OUCH...... So sore....

[Epacris]

Oh darling, I’ve got no advice but I just wanted to send you the gentlest of hugs. I hope things get better for you soon.

[rufalina]

Thanks everyone. A non boob squashing

Barb, I had just been expressing a little into a towel or in the shower, but have now just used the pump to do it, and it does feel better... I dont want to confuse poor DS by offering the breast, so expressing is the way it has to be. I had been checking for redness and if a duct was feeling tender I made sure to express a little from it...

So, how do I work this then? If I need to express to reduce the risk of mastitis, wont that just tell my body to keep making milk? How do I cut this down, and how regularly should I express, and how much? I did not do much expressing this time, but I know what I pumped this time was only just the surface of what was there...

I should have know that dropping the 3am feed as the last one was a silly idea... I know that is when the milky hormones are at the best, but it the the worst time of day (night) to prepare a bottle, and the feed I held onto... Oh well... weaning like this is so dang hard....

[MantaRay]

Rufalina, now that the engorgement is gone, you might find it helpful to express enough for comfort whenever you need to. As long as you are not emptying the breasts all the way, your supply will continue to drop. It is hard to know how often you will need to express, just when you feel you need to. As your supply reduces, the amount of times you need to express will reduce. Unfortunately weaning at this point is not an overnight thing, it will take some time to reduce your supply safely. With an older baby or toddler it can usually be done more quickly, as they are not having as much breastmilk by then.

Best of luck with it hun

[deletedit]

Hrm, trying to think back to how I did it ... I think I dropped entire feeds so I was still getting empty each time, just not as often ... morning and evening were the last to go.

It took AGES for the supply to dry up though, even without expressing or anything. So this weird lumpy feeling persisted for weeeeeeks.

[rufalina]

Thanks MR. bbs are feeling better today. I have still had to express a little, but keeping any lumps at bay, I hope. I guess I forgot how hard, physically, weaning is. I was so focussed on DS and emotions that I forgot about the bb things. I cant remember it being so bad last time, but I know I did it a lot more gradually then... I was on a bit more of a time limit this time round...

Again, thanks everyone for your tips and support. It does help.