My one-year-old son is starting to wean himself from breastfeeding. He's nursing around three times a day - when he wakes up, before his afternoon nap and before bed. I've heard that your milk supply will automatically lessen as your baby grows and nurses less, and that you will only produce milk when the child normally nurses. My question is - how long did it take for your milk to decrease when weaning? Is it painful or just uncomfortable? What did you do to manage the pain/discomfort? Any tips or tricks to share? Thanks for your ideas!!
Hi S..
I breastfed all my boys for about 18 months. You have to do it gradually or else you will feel engorged. I would take out one for about a week or two. I would do that until there was no more feedings. I
My body adjusted very fast (like a day or two) and I never really felt uncomfortable just a little lopsided (my daughter preffered the left.) Of course pain is pretty relative, I finally decided to wean after she bit me and drew blood (alot)after that I could have put up with just about anything to stop nursing.
I weaned both of my children slowly. If you're down to three times a day, your body is probably doing it naturally. Start lessening the feeding times, than cut one out, than lesson that cut one out. It doesn't hurt if you do it slowly.
good luck
K.
From what I've read, it's less painful/uncomfortable if you wean gradually. For me, I dropped one feeding, then waited about a week or two before dropping another one. It was uncomfortable, but not too much. Once I got down to one feeding a day, my milk dried up pretty quickly, and my babies lost interest quickly too (they'd rather play than nurse at an empty breast). Good luck with it.
My daughter was nursing until about 9 months-and my milk turned off like a faucet, probably over the course of 3 weeks from 3 feedings to 1 to zero. With my twins I was pumping and my milk dried up in a matter of days and that was it.
Hi S. E,
Yes, it hurts, but only for a couple days as your body gets used to the adjustment that it does not need to produce milk anymore. Within about 2 weeks the swelling of my breasts went down and I felt more comfortable. To lessen the pain, I milked them a little througout the day.
As long as you wean very gradually, there shouldn't be any pain involved. (Just a sense of fullness, sometimes.) As for milk supply stopping, I could still express a few drops over a year after I stopped nursing. It didn't really "stop" until I became pregnant again!
Good Luck!
K.
Hey S.,
At about a year I was only nursing 3 times a day as well...unless he really hurt himself he'd also nurse for comfort. At 16 months I only nursed him at night and by 18 months we stopped completely. It was surprisingly a pretty easy transition...for me. At a year my milk supply was still going strong but i found by the 16 month mark it had definitely decreased and when I stopped at 18 I had no kind of pain or discomfort. Everyone kept telling me it would come but it didn't...thankfully! I think my body was just ready to be mine again:) So once you feel that decrease happen (little one working harder/longer for it) it'll definitely be less painful for ya...good luck!
Hi S.,
I am going through this right now myself. My girl is one and I am having dad deal with her night cries, although she's fussing and falling back to sleep on her own within mins of not having me rush to her for nursing. We're all sleeping better! I don't have any discomfort although we are going from nursing on demand (upwards 10 times a day and 5+ at night) to 1-2 times a day and night to comfort while falling alseep. My strategy next week is to help her fall asleep on her own. Nursing has been so very, very fantastic and we've bonded so happily. I hope that you can focus on your happy moments also and do this gradually without stress. I'd keep going unti 2 years, but I have a medical issue to attend to and nursing must stop. Cabbage leaves do work and so does a warm shower and soft massage if you feel uncomfortable at anytime. You can also shorten your feeding times to take the edge off. Your body will work with you.
You need a firm fitting sports bra to eleviate the engorgement. Wear it 24 hours. Also a soak in the bathtub to express some milk if it becomes painful. These were the 2 pieces of advice from my dr. I tried weaning my daughter at one year but it did not fully happen until 14 months when I went on a 3 day trip. Completely painful but totally necessary. When I came home she didn't even remember my breast were a source of food. Loved it.
My daughter just finished gradually weaning herself at 17 mos. and it was a surprisingly pain and tear free procedure. It seemed like after 1 she was often too busy to remember to nurse and when she asked for it would often quickly lose interest after a couple of minutes. My milk supply began to decrease then which also made nursing less fun or interesting and the cycle continued until she was only nursing at night. On the odd occasion that she asked for milk during the day I began giving her a bottle of cow milk. Then one night I offered her water instead of boob and she went happily back to sleep, so now that's what we do if she wakes up and she has been sleeping better too. Good luck and congratulations for nursing for a year!
I also weaned gradually and had no discomfort. I think I really was producing very little milk at the end (18 months), and one day I just didn't offer the breast, and that was that.
I've heard from many sources that cabbage leaves against the breast provide relief from engorgement, but I've never had cause to try it.
