My milk won't dry up! *Also in PWI*

I also posted this in PWI, but I figured this area gets looked at more and I need help!

Ok, so I've made the painful decision to stop giving my girls breast milk. I've exclusively pumped for the last 4 months. I keep getting mastitis and now that the girls are up more it's getting increasingly difficult to keep them occupied and pump for 30 minutes every 4 hours.

My question is- how do I stop without my breasts getting horribly engorged? I've gotten to the point of only pumping twice a day, but every time I go past 12 hours I'm in pain! I've tried cold compresses and pumping for shorter amounts of time.

Any suggestions?

Cut your calorie intake. Idk if its just my body but if I don't get enough calories my milk production goes down the drain!

With my first son I also had the problem of quitting and it being painful.
With the second I had a great midwife. That told me to leave out a feeding for a week and then each week take out one more. It worked really great for me.

Have you tried to pump more often then every 12 hours since its painful and then decrease the amount of pumping over time?

I had issues and decide to quit. I was an overproducer. I was in PAIN too! Cabbage leaves I SWEAR by! Use the leaves that were cooled in the fride/freezer and wear them all day. . .switch em out every few hours. . .even sleep in them. I swear I was totally dried up after 2 weeks doing this! I couldn't believe how well it worked! I would hand express in the shower, but just enough to not signal my body to make more. The pumping would make me continue to produce, so I would stay away from that. Good luck!

Thanks so much for the advice! I am going to get cabbage leaves right now.