Breast Pain from Weaning My 11 Mo Old

I used cabbage leaves as well when I was weaning and it was a life saver in terms of alleviating pain and engorgement. Good luck.

If you are ready to be completely done, you can put cabbage leaves in your bra. This will help the milk dry up faster. Keep them in the fridge so they are cool and soothing, and then change them every few hours. But this won't really work until you are done, not just doing it less. My lactation consultant said if you try to nurse occasionally while you do this it will make you produce extra milk. (don't know if that's true but I wouldn't want to chance it.)

When I weaned my daughter (who was NOT ready to on her own @ almost 2, by the way ;-) I started doing my few normal feedings counting to 60 on each side. Every 7-14 days I'd go down by 10 seconds until we were at our last feeding of 10 seconds. It was amazing that I had absolutely no pain or discomfort. I took a while but because neither of us was really ready anyway, that was ok. I was trying to get pregnant and thought it time to narrow down the variables.

Good luck to you and your son!

Try to wean him more slowly - feeding by feeding. I don't know how often you were nursing before you went down to 3 feedings a day, but if you went from 5 or 6 down to 3 all of a sudden, your breasts will have a hard time adjusting. The breasts will adjust themselves to weaning, but sounds like yours needed more time and maybe it was too sudden. I have always had a hard time with getting plugged ducts so I know how sensitive the breasts can be to missing a feeding (or in my case, even when you don't miss a feeding!). I weaned my older child very gradually, feeding by feeding. I started with the morning feeding (when he first woke up) and then 3 or 4 weeks later, I cut out another feeding.
Best of luck!

Sounds crazy but the cabbage leaves totally work.

The cabbage works.....really! I would sleep with it in my nursing bra and it was amazing how much it helped! Try it!

Heat is the wrong direction. Heat will increase your milk supply. By the way - are you sure your baby is self-weening?? It could be a nursing strike or just the simple fact that as they get older they become much more sufficient getting milk and will spend less time on the breast. Most toddlers are too distracted or too busy to stop and nurse during the day so they can get most milk at night or in a very quiet room with little distractions.
Talk to a lactation consultant. They can help get your baby back to nursing (if that's what you want), they can also help you if you truely ready to ween.

Taking an antihistamine, like Benadryl, is also supposed to help dry you out.

Clearly YOU are not ready. At least not physically. Take a little more time to wean YOURSELF. I don't think a week is sufficient. I did it over the course of several months, both times. My son was 2 and it was a breeze for me--not for him. My twins were 1 and they were ready, so it just happened gradually the last few months. They couldn't be bothered with nursing so naturally feedings were skipped and the length of each feeding got less and less as they were less and less interested in being attached to the breast when they could be down on the floor playing. Otherwise just go cold turkey and deal with the pain, ask your doctor what you can take for the pain. You can also bind yourself with ace bandages. Good luck!

Hi S.

Try a cold compress instead of a hot shower. Your body will naturally produce milk when your breasts are empty, so the key is to stay full. The cold compress should relieve some of the pain you feel from being engorged. It will take some time so be patient. I hope this helps.

There are some herbal teas out there that are supposed to reduce milk. (Often containing the herb sage) Couldn't hurt to try. Health food stores, online maternity sites too.