Warning: If you don't want to read about breastfeeding and some in depth details of it, you might want to skip this post.
June has been transitioning incredibly well to the formula. I realized last Tuesday that June was actually do way better on formula than the breast at this point, and that maybe breastfeeding wasn't working anymore. After a lot of thought and discussion with Jason, I decided that I would stop breastfeeding. It seemed to be hurting more than helping at this point. What came next I was not prepared for. O.M.G. Pain! Why is it that no one ever discusses how to stop breastfeeding or what your body will go through when you stop? My mom had just had knee surgery, so I didn't want to bother her with my questions, so I started googling it and really there wasn't much out there. There wasn't a specific, easy solution. It was the same thing: wean your baby off the breast, don't let your breast get overly engorged or you can end up with an infection, if you express any milk be careful not to express too much or you will continue to produce, etc. I had already only been breastfeeding one time in the morning and right before June went to sleep, so I thought I was "weaning" enough. But I guess I was wrong. I couldn't feed June breast milk anymore because I knew it was not working with her tummy, so feeding her wasn't an option for me, and I was so over pumping, it was exhausting by that point. I was so engorged that I seriously looked like a Playboy model, sans the flat tummy. How the heck was I suppose to make sure that I wasn't letting too much milk out? I was so confused and since I had started this process there wasn't any turning back now. I couldn't even sleep, lift my arms higher than my shoulders, carry June in front of me, lay flat on my back. I was in so much pain. And I kept thinking, "now I know why no one talks about giving up breastfeeding. Because it hurts!" Oh and now I know why some women continue to breastfeed until their children are way too old, because it hurts to stop. Ok, so not really, but man I was weighing the pros and cons of stopping.
This is what I did and what I am still doing:
I am wearing a super tight sportsbra 24 hours a day. I have some that are 1 size too small and thats what I am wearing, with disposable breast pads in them (for the leaking). My breasts were rock solid, even under my arm pits, so I took cloth breast pads, dipped them in cold water and froze them. Now this may sound crazy, but I have been putting the frozen pads in my bra as well, to relieve the swelling and the pain. The cold doesn't hurt at all and stops the milk ducts from producing. Hot water causes the milk ducts to produce, so when I couldn't handle the pain and seriously thought I might burst from all the pressure, I would take a hot shower and express some of the milk myself. But not too much! Just a little so that I could tell that the pressure wasn't as bad/hard. So far so good. The swelling is going down and the pain definitely has decreased. I figure I will have to do this for about 2 weeks total.
So for all you out there who will eventually give breastfeeding up, have kids, etc. now you know. You have been warned. And though I was so happy to be able to share those special feeding moments, the bonding and the closeness that breastfeeding gave to June and me, I am happy its over. I feel as though I am beginnning to get a bit of my life back, but that now my life is better than ever because I get to experience it all with my Junebug.
June has been transitioning incredibly well to the formula. I realized last Tuesday that June was actually do way better on formula than the breast at this point, and that maybe breastfeeding wasn't working anymore. After a lot of thought and discussion with Jason, I decided that I would stop breastfeeding. It seemed to be hurting more than helping at this point. What came next I was not prepared for. O.M.G. Pain! Why is it that no one ever discusses how to stop breastfeeding or what your body will go through when you stop? My mom had just had knee surgery, so I didn't want to bother her with my questions, so I started googling it and really there wasn't much out there. There wasn't a specific, easy solution. It was the same thing: wean your baby off the breast, don't let your breast get overly engorged or you can end up with an infection, if you express any milk be careful not to express too much or you will continue to produce, etc. I had already only been breastfeeding one time in the morning and right before June went to sleep, so I thought I was "weaning" enough. But I guess I was wrong. I couldn't feed June breast milk anymore because I knew it was not working with her tummy, so feeding her wasn't an option for me, and I was so over pumping, it was exhausting by that point. I was so engorged that I seriously looked like a Playboy model, sans the flat tummy. How the heck was I suppose to make sure that I wasn't letting too much milk out? I was so confused and since I had started this process there wasn't any turning back now. I couldn't even sleep, lift my arms higher than my shoulders, carry June in front of me, lay flat on my back. I was in so much pain. And I kept thinking, "now I know why no one talks about giving up breastfeeding. Because it hurts!" Oh and now I know why some women continue to breastfeed until their children are way too old, because it hurts to stop. Ok, so not really, but man I was weighing the pros and cons of stopping.
This is what I did and what I am still doing:
I am wearing a super tight sportsbra 24 hours a day. I have some that are 1 size too small and thats what I am wearing, with disposable breast pads in them (for the leaking). My breasts were rock solid, even under my arm pits, so I took cloth breast pads, dipped them in cold water and froze them. Now this may sound crazy, but I have been putting the frozen pads in my bra as well, to relieve the swelling and the pain. The cold doesn't hurt at all and stops the milk ducts from producing. Hot water causes the milk ducts to produce, so when I couldn't handle the pain and seriously thought I might burst from all the pressure, I would take a hot shower and express some of the milk myself. But not too much! Just a little so that I could tell that the pressure wasn't as bad/hard. So far so good. The swelling is going down and the pain definitely has decreased. I figure I will have to do this for about 2 weeks total.
So for all you out there who will eventually give breastfeeding up, have kids, etc. now you know. You have been warned. And though I was so happy to be able to share those special feeding moments, the bonding and the closeness that breastfeeding gave to June and me, I am happy its over. I feel as though I am beginnning to get a bit of my life back, but that now my life is better than ever because I get to experience it all with my Junebug.
Is it bad that I chuckled at this? I was HORRIFIED to stop pumping with P (she nursed AND I pumped until she was a year old, and then nursed until she was 14 months...) because of this very reason! I was SO not in the mood, lol... Although, just in case you're ever in the same position again, it's not as bad once the baby's a little older, because your body gets more efficient at producing and regulating how much you have. Just don't want you to be spooked about if if there's a Round 2 coming your way! ;)
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