drying up milk

I have heard various things about this..is it better to go naturally(ie slowly) and lose a feed at a time..which sounds good and is the best option i imagine... but i keep forgetting to express and then i sleep or whatever and they hurt and its too late..

will be trying cabbage leaves for help with engorgement...do you just put them in fridge for a while? haven't managed to get out and buy one yet...

there is a milk stop thing at pharmacy? what is it called?does it work or is natural better? any other tips?

Hi KA, I dried up naturally - just dropped feeds each couple of days (not very scientifically- if I didn't feel full I gave a bottle). I was the same as you, decided to give up and so just worked away at it slowly. Because I was giving up due to milk supply/quality issues, I could afford to do it slowly. I weaned down over about 3 weeks I guess. Worked well, I stopped when I had not fed him for nearly 24hrs and was still not full enough to get a whole feed. Then once engorged I massaged/expressed in shower (hard work) and then didn't have any problems after that. They are deflating now, but milk will still bead if I squeeze...

Good Luck

Daniel stopped cold turkey too. I'd just express off a little in the shower or into a towel. But only a small amount (maybe 50mls max)

oh i didnt buy savoy one:( i did look though..i asked at chemist..have to get it on prescription:( cuppatea..daytime fine to do that..night time is hard though:( i just wanna go back to bed..lol... seem to be able to go 5 hourly but not sure if i should express just a little..i guess so or it fills up more?

yeah massaging is hard...i have stopped feeding altogether just doing EBM..as he wouldnt latch on and was crying when it was feeding time and it was really upsetting me:( (and he wasnt sleeping very well so maybe after he got to 11pd there just wasnt enough? dunno..

mum2sam..ok i will do just enough then...i suppose that makes sense:)

Kawwww there is a milk stop thing that the doc can prescribe but there is also just the herbal one, it can't be a script thing cos my pharmacy has it on the shelf next to milk flow tablets. Perhaps you should try health2000 or somewhere instead.

The Milk Stop is made by NaturoPharm who also make the MilkFlow and it's totally natural.

I had to go from expressing 2l a day to nothing at all when we weaned the gremlins and I did what Mum2Sam did, just expressed when I felt sore, and only enough to make me comfortable. It took a couple of weeks.

Just make sure you keep an eye out for red patches, swelling or fever which might indicate mastitis, it's not uncommon when women are stopping breastfeeding.

I found it really hard to express out the lumps, it's so much harder to drain them with a pump than if you feed them out, baby is a much better drain! Except my babies wouldn't feed!

oh you poor thing! I think you have done amazingly to keep persevering this long! Its almost been 2 months I know I would have given up way before then!

The most important thing is that you and your baby are happy and can enjoy each other!

Formula is not the devil!

The lumps are just the milk filling up, as long as it doesn't red or terribly sore it should be ok.

Dummies have also been shown to slight decrease the risk of cot death so try not to worry too much.

Remember that positive mental health and positive attachment are so important for a happy, healthy baby. If switching to formula achieves that then isn't it the best thing for you both?