Stopping breast feeding- how long does the pain last?

[jollybaby]

I stopped feeding Miss JB over over the weekend (her last feed was on Sat am) and am in agony! She was only having 1 or 2 breast feeds a day before this (she's 10 1/2 months) and so I thought it wouldn't be too painful. How wrong was I? From my extensive Internet research I see that expressing is a big no no but my right breast feels like it is going to explode. Will I really be prolonging things if I express 20 -30 mls or so? Aaargh.

[KateW]

From memory, the pain was only really bad for about a day and then it subsided and I didn't really think anything more of it. Boobs were back to 'normal', albeit smaller and droopier :o(, within about 3 days I think. I wouldn't express if it was me, as I think it would just prolong things. Hang in there!

[sanity girl]

Hi, I had this when I stopped feeding my daughter at 15 months, was also down to 1-2 feeds day. If I remember correctly it lasted about 10 days. Massaging under hot shower or in bath helps, and wear a good comfy supportive bra (no underwires!). Once the pain/fullness went it still took my boobs a few weeks to deflate to their usual size, and I still had milk for ages and ages (I'd do the occasional squeeze to check, just out of curiosity!)

[Lochie]

I did this quite suddenly at 6 weeks and had a night of total agony where yes my boobs felt like they were going to blow up! Had to lie on my back so as not to make sheets soggy!! My GP prescribed me a great painkiller, I don't know what it was but it helped with the pain - it was prescription only and I took just one big red pill and it lasted 8 hours and worked a treat - i think it was ibuprofen but mega strong.

Echo KateW - pain gone within 3 days but sadly left with spaniels ears afterwards :-(

[GinaG3]

I stopped breastfeeding at 2 years, my boobs were huge, engorged, hot and heavy. Not particularly painful, just uncomfortable same as when milk came in as baby was born. I used cabbage leaves in my bra that I had sat in the freezer for about 30 minutes before using. Really helped!! I also had to hand express once every 2 days (literally a few drops, not anything substantial..) just to relieve my breasts, best done in a warm bath I find. Boobs were back to normal after about 7 days, 6.5 months on all I have are rather annoying milk spots on my nipples. This is perfectly normal though!!

Just a note, if you have sudden on set of cold/flu symptoms and your boobs are painful, see your GP to rule out mastitis.

Best of luck x

[jollybaby]

Thanks ladies. Things are feeling a little more comfortable this evening so hopefully I'll doing a Kate rather than a sanity girl!

[ryedalema]

You can stroke your b**bs in a downwards motion in a really hot bath (as hot as you can stand)...it doesn't prolong the milk supply, but gives you a bit of relief.

Also - echoing the cabbage leaf straight from the fridge/freezer thing - that's quite good.

Mine only lasted a couple of days too and I went cold turkey from full-on bfing to nought.

Good luck with it - and don't forget, now you're not bfing - you can take meds!!! xx

[budur]

didnt have any pain as stopped gradually after 1 yeaer, down to 2 feeds for few weeks, then only 1 in the morning for a while, probably a couple of weeks and that was it. one of them felt larger for a while, guess more milk was left in there, but gradually it dissolved and they both became similar size.

[ludoscotts]

Hi recently went through this too and yes it was so painful. I didn't express to relieve pain but like previous poster I could feel so many limps and bumps all over them and was worried about mastitis so

I had very hot showers/baths for a few days and just massaged them to relieve the pressure. After 4/5 days it eased up and wasn't painful within a week. Good luck with it. It does get better.