Weaning- Part 2

Wow, I feel so flattered! It has been a really crazy spring/summer. I had a lot of emails asking for more posts, thank you for your interest, I'll try to be better at posting, so here goes.

My last weaning post was about taking care of yourself in the process of weaning, this is more about the baby.

My baby was weaned this week. We are leaving him for a week in July, so it had to be done. Not to mention the fact that I had a clogged duct every week, and I was getting really sick of it. The weaning process took 11 hours. Granted, he is the world's best baby, but he had never accepted a bottle in his life, so I really wondered if it was possible! This was so much easier than I thought it would be. It took hearing the experiences of others before I could finally accept that I wouldn't be nursing this boy until he went to scout camp. I realized that eventually he would get thirsty and have to drink milk from some source other than me.

My sister is here helping me out for awhile. She encouraged me, and told me she would help. That was key. Alone, I wasn't strong enough to hold out when he gave me that look and tugged at my shirt. My sister would take him outside or into another room every time he got that look.

Here is what I did:
11:00 am- last feeding
3:00 pm- rocked him to sleep after spraying milk into his mouth with a bottle. I wore my husbands puffy winter coat so he didn't snuggle up to me, and it didn't smell like me. Fed him lots of solid food throughout the evening.
10:00 pm- After 20 minutes of trying to get him to take the bottle he finally surrendered, latched on, and sucked the bottle inside out.
7:30 am- He woke up and after 10 minutes of trying, he took the bottle. Still wearing my husbands coat :)
11:00 am- My sister gave him the bottle and he took it after around 2 minutes
12:00 am- He took the bottle right away. This was his first bottle of formula, he didn't complain one bit!!!!

So hopefully this post will come in handy for someone else someday. I really needed it, but luckily I had some encouraging stories from friends to give me hope.

Some last pieces of random info that helped me:
-Use hot, fresh breastmilk to simulate nursing as much as possible.
-You need help. Baby knows that you want to nurse him or her, and can smell your milk. You need someone to distract baby so you can get that baby good and thirsty and desperate! And you need the support of others or else it is way too easy to give in.
-My sister-in-law recommended using the Playtex Nurser bottles because they are the most "breast like." I totally think they are. But she also recommended changing bottles until you find one that works.
-I gave my baby a shirt of mine to hold against his face while he took the bottle. But I didn't let him snuggle up to my chest. The winter coat really helped.

Anyone else have any advice? Please share.

Motherhood Tip- Weaning/ Engorgement

How do you stop engorgement? I was asked this question today. First lets talk about engorgement in general.

Engorgement is caused by having too much milk in the breasts. This is obviously very uncomfortable. I mean really, when you are engorged your breasts are at least double or triple their normal size. It's amazing how completely consumed your body becomes when this area is affected. I personally can't even lift my arms up to get dressed when I'm engorged. Engorgement is not only caused by the milk in your breasts, but swelling as well. Ibprofin can help reduce this swelling. Many people will tell you to put cabbage leaves in your bra to help with the pain. I disagree with this remedy. HEAT is what encourages your body to release the milk, so I believe that cooling the breasts contributes to the engorgement. I have a friend who was engorged for a whole week, and went through a lot of heads of cabbage. When she switched to heat and Ibprofin, it went away quickly. Lots of hot showers and baths, and frequent pumping to release some of the pressure is my best advice. Do not completely empty breasts with a pump, that will encourage more milk production, but just expessing a little bit of milk will help relieve the pressure.

So for the new mother who is engorged here is my plan of action- Heat, showers, frequent nursing/pumping, and Ibprofin. You don't want to do anything more than this if you want to continue nursing.

For the weaning mother I have some additional ideas to help engorgement. (Still use all of the above ideas too) When you are weaning, you are not only looking for relief from engorgement, but to stop milk production all together. Here are two things you can do to encourage your body to stop producing milk:

Sage- The herb "Sage" contains a natural estrogen, and therefore will decrease milk supply. Tinctures are the best and can be purchased at a local health food store. For instructions on using Sage to decrease milk click here. This website www.kellymom.com is a great resource for all breastfeeding questions.

Birth Control Pills- The majority of Birth Control pills contain estrogen, and estrogen suppresses milk supply. When I weaned my second baby I dried up in ONE DAY, with the assistance of a Birth Control Pill. It only took one pill for me, and I was dry as a bone. Birth control pills can now be purchased for $9 in their generic form at Walmart pharmacies. (Click here to see the list of their super cheap generic medications)

Benadryl or Sudafed- As an antihistamine, these drugs are designed to dry up bodily secretions. Milk included. Take a few of these, and it should really help you dry up.

My only other advice for weaning is to do it slowly if you can. Start dropping one feeding a week until you are done. Of course everyone is different, and this just isn't possible for everyone.