drying up the tatas

RavenandJosh

i saw a lot of posts with questions on how to dry up your milk after breastfeeding but I need to know how to dry mine up without having breastfeed.  I am bottle feeding so i cant really feed or pump mine to reduce the swelling and pain considering that i never bought a pump or started on him on breast milk.  My hospital told me to use cabbage leaves but I am seeing no difference.  In fact, they have actually gotten BIGGER and leakier!  Im in so much pain and dont know what to do.  Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

perplexed59

You can express milk by hand to help with some of the pain. Try taking any cold/allergy medicine that will dry up mucus. Warm compresses will also help.

6fsn

You can hand express for some relief.  Anything with a decongestant can als help dry you up.

Scout05

At the advice of the nurses in the hospital, I wore a tight sports bra and was very careful not to express any milk at all. No hot water directly on the boobs in the shower, careful while drying them, etc.

I never really had any issue with leaking, pain or swelling. You might want to call your doctor or the hospital and see what they suggest. Maybe at this point you need to express, I don't know.

 

ymmas911

Get into a hot shower and squeeze them until they are empty or simply feel better.

HTH, GL! 

Elisa312

ymmas911:

Get into a hot shower and squeeze them until they are empty or simply feel better.

HTH, GL! 

 

DO NOT do this.  This will only make you produce more milk and delay your drying up.

 Scout had good advice.  Tight sports bra or ace bandage 24 hrs a day.  Do not stimulate them at all.  When you shower, turn your back so the water doesn't hit the breasts.

It will last about 3-4 days before they disengorge.  The cabbage leaves does not help speed it up, it just makes them feel better.  Put the cabbage in te fridge and the cold leaves will feel very good.  Also, put some breast/nursing pads in your bra to catch the leakage.

HTH and GL!  It hurts, I know!

*BlackSheep*

Elisa312:

ymmas911:

Get into a hot shower and squeeze them until they are empty or simply feel better.

HTH, GL! 

DO NOT do this.  This will only make you produce more milk and delay your drying up.

 Scout had good advice.  Tight sports bra or ace bandage 24 hrs a day.  Do not stimulate them at all.  When you shower, turn your back so the water doesn't hit the breasts.

It will last about 3-4 days before they disengorge.  The cabbage leaves does not help speed it up, it just makes them feel better.  Put the cabbage in te fridge and the cold leaves will feel very good.  Also, put some breast/nursing pads in your bra to catch the leakage.

HTH and GL!  It hurts, I know!

Yes do what Elisa said. I also know that sage and spearmint dry things up.

Good luck.

mama31

Lurker here.  I did the cabbage leaves too with DD. It took a while.  I think atleast a week.  It was so painful and awkward.  I also wore a tight sports bar too.  Don't try to express the milk that will cause you to make more milk.  Good luck.

JoyfulW&M

My mom had to wean me when I was nine months because she was pregnant with my brother and started having contractions at three months every time I nursed. The were getting bad enough that the doctor told her to wean me or she would probably loose the baby. Any way she of course was engorged and she got into the shower and let the water run on her breasts, she said it helped her milk to let down and leak out without the stimulation that would cause the breasts to keep producing milk. She did this whenever she got painfully engorged and she said it helped a lot.

Mrs.Saxy

you can buy a cheap hand pump, then express just enough milk to relieve the discomfort/fullness.

Cabbage leaves helped me, I put them on cold and kept them on for about 20-30 minutes. Make sure they cover all of your boob.

Sudafed works and I read that Sage tea works but I coudln't find any. 

I got a clogged duct and used warm compress and massage and I wonder if that helped me too. 

Mrs.Saxy

Scout05:

At the advice of the nurses in the hospital, I wore a tight sports bra and was very careful not to express any milk at all. 

wearing a tight bra and a tight nursing tank contributed to my clogged duct. I read many things that said to avoid tight garments.  Glad it worked for you though.

PinkGirlInCali

At my lamaze class the doula said to wear a sports bra and stick a leaf or two of clean, raw cabbage in your bra. Said it will dry the milk right up. I never tried it because I am breastfeeding but she had three kids and said when she was done nursing thats that she did.  There are several articles on google about it. GL!

MaybeBaby2

You can hand express in the shower to relieve the pain and take Sudafed like others have said. I was also told by my OBGYN to take 200mg of vitamin B16 three times a day for a full week. 

Scout05

Mrs.Saxy:

Scout05:

At the advice of the nurses in the hospital, I wore a tight sports bra and was very careful not to express any milk at all. 

wearing a tight bra and a tight nursing tank contributed to my clogged duct. I read many things that said to avoid tight garments.  Glad it worked for you though.

Again, I was told to do so by the nurses in the hospital (two of them were LCs as well). I trusted their experience, and it worked fine.

Had you already expressed milk/been BFing? Because I would imagine that could play a role in a clogged duct. I had not expressed any milk, and never did. We were FFing from the start, and thus my supply never came in. My breasts were back to normal in about two weeks with no issue.

SallyAnneS

I was also told not to let warm water hit them in the shower, or to express any milk because this would increase my supply.  I wore very tight sports bras with an ace bandage wrapped as well around my breasts 24/7 for about 4 days.  My painful engorgement lasted for about 4 days (day 3-7 of DS life).  I had to wear breast pads for about 2 weeks.  Now I still leak a bit of milk but not enough for it to seep through my bra.  I do still wear a sports bra at night though to stop the milk from leaking onto the bed sheets.  Hope your less engorged soon!

daisy889

I have this problem too! I am to stressed to continue breastfeeding, so I stopped about a week ago my left side barely anything leaks but my right wont stop! I havnt expressed them, they arnt hard and full, no pain, everything seems normal but they keep leaking help!