Expert: Sue Ennis - 12/5/2007

Question
Hi, my baby is almost 6 months old. I've breastfed her since birth. She nursed ± every 2 to 3 hours up to the age of 3 months. Then when I went back to work, I bought a pump and expressed milk every 3 hours. So all in all I nursed about 7 times a day. But my milk supply wasn't enough so I started drinking Eglonyl (Espiride) capsules from very early on. At around 4 months she got interested in the food I eat, so I started her on Mabele porridge and some Purity in the evenings. I express milk at work every 3 hours but when it's not enough, I give her Nan formula as well, which she takes without any problems. Now I've stopped taking the Espiride and my milk supply has dropped considerably, even though I still express 3x a day and she nurses in the evening, twice a night and in the morning again. So it looks like the supply and demand thing doesn't work for me. So I've decided to stop totally and go over on formula only. I've also noticed that my milk is very watery since I stopped the Espiride. Now I can go the whole day without expressing milk and then nurse in the evening. What must I do to stop the production of milk altogether? I don't want to take medication to dry it up. If possible, kindly e-mail your answer to me as I don't always have access to the internet. Please before the 14th. Thank you.

Answer
Hello Carina - it does take some woman quite a while to complete stop their milk production and you may also notice a change in the consistency of the milk as well as the process slows which you mention.  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.  Good luck and all the best!