Weaning off Breast at 10 1/2 Mo. old**Help.

Hi K.. When you are weaning, you will get full. It is the process of drying up. Just be patient with it.

Just think the more you pump and nurse, the more milk will be produced. If you pump for shorter and shorter emounts of time, it'll decrease your milk. I've nursed my son for 12 1/2 months now and he kind of slowed down on his own. I hardly ever get engorged. But really, if you just do everything slowly then you shouldn't have much of a problem with feeling full or anything. Good Luck, I know it's hard. I'm starting to think of ways to wean our son within the following months but he also uses my breasts as a comfort thing. I guess it's kinda like babies that are addicted to paci's and bottles. I think they all have something that they try to hang on to b/c it's what they know and are familar with.

Even though I have nursed all five of my children and could give you suggestions of what worked for me, they might not work for you. Because of wealth of information available, I think that La Leche League is a great resource for help of this kind with a huge amount of information and suggestions. They have years of experience, many publications,and trained individuals to help, on call 24 hours a day. They love to help and give advice to those with nursing/weaning issues. I called them more than once over the years and always loved the support they gave me. Their Indianapolis phone number is ###-###-####, and their website is www.lalecheleague.org Good luck!

Basically, it seems that your problem is that you are getting full during the day and you end up pumping. So in the morning, after you nurse your baby, put on a binder. All this is a baby blanket or something that does not stretch, and pin it snug around your chest. (You can put this on over your bra.) Leave it on all day--because it does not stretch, your breasts won't be able to fill. It is important that your breasts be empty when you put this on--you shouldn't get lumps and you will notice the difference in a couple of days.

K.,

If you are not already try not to pump until you are empty that just triggers your body into producing more milk. Just pump to take the pressure away. Also you can drink some peppermint tea or anything with peppermint in it. Peppermint has the natural quality of helping your body stop producing milk. There are several other foods that will help in that area too, I'm just not sure what they are right off the top of my head at the moment.

I hope this helps.
Good luck and God bless,
Mel

K., You can pump just a little bit if you need to. That will let your body know not to make milk at that time. I would avoid oatmeal as that increases milk supply. You can also use ice and cabbage leaves. Believe it or not, they help with engorgement. I don't know how easy that will be at work though. WOW! I am so impressed! My son was lactose intolerant and sensitive to corn syrup. It didn't seem like a sacrifice to me but a lot of Mom's would quit. You are awesome! Good luck! I had a lot of trouble weaning my youngest. J. (mom of 3 and breastfeeding peer counselor for 3 years)

Only pump enough so that you aren't full but don't empty your breasts. This only signals your body to make more! Pump until you are comfortable and stop. It will take a little while, but you shouldn't end up with clogged ducts or any pain this way.

I agree with Melissa N, only pumping to relieve the pressure will help to decrease production. Not sure about the peppermint thing. Also, personally I think the first nursing to go should be the comfort nursing My sister-in-law did that for a long time and I think still nurses her three year old for comfort or to help him relax and take a nap. My second child fought hard to keep nursing, but I was pregnant and needed to quit for my own comfort. It was difficult to deny him the comfort nursing, but once we got rid of that the rest was much easier. Also, by nursing intermittently like that, your body produces more milk to keep up with your scheduled nursing/pumping times. You can try to substitute with rocking in a chair with a favorite blanket or toy, or make sure that when you give that last bottle at night you are lying down with her, rocking or at least holding her very close. Make it a special time when you are giving her the attention she craves from nursing. It took me about two months to wean my second child. He is five today and is still a very needy child when it comes to attention and comfort. Good luck!

Everyone has given the same advice I suggest as well - production is based on demand - the more milk you remove, the more you will produce. Try working on removing one pumping at a time, and only remove enough to be comfortable on the one you are stopping, like everyone has said. Then start removing the nursings one at a time - I suggest saving her favorite nursing time to be the last one you remove - usually the morning or evening one. You can begin by shortning the nursing duration, and then start a new routine to replace the nursing to help her transition so she starts to associate the nursing time with a different activity (eg book reading, game playing, etc) PLEASE DO NOT BIND YOUR BREASTS!! This will increase your discomfort and increase your chance for infection! This is the way they used to try to reduce milk supply, but it has been found cause the problems I just mentioned. Gradually and slowly weaning is the best way for both mom and baby to wean. Good luck! You've done such a great thing for your baby, and made such a great effort in changing your diet for her! Congratulations!!

I know just stopping during work sounds easy, but you have to do it slowly so it doesn't clog...If you pump for 10 minutes...start by doing only 9, then 8, then 7 and so on...by the end of the time you won't be feeling so full and can adjust easier to not pumping. You need to work on getting her to sleep through the night! I don't know how you do it working full time! Try not feeding her in the middle of the night and just staying in there with her and then getting her down! I suggest doing this over a long weekend so that you can be sleeping more before you have to go back to work! good luck!

I had several infections when I was breast feeding and started to wean around the same time. My son was feeding 4 times a day when I weaned. I dropped one feeding a week. And would feel engorged for a couple of days and then it would subside until the next dropping. The last feeding I took two weeks to drop. I fed once a day, then once every 2 days, then once every 3 days. Then I stopped. It was 10 GOOD days of pain. I didn't pump, bc I wanted to just be done. I did drink 3 cups of sage tea a day - not sure if it helped, but I heard it helped dry up the ducts. Good luck!

I know you're ready to quit breastfeeding/nursing/pumping, but is there *any* condition under which you would consider continuing to provide her breastmilk for the next 6-8 weeks? In the grand scheme of things, that period of time (6-8 weeks) is so short... and since she's clearly allergic to cow breastmilk, she really (probably more than other babies) needs human breastmilk. Also, it is *normal* for 10 month olds to be super attached to their papents - that's good sign! Sometimes parents think that weaning will make the baby less attached, but honestly it can have the opposite effect and make the baby *more* clingy! So just make sure that your strategy (weaning) will get you what you actually want. ;)

I *totally* get that the pumping is wearing on you, that it can be a drag to be dairy-free --> I've done it for both my kids, even the dairy-free thing for 2 years, so I am *very* sympathetic to your circumstances!!! I'm just wondering if you can tweak things slowly and gradualy after she turns 1 - gradually dropping 1 pumping at a time, then weaning 1 nursing session at a time?

Whatever you choose to do, congrats on nursing for this long - most babies never even get breastmilk past a few weeks of age. Ten months is wonderful, and I wish more babies and moms would get the chance to experience such a breastfeeding relationship. :)

Hi K.

My baby is 7 mos, not completely weaned off yet, but what I started to do to feel less full is stop the frequency of pumping. I started by not pumping at night. I went up to 8 hrs b/f feeling full. Then started pumping less throughout the day. Now I can go all day w/o pumping & not feel full. When you do feel full instead of pumping verything, just pump a little to get some relief & breast feed less. Before you know your supply will start dwindling. Good luck, hope it all works out for you.

Babies need full fat milk until they are two for proper brain development. What better than people milk?
I especially suggest you keep nursing, at least a little bit, until she is at least one.

I totally understand not liking to pump (been there). If it were me, I'd stop pumping one session every few days, and just keep up with the nursing at home. It's a good connection time for you two, and it will do wonders for her health.

When you cut out a pumping session, hand express just enough to make your breast feel comfortable and not full. Hand expressing will get rid of excess milk, but won't do much as far as stimulating your body to make more milk. Your body will adjust appropriately and stop making milk at that time.
Here's an article on hand expressing http://parenting.ivillage.com/newborn/nbreastfeed/0,,42sn...
I just googled "hand express" and found a lot of articles.

K.,

If you really want to wean her, don't cut out the pumping, start cutting out the breast-feeding. If she'd used to taking a bottle, increase the frequency of bottle feeds. Eventually you can stop breastfeeding entirely and then switch to formula. Your baby enjoys breastfeeding as well. it's a wonderful way to spend time with mommy. That's why you have to stop the breast feeding slowly. It works, trust me.

My little one is alergic to milk as well, so I use the soy-based Similac. She's 11 months old now and I've given her Silk as well (the no sugar, no flavor variety) and she likes it just fine.

Good luck!

N.

Hi K., I know what you're going through. I went back to work part-time and also had problems with being so full. The best advice I can give you is when you feel that way, just pump enough to relieve the pressure. Your body will eventually respond to the smaller amount of milk "required" at that time and adjust accordingly. It sounds like your daughter is doing well with the soy formula, so taht's great! Good luck!