Should I just stop feeding from Lefty?

[Annarose2014]

DS is 5 wks old. Big appetite, so feeds a lot.

My left side has an oversupply and a forceful letdown. Righty was similar but block feeding (4 hrs) seems to have calmed It down. So when feeding from the right side DS has lovely calm long feeds.

Lefty hasn't changed at all. When feeding from the left side in no matter what position, its a drenched muslin & top, DS unlatching & relatching 10 times, choking, then giving up after 5 mins. And tons of wind. He's obviously not satisfied cos then if I offer the right side he takes loads.

Its gotten to the stage where I only feed from the left side about twice a day - I just can't face it. But this means that I am painfully engorged a lot of the time. I can barely press my arm to my side right now.

So. I'm thinking I should just feed from Righty and express into a bottle from Lefty on a daily basis? We do like having a supply in the fridge for DH to give if I'm away for any reason, so it'd suit our family.

But is this reasonable? Do people actually just feed from one side?

[ClearlyMoo]

Hopefully some one helpful will be along soon. Sounds like you could express easily from the left. There are definitely people who feed from one side only. That is letting one side "dry up" and just feed from the other. Afterall one boob (average) is enough for twins. I came v v close to abandoning my left side after a breast abscess and drainage surgery left it low in supply. It's very very gradually increased again and I feed from that side first every feed then she has right side. I offer both breasts most feeds at home. However due to scarring and habit we feed "rugby ball" on left side so I tend to only feed from it at home (or in the car). HTH

[tabbycat7]

I don't know if this is helpful, but I've fed two babies mostly from 1 boob. Not at the same time though! I had mastitis both times and they wouldn't feed from that boob, prob tasted weird :). Ds3 bfed till 8 months and ds4 is 2.1 and is still going!

[DefiniteMaybe]

Have you had proper real life professional help?
I'm sure feeding from one side would be fine, but getting the problem sorted and feeding from both sides would be better.

[Nunyabiz]

Not sure how helpful this is, but my friend had twins this year. The boy (8lb) only spent a day or so in SCUBU, but the little girl (under 4lbs) spent over a week I believe. For this reason breastfeeding was established with her little boy, but her little girl was unable/didn't take to it. Also to lighten the load on my feiend her DH bottle fed the girl...so she expresses one breast and breastfeeds the other to her son. Amazing really.

[ChristmasJumperWearer]

I fed my DC2 from one side due to an inverted nipple that made feeding on that side incredibly painful. With DC1 I persisted with both sides for a few months but then switched to just feeding from the right (lefty was my problem too!) and with DC2 I did one feed from the left, hit the ceiling with the pain and thought "sod that!".

I did manage to feed DC1 fine from one side. After all, people breastfeed twins! With DC2 I introduced a daily bottle of formula from early on, but that was also for reasons wrapped up in my mental health and wanted to avoid PND by having a bit of a break each day. I'm quite sure I could have fed DC2 quite easily from one side.

[wejammin]

I had the same problem and expressed from the refused boob whenever it was too engorged but was careful not to fully empty it, now at 20 weeks everything seems to have evened out and DD will take either side, although she still prefers the right in the day. I also found she would take the left happily at night after I had expressed so I would aim to express just before her first wake up.

[MadgeMak]

I feed my seven month old exclusively from my left boob. He just didn't seem to like the right one and got increasingly pissed off each time I offered it that I just offered it less and less, then stopped offering it all together. The only issue i have is that I'm lopsided now. So I think it would be fine to do what you are proposing.

[Annarose2014]

If I express from Lefty I get 200ml in 10mins. Definately no problems with expressing!

I've tried Full Drainage/Block Feeding - no joy on the left. Tried all the appropriate positions - no joy. It may settle down on its own, but that could take weeks!

[Stevie77]

I second getting RL support before resorting to feeding from one side. Have you tried your local breastfeeding coordinator? My local one is great and an actual IBCLC qualified BF consultant, well worth a try.

Also, before feeding from the left you could hand express a little, to release some of the initial letdown, which might help?

[Annarose2014]

weejammin why didn't you empty it fully?

I fully emptied it tonight then just 20 mins later tried feeding from it & there were tears again, & milk everywhere.

[Lovelydiscusfish]

Feeding from one side is perfectly possible. Your supply just adjusts - our breasts are amazing things! I did it with dd till she was almost 2 years, and self weaned. I have one inverted nipple, so could only successfully feed from one side. I used to get very annoyed,with HVs who used to question to me whether it was actually possible to successfully feed from one side, while I was actually doing it, and dd was thriving. I just thought, well obviously it is, do you think I'm lying about it? And what about women who've had a mastectomy who bf, or women with twins? I sort of feel not enough is known about this, and that the myth that it won't work might put some women, who can only feed from one side, off bf altogether. It worried me to start with, and I could easily have given up bf altogether unnecessarily because of what I was told. Sorry, rant over!