drying up breastmilk?

Question

I had my baby 4 days ago...i'm not breastfeeding(i wish i could, but cant for medical reasons) my breasts just started hurting and are very hard.. i'm asuming my milk is starting to come in...
a. how can i dry up my milk?
b. how long will it take?
Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

I am so sorry. It must be excrutiating!!!!

It is going to hurt like heck for a few days. You can take tylenol and use frozen washcloths on your breasts to help numb the pain. I guess you can't relieve the pressure by pumping because that would only signal your breasts to keep up the production, right?

I know taking Sudafed will also help dry up your milk, but you have to take it several times a day for a week or more for it to even start to have an effect.

Here are some more suggestions for you from a website I found:

Answer 2

Ouch! poor thing, I've heard it can be really painful when your breasts get engorged. Is there no way you can express some milk for your baby using a breast pump and give it to him by bottle? That would be instant relief for you and really good for him.

If not, this advice may help:

Your breasts will make milk for several days even though you chose not to breastfeed. Breastmilk comes in on day 2 or 3 and swollen breasts can be painful for a few days. Here is what to do:Ibuprofen. Take 400 mg of ibuprofen 3 times per day to reduce pain and swelling. There’s no special prescription medicine for this.

* Ice. Apply a cold pack or ice bag wrapped in a wet cloth to your breasts for 20 minutes as often as needed. This will reduce milk production. Do not apply heat because it will increase milk production.
* Pumping. For moderate pain, hand express or pump off a little breastmilk to reduce your pain. While pumping breastmilk can increase milk production, doing this to take the edge off your discomfort is not detrimental.
* Wear a supportive bra (eg sports bra) 24 hours a day.
* Binding. Binding the breasts by wearing a tight bra or elastic wrap is no longer recommended. It can increase the risk of breast infections (mastitis).

Answer 3

dont breastfeed the baby dont pump the milk out and it will dry out. For the other thing take hot showers that can help your breast release the milk so it wont hurt that much i thin if you do this in 2 3 4 5 7 days at the most your milk should dry

Answer 4

I am curious to know the medical reason...
However, you can dry up your milk by wearing tight bras and avoiding nipple stimulation. Also make sure in the shower to keep your back to the warm water, because the warm water will make the milk flow. For the pain you can use bags of frozen peas/carrots against the breast.
This can take a week to a week and a half. There is also a shot a doc can give you to make your milk dry up faster. Congrats and good luck

Answer 5

I just weaned my son and had the same problem. I wore a tight sports bra and wrapped up in ace bandage really tight and wore that during the day. I also put cabbage leaves on my breasts. sounds weird and is a little smelly but it helped me. Putting cold packs on them will help with the pain. And at night wear two sports bras instead of one and take off the bandage. Once I did that I was feeling much better in 2 days and my milk was dried up within a week. Good luck

Answer 6

Cold cabbage leaves works great. The coldness takes away the pain, and the cabbage dries up the milk.

Answer 7

use ice packs, wear a tight fitting bra, eat or drink Peppermint tea ...peppermint cookies. And maybe take a Sudafed or two...something that says it will 'dry you up' Not trying to be funny....those thinsg dry EVERYTHING up!!
Good Luck