Every mom who wishes to stop breastfeeding is looking for ways on how to stop breast pumping effectively in the internet or from other moms.Breastfeeding is a journey with its ups and downs, sleepless nights to beat pumping time and not to mention the emotional turmoil. These are the things any breastfeeding mom can attest to. Now, it has reached a time you want to stop pumping in an healthy and effective way. There are various reasons as to why moms choose to stop breast pumping and the common ones being;

 

• Baby has reached 6 months and is ready for weaning
• Return to work especially for working moms who tend to travel a lot hence finding time to pump can be a challenge
• Most of the pumps are quite big and heavy to carry around
• There are moms who feel uncomfortable pumping anywhere away from home
• Fear of an oversupply of breast milk among other reasons

Therefore, with the above reasons, some of the moms prefer to quit breast pumping. However, its not a walk in the park either. The engorged painful breasts, risk of mastitis and the discomfort are some of the challenges  to look out for. Therefore I am going to give you result based tips on how to stop breat pumping easily and effectively.

Note: I am an advocate of exclusive breastfeeding to at least 6 months unless otherwise and if possible it is good to extend to the 2yrs of age recommended by WHO

Just like when you start weaning your baby, this is a gradual process and it is important to learn how to wean off the pump and avoid Mastitis

• Step down with one session of pumping-

          You can start by trying this commonly used method of stepping down from a session every 3-7days. This means that you can drop one session in           day one, then day 4 as the second drop and at day 7. This way your system adjusts easily.It is also important to note that moms are different and           adjust these days as your body demands.

• Decrease breast pumping time –

  This simply means you go decreasing the pumping interval by 2minutes in every session. Say normally you do 25 minutes of pumping, you can stop at 23 minutes and the next session at 21 minutes and so on.

• Increase the breast pumping time interval-

  This can be achieved by adding a few minutes on top of your usual pumping schedule. Say you pump every 3 hours, this can be increased to 3.5hours on the 1-3days and on the 4th day you can do 4hrs. This should be adjusted to your preference and comfort.

• Use of sudafed-

  This a moderately safe drug for breastfeeding moms and babies as it contains pseudoephedrine that helps cut down the milk supply.

• Avoiding warm baths-

  This is a classical way and many of my breastfeeding friends mentioned it as an easy way too.

• Use of sage tea-

This is one of the few authorized herbs that helps in milk reduction. It can be bought in Amazon and shipped right to your doorstep. Making it is also quite easy as a spoonful can be used in one cup of water and 2-3 cups per day is enough. It also comes as a tincture.

The Downside of these tips of how to stop breast pumping effectively.

Breast Engorgement-Of Course the system was used to the usual pumping hours and changing the schedule will leave some milk that might lead to engorged breasts..Trust me that is the most uncomfortable feeling a nursing mom feels.

Leaky Boobs- The remaining milk will obviously leak but you will notice a decline as the days pass by.

The mommy guilt- This happens to like all moms. The thought of stopping the pumping and breastfeeding all together is creepy. However with time you get the hang of it and baby turns out okay.

Mastitis- Like I had mentioned before, this is a gradual process and you let your body and comfort lead you. Because leaving a lot of milk can clog the ducts and lead to mastitis

With that said, Here is how to prevent mastitis when you use the tips how to stop pumping effectively;

• Avoid sleeping on your stomach- This increases milk letdown and chances of clogged ducts
• Do not entirely leave breasts full and engorged- As much as we are trying to reduce the pumping dont leave your breasts full because they will clog your breasts hence mastitis

With the above tips on how to stop breast pumping effectively, I hope you get to do it smoothly. I would really love to hear more tips that have or are working in this journey…and hey Happy no more pumping!!!