In the life of every lactating woman, there comes a time when she, for whatever reason, wants to complete breastfeeding. The question of how to properly stop lactation becomes relevant and very exciting for any mom. This is a very difficult psychological moment for both a woman and a child, so it deserves due attention. About how to stop lactation naturally, will be written in this article.
Deadlines for breastfeeding
The duration of breastfeeding is not an arbitrary decision of the mother, but certain physiological criteria that follow each other and are intertwined. In other words, the duration of breastfeeding should be determined by the natural needs of the baby, which eventually fade away, giving way to new ones.
It is generally accepted that breastfeeding should last at least six months, and then it is allowed to replace it with a milk mixture and the introduction of new products. Six months is too short a period for stopping lactation, since the sucking reflex in a child fades by only two years, and in some children by three. All this suggests that natural feeding should last at least two years.
Reasons to Stop Breastfeeding
There are many reasons why a nursing woman wants to stop breastfeeding, for example:
- The child is over two years old.
- The need to go to work.
- New pregnancy.
- Fatigue from breastfeeding.
- Maternal illness requiring medical treatment incompatible with lactation.
There may be thousands more reasons pushing a woman to take this crucial step, but she must be aware that stopping lactation is depriving a baby of breast milk forever. Therefore, if mommy feels doubt and uncertainty, then it is better to postpone this moment to a later date.
Basic Rules
In order not to harm either yourself or the child, you need to know how to stop lactation in the natural way correctly. There are several basic rules for stopping breastfeeding. Observing them, a woman painlessly proceeds to a new stage of feeding her baby.
If the baby is older than one year, and he is already eating adult food, then the best option would be to gradually replace breast-feeding with another liquid. You can offer baby juices, compotes, baby teas or plain water. In a situation where the baby refuses to accept anything other than his mother’s breast, you should give him a bottle with the mixture.
After replacing all day feedings with another liquid, night feeds remain. In a few weeks, you can wean the child from nighttime applications, replacing the breast with a pacifier or a bottle.
Such a gradual decrease in lactation will save the child from psychological trauma, and mother - from mastitis and other problems with the mammary glands.
Lactation Reducing Products
Another way to answer the question of how to stop lactation naturally is to eat foods that help reduce the production of human milk. The most popular are sage, mint tea, lingonberry and parsley infusions. Some are advised to eat more smoked and canned foods, but they will be harmful to the baby who receives them with breast milk. Maybe they can reduce lactation, but they should not be used even by a non-breastfeeding woman.
Having decided to take various infusions from herbs, follow some rules. For example, when asked about how to stop lactation with sage, you should take the prepared broth a little. This is done so as not to harm the child. After drinking several sips of infusion from sage in the morning, mom should carefully monitor the baby’s reaction: doesn’t he have an allergy, has he felt unwell or have any other unusual symptoms.
Alternative methods of stopping lactation
Previously, women stopped feeding the baby, following the advice of their mothers and grandmothers, since medicine did not pay much attention to breastfeeding. Therefore, nursing mothers, in order to reduce the amount of milk, consumed less liquid, or instead of regular drinking, drank infusions from herbs that reduce lactation.
The most common way that has come down to our time is to pull the chest. It is believed that milk does not enter the transferred breast, and thus lactation ceases. However, breastfeeding counselors are not advised to use this option due to the occurrence of frequent mastitis and inflammation of the mammary glands.
Some mothers just give their baby to their grandmother for a week and do not show him all this time. This method is not correct and does not answer the question of how to stop lactation naturally, as it has a very negative effect on the children's psyche.
Medical methods
If you urgently need to stop breastfeeding (for example, due to the health of the mother), and there is no time for gradual weaning, then you can resort to medicines. Today, pharmacy chains offer many drugs to stop milk production. However, only a doctor should prescribe
pills to stop lactation. The price for them may be high, but it is better to buy a better drug. It is important to remember that medical termination of lactation has contraindications and side effects.
The consequences of stopping lactation
If a nursing woman has decided to stop lactation before the due date for breastfeeding, then she should know the consequences of her decision.
For women, a sudden cessation of breastfeeding can result in mastitis. Sometimes in advanced cases, doctors resort to surgical intervention.
Another unpleasant consequence may be depression in the mother. It occurs due to a sharp change in the hormonal background. Often, women say that after weaning, it seemed to them that the child was as if taken away. This is due to the fact that the body reacts to the cessation of milk production and the child’s application as if it were lost. In this regard, there is a massive release of the stress hormone, and the woman falls into deep depression. For two to three months, tearfulness and longing can accompany her.
For a child, late weaning also carries a number of negative consequences. This can be both a psychological trauma and an inferior development of the immune and digestive systems.
Useful Tips
Which option is better to choose and how to stop milk lactation with the least consequences for mom and baby? First of all, you need to approach this process with confidence and inner calm. When the mother is calm and consistent in her actions, the child feels it. And vice versa, the baby will always feel mom's anxiety and answer the same.
A woman should dress in tight-fitting clothes without deep cuts in the chest area, so that it is difficult for the child to reach her.
Of course, smaller children are much easier to wean, replacing it with a bottle. Even if at first the child will refuse it, then hungry, he eats the mixture. Children older than a year can already explain what they want, and will seek their mother’s breast in all possible ways. Therefore, with every attempt of the child to get to the desired, the mother should explain to him that the milk has ended, and offer a bottle.
Weaning is advised to be carried out during the period of involution. It occurs when the baby is one and a half to two years old. Involution can be recognized by such signs as a woman's irritability during feeding, sudden fatigue, if the woman has not been feeding for a long time, and a small amount of milk.
If a child is weaned for two to three months, then the milk will decrease little by little, there will be no condensation of the mammary glands, the hormonal background will gradually change, and mother and baby will easily endure this important period in the lives of both.