Ask Roxanne

Hi Roxanne!

We just got the OHM catalog, and while looking through it I said to my Dh that you looked familiar, that I'd seen you on TV or something. Of course he disagreed, if I said the sky was blue he'd disagree on principle :>, but I just read your Salon article and you are an actress, so there to my Dh, ha. Ooh, how I love being right.

Anyway, my problem is that my baby is two now and I am still lactating. He has been mostly bottle-fed since two months because I had to go back to work at a crummy job that I couldn't even pump at. I have tried giving him breastmilk but he's not going for it. I should mention that we are vegetarian and he's used to soy milk, I think that may be a factor.

What should I do with my milk? Or do you know how I can stop lactating? My doctor says this is normal and my body just needs time. I wear tight sport bras mostly to keep the flow down, but I still leak every now and then.

Plus, my nipples are pierced. Whenever I take the jewelry out I notice I tend to fill up more, and squirt more. :>

Any suggestions will be appreciated.

Dear Trula:

Get thee to a milk bank, woman! You could be the saviour of so many little preemies or sick babies. :-) Seriously, though, I just can't stop marveling at your body's brilliance. If you don't mind lactating, and you can find the time to pump at night or during any free time (like you have any). There are sites and women I've heard of with recipes for breastmilk sourdough starter or breastmilk soap, or breastmilk coffee cake, but even I, a committed lactivist, find that a little left of my center and don't recommend it unless you're short on soap. And I mean, *really* short on soap. Wet nursing is always a lucrative job here in Hollywood, where stars like to say that their babies are breastfed but don't like doing the dirty work themselves (I so wish that I was kidding about this, but I'm not!).

But since your firstborn is two, perhaps you'd like to shut down the Dairy Queen and just know that next time you reproduce, baby will get lots of milk. So here are my quick thoughts:

Tell hubby to not stimulate your mammaries for a bit, while you're trying to shut down the assembly line. Any suckling or stimulation will keep the milk flowing. Know what I mean? Wink, wink, nudge, nudge!

Get a Price Club-sized supply of cabbages and start putting the leaves in your bra. There's something in the cabbage that dries up milk. Really. It does work. It's a great salve for engorgement, but it sometimes works too well, so women who are still nursing should do this very carefully. First take the cabbage leaf and roll it out with a rolling pin or large can of coffee to flatten it, then wear it in your bra. You'll smell like St. Patrick's day for a while, but it'll work.

There are also artificial ways to stop milk production -- but this would need a doctor's supervision or prescription, as I am not a doctor, nor do I play one on tv (and yes, you are right and your hubby is too wrong, nanny nanny boo boo!) and that would be to either take natural progesterone or use progesterone cream or to get on birth control that is known to inhibit milk production, but those might be pretty drastic steps to take for a little flow that doesn't bug you too much.

And it is normal to keep lactating past the point of actually breastfeeding. I've heard of a woman who hadn't nursed for years letting down at a friend's birth. Maybe someone's going to leave a baby on your doorstep next week, and then you'll need the liquid gold!

Warm regards,

Roxanne

Ask Rox Main Page