Expert: Sue Ennis - 4/29/2009

Question
Sue Ennis,
I am a new mother and my son is 8 months old.  I nursed him until he was 1 month old and I had to start pumping and feed him a bottle because we had issues with latching on.  Soon after delivery I wasn't having much luck nursing so the nurse gave me shield to help with suction.  He latch on pretty good with the shield, but about a month into it he was really gassy and had problems.  We all assumed it was because he was receiving to much air with the shield.  Soon after I went to pumping and feeding breast milk in the bottle, things got better.  My question is, I have pumped for 7 months and I have almost enough milk in the freezer for him until he is a year old.  (Lets just say I had a large supply of milk).  I would like to start weaning myself to quit pumping.  Two weeks ago I pumped 5 times a day.  I started to cut back and I am now pumping 4 times a day.  How soon is to soon on moving down to 3 times a day, 2 times a day, and so on.  I feel full, but not engorged after moving down to 4 times a day.  

I am just really scared to dry up to fast and be in a lot of pain.  I was really hoping I could take some medicine to help the process, but I don't think anybody can receive medicine anymore because of the side effects.  I would really like it to be fast, but not to painful.  If you have any suggestions I would greatly appreciate it.

Emilee

Answer
Hello Emilee -the level of discomfort and the time it takes for breast milk production to cease does vary from woman to woman. Could be one or two weeks or sometimes over the course of a couple months with gradual slowing as you go.  Your gradual weaning will help you too. There are two critical things you'll need to do help stop the production all together.  First, you want to restrict the movement of the breasts as any friction will stimulate the milk production cycle and any amount that is expressed or relased can trigger the production to replace that amount.  The second thing that will help is to apply cold compresses as that will work to constrict the milk producing membranes. So using what you have, you may want to wear a tight (not binding) bra or sports bra solidly for a week or two to limit the movement.  Also apply cold compresses for about 20 mintues 3 times a day ... many have used frozen peas or chilled cabbage leaves...or you can use the LaMa Bra bra designed for this purpose at http://www.lamabra.com  which was designed to apply the appropriate pressure and also has soft form fitting cold packs that fit into the pockets inside the bra cups.  A couple weeks of this solid routine and you should give nature the signal that it can stop producing milk.  All the best!