stopping breastfeeding?

Question

I have stopped breastfeeding and my right breast is terribly hard and my left is fine, is there anything I can do to relieve the hardness and the pain?

I am experiencing alot of pain and hardness since I quit breastfeeding and I want to know how to releive both symptoms.

Answer 1

put a cabbage leaf in your bra! seriously!

Answer 2

I am not sure if you have weened slowly or abruptly. I will assume you have done it slowly, however if you have not you are probably engorged by milk still being produced. Either way, try pumping the breast to relieve both the pain and fullness. If you do pump and no milk is being produced, you could have a clogged duct. Warm compresses can also help this, and also you may try cabbage leaves. It sounds strange, but put them in your bra and wear it for several hours a day, this will dry any additional milk that is produced, and eventually will stop the milk comepletly. If nothing homeopathic helps the situation, consult your physician or lacation consultant. Good Luck.

Answer 3

You may have a plugged milk duct...take a warm shower and let the water run on your breasts. It is probably happening b/c you are still producing milk, but it isn't being expressed...once you have relieved the pain w/ the warm water, you may have to wrap your breasts tightly w/ an "ace" bandage to keep the milk from coming in any more. If your breast stays hard and hurts, you may have an infection from the plugged duct...you'll need to see your doctor for that. I lost my first child at 37 weeks pregnant, and had to "bind" my breasts w/ a bandage to make the milk dry up. Good luck, and sorry to hear you're having such a tough time!

Answer 4

i feel for you. the same thing happened to me. i alternately put cold and hot compress on the affected area.

what i did was when the pain was unbearable was to first put a cold towel on the painful breast. just to numb the pain. if you have mastitis, the cold compress would slow the infection rate. do this for about 10 minutes or until the pain is bearable.

then rest for 30 minutes.

afterwards put a hot compress. if you don't have the hot compress gel pack you can use a towel dipped in hot water. make sure that the towel is not super hot or you might burn your skin. :) put the hot towel over your breast then gently massage the hard area in a circular motion.

then rest and get some sleep. :)

you could also pump out some milk to lessen the engorgement but limit pumping milk out as it might encourage production of more milk. :)

Answer 5

Sorry to hear about that. It sounds like mastitis which you should probably go & see the doctor about. it means that some kind of infection may have set in. i used to get clogged milk ducts which would sometimes lead to mastitis & the doctor prescribed me some anti-biotics. if you are running a high temperature don't delay seeing your doctor because it could become much more serious. In the meantime I think putting a warm compress in your breast can help with the pain. Hope that helps.

Answer 6

This is going to sound totally ridiculous...an Australian midwife came up with it and IT WORKS!!!!
Go to the grocery store..buy yourself a fresh cabbage,( the clerk will cut it in half so you don't have to buy all of it) take a few leafs off of it and place them between your bra and your breast. If you are feeling pain under you armpits, place them there too. Wear the cabbage;eaves until they are wilted, replace them when they do wilt. Within 24 hours you should be completely dried up and the pain from this will be gone as well!!! I swear it works....there is a chemical in cabbage that causes the mammary gland to dry out at a much faster rate. I swear this works and fast!! I have done it and so have all my friends who breast fed.
Keep in mind that your mammary gland run high on your chest and in you underarms.If you want to keep breast milk do the cabbage thing for only 20 minutes once in a day....if you want to completely dry out do this constantly for 24 hours !!!
Try it. Good luck

Answer 7

Hot compresses, they sell several gel "soothies" things at Target, or you could get something organic at the health food store. If it is absolutely unbearable, manually express some milk. You can always call a lactation consultant or a nurse to help you out. I know the hospital I delivered at had literature about stopping breastfeeding. Try kellymom.org

Answer 8

I stopped breastfeeding gradually and i never got engourged.....i don't know if this is too late for you to consider, if not try supplementing with formula and breastfeed so your milk will dry up slower and you won't have to go through the pain of engourgment. Hope this helped!

Answer 9

i would try expressing milk by hand. see breastfeeding.com for some help on how to do that.
sure if you express milk more will be made, but if you just express enough to relieve your pain then your body will start making less and less milk

Answer 10

It could be infected from being engorged and no let down. Mastitis can make your breast hot and hard. You will need an antibiotic. Go to your doctor and get one. It should go down after you treat the infection.

Answer 11

I agree with the cabbage leaves, you could try to gentally express its good to do in the shower with the warm water running over. I would see a doctor as your in pain, he/she maybe able to give you some thing to dry your milk up.