Stopping breastfeeding

I finally decided to stop BFing today. DS will be 3 weeks on Monday but it has been way to hard and stressful mostly for him for the last 2 weeks. I started pumping and thought I could exclusively pump but he wanted to eat more than I was making. So I decided I would supplement with formula but the more I supplement the less I was pumping. I'm now pumping no more than 2oz total every time and its just decreasing already. After a zillion hysterical nights, more me than him, I decided that DS will be a FF baby. I've finally calmed down and trying not to beat myself up over it. I just wanted to thank everyone for all their help and support and answers to my million questions.

If you stopped BFing how long will I feel this uncomfortable engorgement? I have ice packs on my chest now, any other tips? TIA!

Re: Stopping breastfeeding

It's been a while, but i remember wrapping my chest in ace bandages for e few days. That helped a lot.

Re: Stopping breastfeeding

I dealt with a similar situation. You did the best you could - just know that.

It took me 2-3 weeks to "soften up". I used ice and bags of peas. I also used a hand pump every few hours to release a little bit. Then I increased the time between THOSE pumpings until I could stop. I didn't use ace bandages but I did use the compression bandage I was given for my c-section. I just moved it north and had DH put it on tight!

Re: Stopping breastfeeding

ibprofren...cabbage leaves

1st day i hand expressed 3 times that day, just a little

next day was 2 times

final day was once.

good luck!

Re: Stopping breastfeeding

Thank you so much! I forgot about motrin!

Re: Stopping breastfeeding

I went through a similiar situation at 6 weeks so .

Get a few heads of cabbage and keep them in the fridge. Put those on, under a frozen bag of peas, while wearing a really tight sports bra. Replace the cabbage leaves when they start to wilt. Motrin slightly helped. The worst pain was over 2-3 days.