I’ve had a rough first 7 weeks with my first baby involving overnight stays in hospital on my own in A&E. initially I was trying to build a supply because she wasn’t getting enough to be satisfied. But I got sick and severely dehydrated and she had to be bottle formula fed. She now won’t spend much if any time on the breast (and prefers the bottle) so despite me pumping it’s taking too much time for me away from baby. My issue is that I now feel I have an over supply, and I’m struggling to wean my breasts down to producing less… they seem to get engorged every few hours - I just about get the lumps massaged out on a pumping session but then they produce hard lumps again when I’m trying to space out the pumps. I’ve read I can ice them but do I basically have to put up with engorged breasts in order to effectively “miss a feed”
Can anyone help on how I can safely wean my breasts off producing milk without getting engorged every few hours?
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Sorry your going through this, i vaguely remember something about cabbage leaves from NCT classes … if you look it up to double check. I think I tried it too and it helped… it’s a bit of a blur good luck
I’ve yet to give birth, but someone at work had also mentioned hot cabbage leaves to reduce swollen breasts, but also mentioned wrapping clingfilm around your back and breasts (cutting holes for nipples), to warm the breasts and soften them. Worth a try! Xx
Interesting as most of the recent advice I’ve seen is to ice the breasts (to help stop production) and cold cabbage leaves (my GP said) - I have the cabbage leaves in now and I also took ibuprofen earlier as I shifted the existing lumps but it left my breasts hot. However my issue is how to reduce supply without this happening and no one has been able to advise the best way yet
Yes stopping completely, but between the expressings my breasts get painful and full. I’m trying to express less but they keep getting engorged. Then it’s a bit of a vicious circle because I want to get the hard lumps out and have to express more to do it.
Take ibuprofen and paracetamol to manage the pain, and decongestant capsules are supposed to help stop milk production also. The cabbage leaves is a common bit of advice but no idea if it works. Warm showers and massage rather than express.
It will take time so it’s probably something you need to push through. You just need to keep an eye out for signs of mastitis, any redness, swelling, fever or flu like symptoms get straight to your gp xx
Since my baby is now 5 months, I've really started to try and reduce the amount my breasts produce. In the first 3 months I too was an over producer and filled up my mini freezer very quickly.
When you pump, just pump a bit to relieve the pressure and pain rather tha to empty the boobs. Pump less often. It's so painful and uncomfortable when you need to pump, I know. Its worst than needing a wee but just try your best to hold out as long as possible.
It takes time but eventually your body gets the message and starts to reduce by itself.
I managed to decrease my supply significantly. In the early days I expressed up to 4 times a day, sometimes more. Now I do it once in the morning and a bit before bed and I get a lot less than I used to because that's all I've told my body i need.
Thank you. That makes sense. I also read that cabbage leaves can reduce supply so I went to bed with them on. I still woke up with lumpy breasts after 8 hours but they weren’t painful so that’s something.
I think with cabbage I can now try and space them out. I don’t think I should stop pumping cold Turkey but I think trying to space it to reduce it and not empty but produce less might be the way. Thanks!
I've had similar experience when my baby was 8 weeks. Just had multiple painful lumps which wouldn't go away. Tried many recipes, hot and cold patches, cabbage leaves, lecithin supplements etc. Had seeked for advice with GP multiple times, breastfeeding helpline, 3 lactation specialists. I've done everything possible! However couldn't stop milk or even make it to produce less. And same as you I was getting frustrated to spend so much time away from my baby to pump. At the end I accepted medicine to stop milk offered by my GP. It took a few weeks to stop it completely but without the tablets I wouldn't had done that. It's not the way I wanted my breastfeeding to end, I enjoyed giving my milk to my little one but it became physically impossible to continue expressing. Many women speak about having stressful birth, I'd say I had stressful breastfeeding journey. Take the decision you feel most comfortable with.
Yes I’ve found breastfeeding really hard and none of those feel good hormones they mention.My baby now cries after a minute of being on my breast - I can only assume it’s too hard for her now she has the bottle so that’s that. As you said I’d also hoped for a nice breast feeding journey but it’s been anything but that.
I think cabbage leaves might be able to play their part for me… I’m certainly going to try it as they’ve halted the pain a bit when I wore them last night. I will also try and space out the feeds but if it doesn’t work I’ll go to my GP too. Once she has her jabs the week after next I won’t be so worried about her getting my milk. She’s already had covid so breastfeeding her didn’t stop that.
Definitely, do what you feel is right for your baby and you. Lecithin supplements help to prevent blocked milk ducts so you may try those while still breastfeeding/expressing.
I'm still breastfeeding but have had lots of problems with engorgement. I've found that ibuprofen takes the swelling down allowing the milk to be released. Hope you start to feel better soon, it's not nice
I can understand why you are worried. I got mastitis when my baby girl was about 6 weeks. Definitely the lowest point of my journey. If you are not breastfeeding then that eliminates the main infection source. I was breastfeeding and pumping at the same time to ensure my daughter had enough milk as she kept falling asleep when feeding but ended up with oversupply.
I decided to exclusively do one or the other and chose to breastfeed because like you said the pumping was taking me away from my daughter. It took about a week but I reduced the pumping sessions drastically and only pumped when it was painful. I used heat pads to massage lumps before every feeding session and regularly changed feeding positions so my daughter could feed from where the biggest lumps formed. She never drained the breasts but that was how my supply eventually got regulated.
If you reduce the sessions and also not aim to drain your breasts, your supply will eventually slowly dwindle.
If you're trying to dry up your supply totally, you will probably need to stop pumping and only take off enough for comfort. If you have a hakka you could put that on which will only take what it can through suction rather than pumping. Get a very tight fitting bra like a sports bra to keep them as comfortable as possible and try not to stimulate at all. If you've got a good supply you will probably feel quite uncomfortable. Have you maybe looked at a wireless pump like the Evie? If you've got a good supply and wanted to keep giving giving baby breast milk, it might be a way to not have dry yourself up, but also so having to give up time for pumping. I hated pumping so I totally get it, if that's not the right option for you though and formula is amazing stuff. I used Kendamil for my 2nd for combi feeding and it was the nicest milk we found.
Good luck with it and congratulations on your baby x
Thanks! My post was a year ago though so I eventually fixed it and I stopped entirely at around 5 months so I can’t even remember how I did it in the end. I think I had to really slowly wean my breasts off it, and in the end my baby was only having mid night feeds for comfort while we got her a bottle. That eventually dried up and she came off and that was around 4 months. It was a very difficult time trying to breast feed and never producing enough. In the end stopping completely gave me my life back and I refused to feel any guilt for this. I have a somewhat healthy almost 18 month now - I say somewhat as every week she has a new illness but I entirely contribute that to nursery 😂 and she’s building up her immunity. Thanks for your kind words and I’m glad I don’t feel any kind of this helpless these days 😁
Doh! I'm normally quite good at spotting old posts 🙈Totally with you on the not feeling guilty! I breastfeed both mine till nearly a year and gave formula too. We did what worked for us and 😝 to anyone who has a problem with what we did 🤣
Mental health and doing what works for your family is so important!
Nursery bug time is horrendous! My daughter got hand, foot and mouth in her first few months which she then gave to her dad. It was an interesting time! She's started primary school now and seems to have built up quite a good immune system now 🤞
ahh that’s good! She’s had HFM and suspected chicken pox that we now think was a first bout of HFM 🙈 and she only goes for 2 days a week but she absolutely loves it! So glad your daughter had a good immune system now. And mental health is the most important in a family imo 🙌
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