If your breasts are firmly supported and you don't express more milk than is needed for comfort, your milk supply will gradually decrease. Some mothers want to stop their milk from coming in or dry up their milk as quickly as possible.
Most mothers will be able to suppress their lactation by limiting the volume of milk removed, wearing a firm bra, using cold packs or cabbage leaves and medication for pain and inflammation if required. Things to watch for and what to do. Milk leakage. At times, you may experience milk leaking from your breasts during the lactation suppression process. Here are some tips to help with leaking breasts:. Engorgement painful, overfull breasts.
If your breasts become engorged and the ideas given above do not ease your discomfort, it may help to express all the milk in the breasts, just once, with an electric breast pump. This can relieve the pressure and from then on, you may be able to prevent it building up to that point again. Wear a firm bra and express only for comfort. Blocked ducts and mastitis. When breasts are left very full, there is a risk that one or more of the ducts that carry milk to the nipple will become blocked.
A lump forms and the breast begins to feel sore. Sometimes there is a red patch on the skin or the breast may feel hot. If the blockage remains, milk can be forced out of the duct and into the breast tissue, which becomes inflamed.
This is called mastitis and can come on very quickly. See your doctor if you get the flu-like symptoms or if you cannot clear a blockage within a few days. If this happens, you will need to express more milk than usual to clear the blockage. If mastitis is not treated, a breast abscess may develop. Fortunately, these are now quite rare. To treat blocked ducts and mastitis:. This means that the less you stimulate your nipples or breasts after giving birth, the faster your milk supply will dry up.
Moms who choose not to breastfeed will dry up their breast milk in the early days after giving birth. Some choose to pump and donate the breastmilk they make but are not planning to use. Mothers who experience the loss of a baby may want to stop producing milk as soon as possible. Other moms need to stop making milk for a medical reason, though the weaning might only be temporary. Making a decision about weaning is up to you and your specific situation.
It can help to discuss timing with a lactation counselor or your health care provider. After you have made the decision to dry up your milk, decide what approach you will take. You have more than one option to choose from. Some mothers decide to take a more natural approach and let their milk dry up on its own. Choose the method that works best for you, but be sure to ask your practitioner before taking any medications or herbs to help dry up your milk supply.
Some medications need to be avoided while you are breastfeeding because they are known to decrease breast milk supply. That said, if you're trying to decrease your milk supply, your doctor might suggest taking these medications to help the process along. The first medication moms can try to help dry up their milk supply is a combination birth control pill. This option requires a prescription.
Unlike the mini-pill—which is approved for breastfeeding moms and only contains progestin—combination pills contain estrogen and progestin.
It's the estrogen in the pill that prevents the production of milk supply. Keep in mind that this medication is a contraceptive. If you have plans to become pregnant again soon, it might not be the best method for you.
Another category of medication that is sometimes recommended to help decrease breast milk supply is decongestants. These drugs are typically used when someone has a cold, but a possible side effect is decreased breast milk production.
Pseudoephedrine, commonly sold under the brand name Sudafed, treats cold symptoms because it decreases secretions—including breast milk. The medication is usually available over-the-counter. However, pseudoephedrine is sometimes used off-label and even illegally, so the ability to purchase it is limited in some states. Even when used correctly, pseudoephedrine can have serious side effects. Talk to your doctor before trying an over-the-counter decongestant to help dry up your milk supply.
In the past, certain medications were sometimes given to new moms in the hospital to dry up their breast milk supply—especially if they chose not to breastfeed. Your mom or grandmother might have mentioned that they received a shot in the hospital to stop their milk supply, but this practice is no longer used in the United States.
The drugs are no longer given because many were found to not only be ineffective but came with negative side effects. Pyridoxine, Parlodel bromocriptine , and high doses of estrogen were once used to help dry up a woman's breast milk supply, but these drugs are no longer given.
Many of these medications were found to not only be ineffective at drying up breast milk, but potentially dangerous. If you are looking for a more natural approach to drying up your milk, there are various herbs that have been used by different cultures for centuries. Remember, though, that herbs can act like medications, meaning they have risks and side effects. It's important to talk to your health care provider before trying any herbal supplement or remedy. Sage and peppermint are often recommended to help decrease breastmilk production.
Herbalists often recommend drinking several cups of herbal teas throughout the day to help dry up breast milk. If you have been told that you will need to temporarily wean your baby from breast milk, you'll need to understand why weaning is necessary before you pick a method of drying up your milk even temporarily. For example, if you are having a medical procedure that requires you to take a medication, it might need to clear from your breast milk before you'll be able to feed your baby.
In this situation, you would need to follow different procedures than if your baby simply needed to go without breast milk for a short time to have a medical test. The hormone that makes breast milk is called prolactin. If you don't express milk by either nursing or pumping, your body begins to secrete prolactin inhibiting factor PIF. PIF sends the signal to your brain that the milk isn't needed and gradually shuts down milk production.
During that time, you might feel some discomfort if your breasts become engorged with milk. You'll probably find that wearing a supportive bra makes you more comfortable, but don't bind your breasts. Binding can lead to problems like mastitis and plugged ducts. At the very least, it will add to your discomfort.
You can also try applying cool compresses or ice packs a bag of frozen vegetables works nicely and taking nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medication such as ibuprofen. These measures won't make you produce less milk, but they may help you be more comfortable. If you're really uncomfortable, it's okay to express a small amount of milk to ease the engorgement. But keep in mind that expressing regularly tells your body to make more milk and delays how long it takes for milk production to stop.
Unless you're really uncomfortable and wanting to express some milk, you'll want to stand with your breasts away from the warm water in the shower, too, as this can stimulate milk production. Aim to be removing milk by breastfeeding as well as pumping eight to 12 times a day, including one session at night when your levels of the milk-producing hormone prolactin are highest.
The more frequently milk is removed, the better. After two or three days of regular pumping you should see a significant increase in supply.
For advice on getting more milk from each pumping session, read breast pumping tips. It has been shown to increase the amount of milk mums can express in a session.
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