Expert: Sally Wendkos Olds - 8/6/2008

Question
how long does it take for my breast to dry up?

Answer
Dear Susan,

First, congratulations for giving your baby the best start in life by breastfeeding!

There's no one time for a nursing mom's breasts to dry up after weaning. I'm attaching excerpts from my book (see below) which talks about this. I also give suggestions in the book about weaning, but it sounds as if you have already done this.

Good luck!

Sally
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Sally Wendkos Olds
Author, THE COMPLETE BOOK OF BREASTFEEDING: Eiger & Olds, 3rd edition 1999, published by Workman Publishing & Bantam Books, and available in most public libraries, bookstores & La Leche League chapters. Now in revision for a fourth edition, with Laura M. Marks, M.D.
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How Weaning Affects You
Physical Changes
When you stop breastfeeding, your body will undergo a number of physiological changes as your hormonal balance reverts to what it was before you became pregnant. As soon as you added foods other than breast milk to your child’s diet, it became easier for you to become pregnant again. If you have not already adopted a method of birth control and if you do not want to conceive right away, you will want to use some means of contraception now.
  The most obvious change will be in your breasts. It may take several months for you to lose the bulk of your milk, even though none may be apparent within days after the last nursing session. Some women are able to express a drop or two of milk from their breasts up to several years after weaning. Remember that nipple stimulation promotes milk production, so if you are always checking for milk, you are likely to find some. Also, consistent nipple stimulation during sexual activity can result in slight milk secretion for some time.
  It may also take several months for your breasts to return to their former size. They will most likely be less firm than they were before you became pregnant, but this is the result of childbearing, not breastfeeding. They will probably seem to be the same size they were before your pregnancy, although some women feel that their breasts become larger or smaller after nursing. This may have something to do with the amount of weight gained or lost or with their having become accustomed to having larger breasts.
  If you wean slowly, you should have little or no discomfort from milk pressure. You’ll gradually produce less and less milk until there’s virtually none at all to speak of. If at any point during weaning your breasts become overfull, you can express just enough milk to ease your discomfort, or you can put your child to the breast for a minute or two (if she’s willing to stop at that). Don’t overdo it or you’ll just encourage your breasts to continue producing copious amounts of milk. If you’re uncomfortably full most of the time, slow down the pace of weaning.
  Two once popular remedies are no longer recommended. One, binding your breasts, can actually make you feel worse and cause a plugged duct besides. And medicine to dry up your milk usually didn’t work and often had unpleasant side effects; it has been taken off the market for this purpose.