How Long Does It Take for Milk Production to Stop After Weaning?

Hi Janelle,

My husband attended Daddy Boot Camp at Scottsdale Healthcare prior to us having our daughter. This is going to sound strange but they told him to help dry up the milk supply when weaning to put cabbage in your bra. I guess you just pull off leafs of cabbage and place them in your bra. My daughter is almost a year and i am planning on beginning the weaning process within the next couple of weeks and I intend to try this. So if you are feeling adventurous let me know how it goes!
It seems odd but sometimes its the oddest things that work best!

H. D

I haven't completely weaned my daughter yet after doing it two years now, but I have friends that tell me that even tho they stopped 6 months to a year ago with their little ones, they are still producing just a little milk. I think I did read somewhere once, that it can go on longer than we think after you stop.

If you look up breastfeeding sites on the internet or have some books on that, I know they give you pointers on how to dry yourself up - I have one friend that swore by cabbage leaves both for discomfort and drying up - they worked, but she can still produce a little milk now and then but she says she wasn't steady with using them. I know there are a few other home sort of remedies like that as well to be found if you look for them.

If it really bothers you, I know when my mother had me, they used to give meds to dry you up if you weren't going to breastfeed. I haven't heard of that tho since the 1960-1970's. They probably don't do that today, but your doctor would know.

C.

Hi, I had to quickly stop my very abundant milk production with much regret. Here is what I did to stop my milk production: pumped only for comfort, used Cabo Creme: www.cabocreme.com. You can find it at Babies, Mothers and More in Gilbert (The owner is a wealth of info). I also took sage oil several times a day and took Sudafed for a few days. I wore a sports bra to bind my breasts for 3 days. The first couple of days were miserable, but after that it worked like a charm. Try the Cabo Creme, it works wonders.

A good way to help your milk dry up is wearing a tight sports bra so that way there is no room for milk to produce. You will leak a little wearing the bra but i would get those pads for the time being. It only took a couple of weeks for the milk to dry up. I didn't breast feed my daughter because she would make me bleed so i had to use this technique because i did produce a lot!! I would give this a try- hope it helps.

I stopped breastfeeding my daughter at 3 months of age (with regrets); she is now almost 15 months and I can still manually express breastmilk. Fortunately it does not leak on its own so I do not have to wear pads. When I questioned my OBGYN, she informed me that some women can experience this for up to 15 years after giving birth. I thought that it may have been a hormone imbalance but my hormone levels came back normal. I hope this helps.

Hi Janelle.
I nursed my first daughter for 13 months. I produced little amounts of milk for a few years. It wasnt until i got pregnant with my second child that i actually stopped producing.My kids are 4 years apart. Then started producng again of course. That only lasted for about 5 month after weaning the second child.