Quick advice please - Weaning and knot in breast

[mousemom]

Over the last month or so, DS has slowly been weaning himself. I'm following his lead on this - I offer and he refuses. We were down to just twice per day, around 10:30 or 11 pm and 6 am before work. And even those times he still hasn't been that interested - sometimes skipping the evening feeding or only nursing on one side. Last night, DS didn't want to nurse at 11 pm and this morning he only nursed on one side (and even that took a little coaxing). I hand-expressed some milk from the other side this morning and at lunch today, just enough to keep from getting too full. I didn't want to pump b/c I didn't want to send my body the message to keep producing more milk. But I can feel a knot forming on that side now and the breast is a little tender, but not too bad. I have my pump with me at work (even though I haven't been pumping recently), should I go pump or will pumping just make things worse in the long run? I have no idea if DS will eat tonight or not, but even if he does, it won't be till late tonight. I know the normal remedy for a problem like this is massage and lots of nursing/pumping, but what do you do when weaning?

[Katigre]

That sounds like a plugged duct and I would try to pump it out b/c otherwise it could turn into mastitis.

[mousemom]

Thanks, Katigre - that's what I was thinking, but it helped to have someone else's take on it too. I did go pump and it definitely helped, although I still feel the knot a little. I'll probably have to pump again tonight if DS still doesn't want to nurse.

As I said, in the past, when I've had similar problems extra nursing/pumping helped. Now, I'm just not sure how to balance that vs. not wanting to increase my production (which has already declined a lot) again. So, if anyone has any thoughts on that, I'd still appreciate any advice. Thanks!

[Katigre]

I think that if you just pump as-needed instead of regularly, and couple that with your DS decreasing his nursing, it will be ok and won't significantly set you back supply-wise. I think there are supplements you can take too for reducing your milk, and putting cabbage leaves in your bra also helps.