Please tell me how to stop nursing

[Vegan Princess]

My DD is 6 weeks old. I have had a very rough time getting her breast milk and have been supplementing with formula since she was a week old. She was 3 weeks early and sleepy and didn't suck much (kept falling asleep at the breast) and I have only about 1 ounce each time and only transfer about 1 ounce when nursing for 45 minutes). I have been both nursing and pumping most of this time. I keep getting clogged ducts and now I have mastitis. I've had 6 clogged ducts already! I think it might be another problem caused by my implants. I just can't keep getting sick like I am with the clogs (achey, fever, chills, husband has to do a lot of baby care) and my milk output has dropped even more bc of them. I think it is time I stop pumping and try to breast feed only a couple times/day (since she barely gets any milk from me anyway). I am not sure if my milk will be completely gone though only nursing a few times/day. It may be time for me to just stop completely and let my breasts recover from all this trauma (I still have scabs on my nipples!).

I know I need to keep pumping and nursing religiously until my mastitis is gone. But after that I am not sure how to stop...should I space the pumpings out from 2-3 hour to 3-4 hours and then further and further apart? I want to make sure I don't get more clogs or mastitis again by doing it wrong.

Thank you!

Cindy

[Mommal]

Mama, I'm sorry you're having such a hard time with nursing. It sounds to me like you aren't getting clogs so much as you are getting repeated bouts of mastitis: feeling achy, feverish, with chills and pain describes mastitis a lot better than clogs, which are generally just hard lumps in the breast, and which are sometimes- but not always- painful.

I admire your determination to nurse for 6 weeks even with the challenges you've faced. I think that if you can bring yourself to continue nursing for another few weeks, things will improve: as a baby gets bigger and stronger and becomes a more expert breastfeeder, many problems tend to disappear. I'm not trying to pressure you- this is your body and your baby, after all, not mine- but just to reassure you that there may still be a light at the end of the tunnel.

If you decide that you really want to mostly stop nursing, I think your plan to nurse/pump religiously until the mastitis is gone and then slowly start to space out the pumping sessions is a good one. Good luck with whatever you choose!

[JesiLynne]

Cindy, I know this has been so hard for you.

[alegna]

Are you working with an LC? Some problems are normal in the beginning. Hang in there!

-Angela

[Vegan Princess]

I worked with a couple lactation consultants and my midwife...but my supply is what it is and honestly I don't know if scarificing my well being is worth it at this point for her to get a few ounces/day from me. I am happy to have made it 6 weeks bc in the beginning when I was seriously overwhelmed by all of this, 6 weeks seemed like an eternity away!

I do hope to be able to keep nursing a bit if I can get past this duct thing/mastitis - if only for the bonding aspect. It does sound like reccurent mastitis to me too. My midwife gave me a list of homepathics to try yesterday but she is calling in a prescription today in case it gets bad again tonight...so hopefully it will be gone for good! I think I will ask her about taking lecithin to prevent it from recurring...it seems the little bit of milk coming out on the infected side is very thick and more yellow than normal.

Do you think I will still have milk to nurse a couple times/day? Or will it dry up if I am not nursing or pumping frequently?

Cindy

[alegna]

I would spend longer trying to get her on breast exclusively. She's still very young. You're still VERY new in this journey. 6 weeks is when my nipples JUST started to heal with dd (she tore me to hamburger- small mouth, strong suck, high palate)

-Angela

[simplehome]

Sounds like you've had an awful time of it! I just want to bring up a few things that helped me with recurrent mastitis----

1) sling? My sling was causing pressure to be put on my breast, which was causing mastitis. As hard as it was, I laid off the slinging until baby was a few months old in order to keep mastitis at bay. After that, my body did a better job of emptying the breast, and it wasn't an issue.

2) If you have pendulous breasts AT ALL, be sure to hold up the breast while you are feeding in order to help all of the milk clear out. I wasn't getting the milk out of the underside of my breasts, and this was causing mastitis. I also got into the habit of massaging milk out while supporting the breast, just to help things along. Again, after a few months this wasn't an issue.

Mastitis just FLATTENS you, doesn't it? I have only felt more ill once in my life. I can totally sympathize with you on that front. Good luck with getting everything to a healthy state, no matter what you choose!

[caro113]

I hope it works better for you. I posted a thread about supply issues being hereditary and someone replied with a lengthy response about how diet affects your supply. You may want read that and try it out.
Good Luck!! Hang in there momma!

[MilkbarMom]

I found that my pump was crushing milk ducts, causing them to block ,and leading to mastitis. Getting bigger breast pump flanges, and adding in Lecithin, helped remedy the problem. Oh yeah, and , not leaning over the bathtub, squashing my boobs when giving baths.

[gardenmommy]

Originally Posted by Mommal

Mama, I'm sorry you're having such a hard time with nursing. It sounds to me like you aren't getting clogs so much as you are getting repeated bouts of mastitis: feeling achy, feverish, with chills and pain describes mastitis a lot better than clogs, which are generally just hard lumps in the breast, and which are sometimes- but not always- painful.

I admire your determination to nurse for 6 weeks even with the challenges you've faced. I think that if you can bring yourself to continue nursing for another few weeks, things will improve: as a baby gets bigger and stronger and becomes a more expert breastfeeder, many problems tend to disappear. I'm not trying to pressure you- this is your body and your baby, after all, not mine- but just to reassure you that there may still be a light at the end of the tunnel.

If you decide that you really want to mostly stop nursing, I think your plan to nurse/pump religiously until the mastitis is gone and then slowly start to space out the pumping sessions is a good one. Good luck with whatever you choose!

Well said. You have worked hard to get to 6 weeks. You have done more than most women would do, and gone through more than most would. Give yourself a pat on the back, and give your baby a snuggle. If you feel like continuing tomorrow, give it another day. If you feel like quitting tomorrow, then start implementing your plan to wean. Even if you start the weaning process and change your mind, you can always come back to nursing next week. You are a strong mama, but even strong mamas sometimes need to just take a break.

[thepeach80]

If you want a full supply, NOW is the time to work on it. This is my first baby I've ever been able to ebf b/c of my supply issues and it's b/c I started right away this time. I've seen lots of improvement since starting Milk Thistle and Saw Palmetto Berry, both can be gotten at Target. My baby will be 4 wks old this week. Has anyone reccomended lecithin to recurring clogged ducts? Have you examined your bra? Are they always in the same spot? The only time I've gotten clogged ducts was from a bra I bought just before Evan was born. It took 2-3x before I figured it out, but I tossed the bra and no more problems.

[PatioGardener]

s
You sound like you've been through the wringer, Mama.

Just in case you haven't thought about it, it is possible to supplement baby at the breast. You could still feed 100% at the breast, feed your supplemental donated milk or formula at the same time by a tube (SNS or lact-aid), and stop pumping all together. Baby still gets your milk with those super immune boosters, and all the developmental benefits of nursing. You get to throw away the pump and nurse baby at the breast - hopefully this will regulate your supply to baby's demand and stop the clogs and mastitis issues.

As for stopping the pumping, you can space the timing out slowly, and also pump for a little less time each time as well. If you feel uncomfortable at all don't wait - pump as much as you need to feel comfortable.

Mastitis sucks, I hope you are feeling better soon!

[mrforbes]

to you!

I had a lot of problems that made weaning hard (like recurrent mastitis)
Here's what my LC told me that worked:

1. Drop one minute off your pump sessions per day (Monday 10 min/per pump, Tuesday 9 mins/per pump....)then eventually dropping a pump one at a time and then only pumping to relieve discomfort.

2. Wear cabbage leaves 24/7. Literally. I put the cabbage in the fridge so the leaves were cool and that felt really good. It helps your supply dry up.

3. Sage tea in huge amounts, I drank it with some milk and honey because it's bitter. Also peppermint tincture/oil 3-4 times a day orally, the body absorbs that form faster than tea and it helps dry you up. If you can find sage in that form it's supposed to work even faster.

4. Take echinecea and other immune boosters to help your body prevent more problems as you wean.

Realistically, it takes a few weeks to be comfortable and done.
Good luck!

[annettemarie]

Mama, I'm going to go ahead and move this over to Breastfeeding Challenges.

Also, please keep in mind that it is appropriate for members both to support the OP in any decision she makes, as well as to gently give her "outside the box" solutions that may ultimately allow her to continue breastfeeding.

[georgia]

Cindy, my heart goes out to you because it sounds like you've been through so much, and I can empathize Nursing and pumping in the newborn period is particularly exhausting. The first few months for me with my first were awful. I felt so robbed and lied to about how breastfeeding was so easy and wonderful That was just not my experience at first, at all. I'm so glad I had people who had been there before to suggest that I take it one feeding at a time and not just give up b/c it did get so much better. IME, any amount of time spent mothering her at your breast will be invaluable to both of you

Here is a helpful link about partial weaning and here are some helpful links about recurrent mastitis. IME, getting to the root cause of the recurrent mastitis made a huge difference. Best wishes to you and congratulations on your sweet little girl!

[Vegan Princess]

Thanks for all the replies. I will look into the lecithin. I have my 6 week visit with my midwife on Thursday so I'll ask her about it then. The plugs seem to be in all different areas...not sure if they are all plugs though or just hard spots caused by mastitis (or are those plugs too)? They have moved all around my right breast and the 2 plugs i had on my left were on opposite sides. I was wondering if switching to a larger breast shield for the pump might have caused the plugs..maybe it was too big. I went back to the smaller ones.

I did try a SNS a few weeks back but it took 20 minutes for her to get half and ounce of formula. I'm sure something was wrong with it but at that rate I'd have to feed for hours to get 3 ounces into her.

I have been taking more milk plus and fenugreek for weeks with no results. I ordered some domperidone online...but 2 weeks later it still has yet to arrive. I'd be afraid to take it with mastitis but if it were here I'd be curious about it for when I'm healed. I'm not overly confident it will ever arrive.

Thanks for the sympathetic ears. It is nice to be acknowleged for trying to so hard. If I stop now I will do it knowing I tried as hard as I could!

Cindy

[Vegan Princess]

Looks like a couple people posted at the same time as me. Georgia thank you for those articles...just what I wanted to know! :-)

Cindy

[Mommal]

The plugs seem to be in all different areas...not sure if they are all plugs though or just hard spots caused by mastitis (or are those plugs too)?

You can have plugged ducts without having mastitis, but my understanding is that you mastitis usually incorporates a plugged duct: you get a plugged duct, the duct gets inflamed and infected, and bingo- you've got mastitis.

Have you tried all-fours pumping or nursing? (Dangle your breasts into baby's mouth or into breastshield from above.) Gravity is supposed to be helpful at getting clogged ducts to release.

Thanks for the sympathetic ears. It is nice to be acknowleged for trying to so hard. If I stop now I will do it knowing I tried as hard as I could!

Hugs to you, Cindy. I know (from experience) that what you're doing is the hardest, and sometimes the most thankless task in the world. Whether or not you continue to nurse, you have given your baby a great start!

[TanyaS]

Many mothers use lecithin supplements to successfully curb recurring mastitis. : I know the decision is tough either way.

[starling&diesel]

nak



Oh Cindy ... I share your struggles, mama.
Can you hang on for the dom? I think it's really helped my supply (I've been on it for two weeks now, 2 x 10mg pills 3 x a day). I've also noticed that my babe has gotten stronger and smarter at sucking/transferring. I've also stopped weighing her, because I was obsessing. Now I'm judging our breastfeeding success based on her demeanor and diaper output.

The SNS I use is just an ounce syringe (with a plunger) attached to a small length of feeding tube (3 inches maybe) so that I can 'help' her by advancing the plunger a tiny bit wih each suck. I highly recommend this set up.