Drying up milk supply

kleshelle · January 2016

I need suggestions, I've been EP for a month, I've dropped down to 2 pumping sessions a day. I haven't pumped in over 24 hours, I'm going to let myself dry up. Engorgment is starting and I'm getting very uncomfortable. Any suggestions to help with this? I'm trying the cabbage out, so far no luck. I slept w it in my bra last night, I'll be switching them out frequently as the day goes on. Also, does anyone have experience with this? How long will it take for the engorgment to go away? I'll be returning to work next week. (The things they DONT tell you about that comes with a baby, this pain is honestly worse than labor to me I can't even hold LO without wanting to cry)

blended10 · January 2016

When I was done bf w/ my son I tried cold cabbage leaves in my sports bra (helped a lot), sage tea, dunking my boobs in cool water (it was summer so easy to dunk them in a kiddie pool, lol) and always keeping my sports bra on.
It took about a week but I had also been nursing for over 2 years.

Mizuiro007 · January 2016

Sports bras were my best friend. That constant pressure helped more than anything else I tried. Like pp the worst of the engorgement was gone after a week or so but it took longer for my milk to dry up, maybe 2-3 weeks before I stopped noticing any leaking.

kleshelle · January 2016

Okay I'll give these a try! I'm not worried about leaking I just hate this part of engorgment and the aches and stabbing pains.

I'm using a sport bra it isn't that tight though. Would it be silly to try sudafed? I heard it drops milk supply significantly.

blended10 · January 2016

Sudafed actually sounds kind of brilliant to me but I'm not trained in pharmaceuticals or medicine at all so my opinion is only that!

Court11152325 · January 2016

Benadryl, cabbage, and sage tea are the 3 most common I've seen suggested on some breastfeeding groups I'm in.

Gingermom15 · January 2016

I believe mint causes a decrease in supply. Maybe try some mint tea?

jaqisunshine · January 2016

I saw that peppermint essential oil will decrease supply!

nicmont89 · January 2016

Peppermint oil is an excellent way to decrease your supply.

rockinmathchic · January 2016

Ibuprofen and frozen vegetable bags help with the engorgement pain. With my first the worst of the pain lasted 2-3 days. After that, there was some pain for about a week but it was manageable. Just make sure you don't stimulate your nipples as this will make it last longer. Recommend not letting the hot water in you showers directly hit your breasts as this will stimulate milk production.

BellaM110 · January 2016

My doc had me wrap my breasts with ace wrap and then wear a good fitting sports bra, no warm showers, and don't express any milk or stimulate your nipples. I dried up in about 5 days. I also tried cabbage leaves but I didn't really feel like they made a difference.

heatherkennedy021 · January 2016

I talked to a LC at the hospital where I gave birth and she said it's better to slowly stop its less painful and you're less likely to get mastitis. I'm now only pumping every 4-6 hours when I can no longer stand the pressure and only long enough to reduce the pressure never emptying them. She also told me to take a dose of sudafed it will help dry up my supply as well. I've been trying the cabbage leaves and I haven't noticed a difference either.

Latina211508 · January 2016

I bf all 3 of my children. When I chose to stop I did it cold turkey. No stimulation at all etc I just wore a sports bra and even wrapped my Breasts. I produced a lot of milk and it took 2 weeks for my Breasts to stop producing. I also tried the cold cabbage leaves and mostly it was for comfort to help with engorgement.

heatherkennedy021 · January 2016

I have to say this pain is worse than labor!!! And I'm supposedly doing it the less painful way.

kleshelle · January 2016

Mines finally eased up, I took sudafed and did the cabbage. The sudafed helped tremendously, this was by far easier than it was for my milk supply coming in. I was expecting worse. And I second that it's worse than labor!

heatherkennedy021 · January 2016

@kleshelle I took sudafed too. Did you express any at all or did you just quit cold turkey?

kleshelle · January 2016

heatherkennedy021 said:
@kleshelle I took sudafed too. Did you express any at all or did you just quit cold turkey?

I kinda weened myself down to pumping morning and night (not completely emptying either just relieving pressure) then dropped cold turkey.

heatherkennedy021 · January 2016

Yes i was trying to ween myself and got to where I was pumping ever 6 hours and then I stopped cold turkey. Last night I decided to put on a tight sports bra and placed cold green cabbage leaves in and wrapped myself snugly in an ace bandage. That first night was horribly painful I got up twice and ran a tub of warm water and placed my breast in the water to let some breast milk be expressed to relieve the pressure ( I was so full I didn't have to even manually express it just came flowing out on its own.) But today and tonight the pain has eased up to bearable of course I've been stuffing cabbage and alternating ibuprofen and Tylenol all day as well as taking sudafed every 4-6 hours. Hopefully by Monday or Tuesday it will be much better.

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