How To Make Sure No Milk Is Left When Quitting Breastfeeding ?
November 9, 2009 by Guest Author
Filed under Breast Feeding Supplies
When quitting breastfeeding how do you make sure there is no more milk left in your breast? How to make sure it is emptied before quitting?
You will eventually dry up.
Honestly, it is probably different for each woman as I imagine there is no exact time frame. Like some others have mentioned, you can ween your baby off the breast–either smaller feedings because you’ve began starting solids and/or supplementing with breastmilk. When you feed less and less, your body responds by making less milk. It will eventually dry up and you can check every once in awhile by squeezing/compressing your breasts about midway to the aereola(s). That’s how I check even though I’m still breastfeeding. Just to see how much my baby has left in me before I decide to pump out the fattier hindmilk for storage.
I only know this because I was pregnant with twin girls back in 2004. I went into preterm labor and finally delivered a week later because they’re impending arrival couldn’t be stopped. I had no idea my milk would come in and there really weren’t any support people when I lost them (stillborn).
Almost exactly 48 hours later, my milk came in and I became so engorged I didn’t know what to do. Someone told me to use cold compresses for the pain but that was it. I did begin compressing my breasts (instinct?) and found out that it relieved my physical pain. I was also curious to see the milk that should’ve been for my babies.
Over the next couple of weeks, the milk began to dry up so I would still compress just to see if anything was left. This went on over the course of a year! Even if I didn’t check for a month, I could still hand-squeeze a boob a few times and a little bit of milk would express.
Now I don’t know if it lasted me that long because I was pregnant with twins or not. Your body only makes what is taken out so it will eventually dry up. Maybe it I had quit checking it, it would’ve stopped sooner? It will take awhile, though, because women’s bodies are able to start lactation again even after ending breastfeeding for a month or so. Renting a hospital-grade breast pump helps restart lactation sometimes–in case you change your mind later.
Your breast is never completely empty. But when it starts to get there, you will find that your breast is softer and your child is falling asleep. When there is milk coming out, the baby will open his eyes. When it stops or slows down, he starts to fall asleep.
You can also try to compress your breast as he is sucking. Only do it as he is sucking and when your breast feels empty and soft. If you do it when it is full, you will spill more milk out than he can handle.
To compress, all you do is squeeze the breast while he is sucking. That will get some of the last bit of milk out for you.
you cant just quit, because your body just continues to produce the mild and your breasts will become engorged and painful. What you need to do is ‘ween’ the baby, feeding them less and less breast milk for the next few weeks/months, while supplementing their feed with formula. Over the next few months your breasts will produce less and less milk until it gradually stops.
Keep in mind a girlfriend of mine continued to leak milk up to 6 months after fully converting her baby to formula.
Hello!
Are you talking about one nursing session ending or are you talking about not breastfeeding anymore, ever?
It makes a difference in my answer.
If you are considering switching to formula, you should know that you will continue to make milk for as long as your nipples are stimulated by the baby nurising. Nursing is a supply/demand system, as in, the more milk your baby “demands”, the more your body will “supply”.
Therefore, your breasts will never “empty” while you are nursing, and to make milk production stop, you need to replace nursing with the bottle.
If you are just talking about individual nursing sessions, and how to know that your baby has gotten all the milk out during a feeding, my answer is different.
Assuming your baby is in good health and nursing well, the baby will stop nursing when (s)he has had enough milk. It may apper to you that there is still milk available for the baby, (you may see drops or be able to express some by hand), but this should not be a concern.
Congratulations on the birth of your baby, I hope this has helped you,
Jamie