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What's Happening to My Body?
Weaning Issues for Moms
By Lyn Mettler
When I decided to wean my 12-month-old son, I found tons of information regarding the process as it related to him, but I found myself feeling quite clueless when it came to my own body. I didn't know what to expect: How could I avoid becoming engorged when we finally dropped that last feeding? When would my milk dry up? What would my non-nursing breasts look like?
Many mothers feel the same confusion, and unfortunately, there is not a lot of information out there focused just on the moms – certainly a key person in this whole weaning process. So below, you'll find some of the top physical weaning issues that breastfeeding moms face and hopefully a few answers to make it a smoother process for everyone involved.
While leaving the breast behind is often not fun for your child, it's also not too much fun for you, and weaning can oftentimes be physically uncomfortable. Suddenly you are producing more milk than your child is drinking, and it has nowhere to go.
The best way to combat this issue is to wean your child slowly and gradually, says Dotti James, associate professor of nursing at Saint Louis University. "Begin with eliminating one feeding at a time – any one that a mother chooses," she says. "After a week, eliminate another feeding and so on." She recommends replacing the dropped feeding with a bottle or cup of liquid to fill your child and to encourage your breast to produce less milk.
In addition, just how slowly you take it depends on how long you've been breastfeeding your baby and how often he has been nursing. "The more the baby has been nursing, the longer gradual weaning takes, because you want the milk supply to decrease," James says.
Despite your best efforts to take it slow, you still may end up with lumps, plugged ducts, engorged breasts and sometimes even a painful condition called mastitis. For lumps that pop up, James suggests massaging them away gently. If the lump is tender, that may indicate a blocked duct, and she suggests applying a hot pack, massaging and expressing some milk and then applying a cold pack afterward to clear the blockage.