How to dry up breast milk?

Question

I am pregnant and I only want to breast feed for 2 months to give the baby the immuntities, but I want to know how long it will take for my breasts to get back to normal. I normally am a 36 D and at 14 weeks pregnant I am already a 36DD and I am terrified of how big my breasts will be after the milk comes in.

Answer 1

I breastfed my daughter until three months and they went back to normal in about 3 weeks. Stop gradualy by mixing your milk with formula so it won't be painful. I didn't feed at all with my son and on the third day after birth my boobs swole to triple their normal size i got what they call milk fever. There is nothing you can do about it because they don't give out meds n e more for it. Hot water encourages the production of milk so if you don't feed at all keep your back to the water. If you do feed you won't have to worry about the pain because your body only replaces the milk that has been taken so if you don't lactate any milk your body won't replace it. Hope this helps.

Answer 2

After the two months are up, or when ever you decide to stop (I only breastfed my daughter for 2 mos...mostly because it didn't work well with my work schedule) Wear a tight fitting sports bra. I saw that on TLC when this teen mom didn't want to breastfeed. You can take warm showers to help releive some of the pressure. Once your breast stop making the milk, you should go back to "normal" or close to it by a few weeks. Good luck.
BTW--My daughter is 8mos and has only had the sniffles once and that was from me bringing it home from the office. Longer is better, but some is better than none.

Answer 3

It depends on your body.
Just to let you know when you stop breast feeding your breast will become engourged and expressing the milk only continues the making of more.
Take a hot shower and just let the water flow on your breast, this can sometimes reliev some pain, and I have also heard that putting leaves of cabbage will make it feel better.

Answer 4

I don't know what you after birth plan is, and I completely found this out on accident (I wanted to breastfeed for at least six months and was only able to for eight weeks because of this). When I went in for my post natal check up my OB/GYN prescribed birth control called Nortrel, he said that it might affect the amount of my breast milk temporarily. Needless to say, I completely dried up and could only nurse for a short while after I started taking them. It was an unfortunate side affect for me, but some birth control will do this for you without the pain of engorgement either. Talk to your doc about your questions and find out what he/she would recommend.

Answer 5

Your boobs are going to be huge. I am a B and I thought I turned into Dolly Parton.....As far as getting back to "normal" I don't even know if anything is normal on your body ever again after you have a baby....sorry not what you wanted to hear I know.

I didn't believe it until I tried it, but cold cabbage leaves really do help...another thing that worked for me was wearing a semi-tight sports bra when I slept...wrap them babies up.

Good luck with your pregnancy!

Answer 6

When I decided to stop breast feeding my son, I slept with icepacks on each breast and they went back to normal size within 3 days. I was very miserable for those three days but it worked.

Answer 7

Well, they will get bigger....you can usually expect at least 2 sizes up from pre-conception.
Honestly, the best way to dry up is to stop breast feeding and not express any milk. Your boobs will feel like exploding but it will go away.

Answer 8

I didn't try this, but I have heard that putting cold cabbage leaves on your breasts helps too. Just change the leaves out when they start to wilt (you can put them right in your bra). My friend used them and said it worked great.