Reduction of Feedings

• Gradually reduce the length of your baby's feedings. Spend five minutes less nursing your baby each session. Two days later, increase this reduction to 10 minutes. Gradually reducing your baby's nursing time allows more milk to stay in your breasts, reducing the milk production. Avoid having empty breasts; when your breasts are empty, milk production goes into overdrive to quickly fill them and provide milk for the next feeding.
  
  

Pumping or Hand Expression

• If you don't want to nurse your baby anymore, pumping or expressing the milk by hand can offer relief. When your breasts are swollen and overfull, wait as long as you can before removing just enough milk to eliminate any discomfort. By removing only a little bit of milk and leaving the majority of milk in the breasts, you slow down and eventually stop the body's milk production. Place a cold compress on your breasts for comfort and take ibuprofen or acetaminophen to reduce any pain. Wear nursing pads in case your engorged breasts start leaking. Alternatively, you can wear a supportive bra.
  
  

Sage Tea

• Sage is an herb many women use to help reduce and stop breast milk production. If you are overproducing breast milk, use sage to bring down milk production to a more acceptable level. To completely dry up breast milk, the Herb Lore website recommends drinking a cup of sage tea three times per day. After two days you should start noticing a difference in breast milk production.
  
  

Cabbage Leaves

• Many women believe cabbage leaves can contribute to a reduction and elimination of milk production. Cabbage leaves have been used for years to avoid engorgement of the breasts. Rinse cabbage leaves and chill them in the refrigerator. Crush the veins of the leaves and then place the leaves over your breasts until they welt. Wear a bra to help keep the leaves in place.