Just weaned my 27 month old - breasts keep filling up and it's been 5 days - what can I do?

[JaguarEyes]

Hi there,

I very gradually weaned my 27 month old this week.  It's sad and also liberating.  He's doing fine with it since I started dropping one feeding every month since he turned two, and just this week, dropped the last one.  We snuggle and he holds on to my strap of my nursing tank to fall asleep now so we have a sweet alternative.  Anyway, I didn't think I had much milk being produced, since we were only down to the go to sleep nighttime feeding and not for very long.  But now it's 5 days later and my breasts are starting to feel uncomfortably full.  Is there anything I can do to help the milk dry up?  I know if I pump it will just keep getting produced.  Any ideas?  I just figured like when I dropped each previous feeding, within 3 days, the milk would lessen, but I guess it's not working that way since he's not drinking any.  I don't want to let him nurse even though a part of me really misses it ALREADY, because I don't want to confuse him.

Thoughts?

Thanks so much!

JaguarEyes

[lifeguard]

If you are really uncomfortable pumping enough to relieve the discomfort would not be enough to keep your supply going at it's current level.

I'm in the process of weaning ds right now too (we need to so we can take fertility treatments for ttc#2 to the next level) - it is interesting how it changes our intimacy - he cuddles a LOT more now.

[Llyra]

Not the most "natural" solution, I realize, but:

It can help to take a few doses of Sudafed. Look for the old kind-- the drug name is pseudoephedrine. In some states you have to sign for it at the pharmacy counter. Any cold medication containing this drug will work. Take it according to the package directions, for about a day or two. The drug is famous for making women's milk supplies totally tank. I took it myself, unknowingly, when DD1 was two months old and I was exclusively pumping, and the decrease in supply was immediate and dramatic.

I weaned my twins rather abruptly, because of my medical needs, and after we dropped the last feed, I used Sudafed for a day, and I really feel like it helped.

[D_McG]

it took over a week for me when I weaned my second.  I took some advil for the discomfort IIRC!