What Happened After You Stopped Nursing?

All (except one) of my kids weaned so slowly, the only side effect was that I got to keep the great boobs! Oh, and a bout of mastitis TWO YEARS after weaning the last one, from a too-tight underwire. I breastfed a combined total of 111 months, so I'm also hoping for the ultimate of side effects: staggeringly low chances of breast cancer :)

I exclusively breastfed for a year also. I did not have any side effects when I stoped. For the last few weeks I just slowly took away one feeding/pumping at a time every few days and then another, ect. I did have little leaking for about a week or so.

Nothing. No side effects at all. My daughter stopped nursing at 10 months and only wanted a bottle. I tried to pump for about 2 weeks but wasn't getting enough to make it worth my while. When I stopped I just stopped. Those 2 weeks of pumping were sort of a gradual decline for my boobs. The only thing I felt was freedom!! Don't get me wrong, I didn't mind nursing at all but it was nice not to have to share my body anymore :)

At 10 months my daughter stopped nursing cold-turkey (I was very sad!) so I continued to pump milk for her. I also had a lot stored. So I continued to pump but decreased frequency over about 6 weeks. When I had my first child I had mastitis and was afraid if I stopped all of a sudden it would happen again. So, when I was in the last couple of weeks of pumping I would only pump when I was uncomfortable and even then only an ounce or two. When I was completely done I was sore for a couple of days but not horrible. My hormones did change a bit and my hair did thin over a month or so but I think the way I tapered it off helped my body adjust.

I lost some weight, had sore tatas, and felt some sadness about the whole thing.

Just a little moody, but that was about it. My DD had weaned very slowly so by the time she was done, I wasn't really nursing much at all. I'm back to about where I was bra-wise, but they're actually a little nicer even if I didn't gain any size.

Back to work, and little luck pumping, and DS prefered the ease of drinking out of a bottle, so we weaned at 5 months. It took about 2 weeks from start to finish, dropping 1 feed at a time for 2x3 days, then the next one etc.
I had engorgement during hte process.
I had both weight gain and weight loss. on the one hand, my body was ready to let go of the extra padding to ensure that I could fulfil my duty as a milk supplier. On the other hand, I had to adjust to not needing to eat quite as much.
I continued to feel engorged periodically for 3 months after weaning, esp during my cycle, and after friskiness with hubs.
My skin went dry, but not dramatically.

I had a lot of anger to be honest. I picked fights with my husband. he was a gem about it, very understanding.
One day we were standing in the kitchen. He said, calmly, "I'm sensing a lot of anger from you."
I turned around and said, "YEAH, I'm angry - WITH YOU!"
We still laugh about that.

Just drop a pumping session every couple of days. Nothing really happened with me, a little soreness but milk dried up rather quickly! I did feel a tad sad, as my son decided 3 days before turning one that he was just done with me. I missed the cuddle time.

I felt sad for a week or two (hormonal sad like PMS). For more than one month, my face was incredibly dry. I could coat it with moisturizer and it would absorb it instantly and feel dry again within minutes..again hormones. It went away after about a month or two.

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Nothing. Seriously, I was exclusively pumping too. I wished I could have saved that much milk! LOL Every ounce was a fight for me, and I strongly suspect my milk never really fully came in, even though I was exclusively breast feeding. My body actually just stopped producing, even though I was doing everything I could to keep it going. Finally I threw in the towel and stopped pumping. The plus side, no pain, no leaking, no nothing, when I stopped breast feeding.

With all the problems I had breast feeding, I basically skipped all the way to return the breast pump. (they let me rent one at the hospital)

One of mine was 25 months and still nursing, and I wanted to stop anyway, when I had the opportunity to attend a special two-week women's seminar (with travel to three countries). I jumped at the chance, leaving my husband and his family with the job of taking care of the kids. (This was my fourth so I was ready for a break.) I became painfully engorged for a few days, and sometimes pumped just enough in the shower to take the pressure off. But at the end of two weeks, the milk was gone and my son was fully weaned. (This is the only one I did cold turkey. The others were gradual, with no effects.)

I was nursing exclusively for almost 14 months. It's been 6 months since I've quit. Biggest issue, I'm still producing milk. I was in the shower the other day, felt " letdown", looked & I was leaking. I'm also still getting occasional knots, due to the fact, I'm still producing. I also haven't been able to lose weight since I've quit nursing.

Hmmm...my kids still not quite totally weaned, but when I quit pumping because he was old enough for cow milk while I was gone I didn't notice any changes. A little fullness when I went from pumping twice at work to once at work, and then again when I went from pumping once at work to not pumping.....

a few days of sore boobs and crankiness were all that happened to me. and i think the crankiness was because of the sore boobs!
:) khairete
S.

Make sure you drop one pumping session at a time over several weeks (or start increasing the time between pumping sessions and decreasing the time you spend pumping during the session) so that you don't get mastitis.

As for other side effects: my hormones clearly went crazy. I didn't feel crazy, but I got night sweats for several weeks - the same kind I had in the few weeks after childbirth when my hormones were readjusting from pregnancy.

I also gained weight - this happened with both my kids within the month after weaning. For me, it seemed like making milk kept my metabolism high and I could eat anything when nursing without gaining weight. That ended with weaning. The 1st time, I gained 10 lbs in the first month before I realized what happened! The 2nd time, I knew it was coming and tried to adjust my diet right away and I only gained 5 lbs.

Finally, after each child, I ended up about a half cup size smaller than my pre-pregnancy bra size.