the local milk bank or freeze it for your son later.
Do you have a breast pump? I think you can get manuals ones for pretty cheap and they will give you relief but only pump a little bit because otherwise you will just produce more milk. I had to stop nursing my daughter pretty abruptly and I used frozen peas to help as well.
You could go in a really warm shower and manually pump. Also wearing a cabbage leaf in each side of your bra will help you dry up fast.. Really, no Kidding..
Pump just enough to give yourself some relief, but not til empty - it took me about three weeks of pumping three times a day, then two, then once, and one more time after 3-4 days of not pumping. Pain-free and no clogged ducts!
