one breast better than than the other?

[CarmenH]

Hello. I am literally expressing with one hand as i type with the other. My baby is 16 days old now and is still on scbu as was over 7 weeks prem. I have been using an electric pump to express and seem to consistently find that my left breast gives more milk than my right breast. Has anyone else had this and what happened when actually trying to feed? She has had some sucks at the breast for a few minutes twice a day for the past two days and although her sucking looks good I don't think it is effective yet. Any other advice on expressing and feeding would also be appreciated. Thanks.

[shazronnie]

It's very common when feeding for baby to have a favourite or preferred breast.
I don't have much experience with expressing though.

Pat on the back for you BTW!

[ghosty]

For some reason DD preferred my right breast when held in the normal breastfeeding position. In order to get her to feed from the left I used to hold her in the 'under the arm rugby ball' hold - basically, it wasn't a preference for which breast but she was clearly more happy lying on her left side ... so she lay on her left side for the right boob and on her left side under my left arm for the left boob.
This lasted till she was 3 months - a few sessions of cranial osteopathy sorted out whatever issue she had (the osteopath said her neck was stiff due to the way she was lying in my tummy ... being a big baby with not much space)

[ghosty]

Just re read your post ... so it is nothing to do with positioning at this point but how much milk is coming out - sorry
Don't know about that ... but it will take a while to establish breastfeeding - probably more so because she is so tiny ...
Well done for expressing

[Gracesmum]

hi carmenH well done to you for giving your dd the best start in life, especially as so tiny. milk difference could just be down to anatomy, some women have one breast bigger than the other. i am typing a work at the mo, but will check out my b/feeding bible and let you know what that says tomorrow.
do you have any specific questions about feeding/expressing?

hey ghosty, glad i am not the only poor sod awake in the wee hours.

[CarmenH]

Sorry I don't think that I was very clear in my original post. What I mean is that when expressing I get more milk out of my left breast than my right one. Can clearly see milky jets coming from left nipple but much less often see that from right breast and volumes expressed are consistent with left breast being more productive. Not sure if this matters or not. Wondering if I should be doing anything to try to help right breast along a bit? Currently trying to express 3-4hourly for 20-30 min each time 9ie 10-15 min each side). Hope i have been a bit clearer. Thanks again!

[Gracesmum]

according to my book milk production can be affected by how well the breast is drained whether by baby or expressing, could just be that you get better attachment on one breast than the other. maybe try expressing more frequently from the slower breast to see if this increases supply. do you get let down reflex when expressing? i found that if i stimulated a let down with some gentle nipple twiddling this always yeilded a better and more effective result. HTH

[CarmenH]

Thanks Gracesmum. I do get let down reflex. Did wonder if it was just the shape of my breast not fitting quite so well with the suction cup thing on the pump. Will try to stimulate right breast and nipple more before expressing to see if that helps.