To give up on my left boob

[Oysterbabe]

I'm pretty fed up with my left boob. I express every 4 hours and get about 5oz per time, 4 from the right and 1 from the left. Nothing I've tried has made any difference. I was doing the left one every 2 hours during the day and it made sod all difference and took up too much time. Is there anything else I can do to improve supply or should I just give up on it. Tbh I look a bit lopsided

[MrsKoala]

I can only feed from my right really. I used to try to express from left and right, i'd get 8oz in 10 mins from righty but lefty would be max 1oz in about 20-30mins. i was told not to express longer than that and to try more frequently - so i did left every couple of hours to increase demand. but i never got more than an oz at best (and bleeding nipples). I did that for 3 months with ds1 and 2 weeks with ds2. I was told it would be unlikely and virtually impossible for them to latch on the left.

My dc never did latch on left side so my right was an ee and my left a b . Which was horrible and has never evened up properly.

Just going to have another baby then i'm getting a boob job!

[LaContessaDiPlump]

Just wanted to say of your yield because I would pump for hours and get 1oz if I was lucky, plus DS was lazy and hated feeding from me. We ended up on formula very quickly.

I don't think you should give up on lefty, she may amaze you!

[Pseudo341]

Speaking from personal experience, giving up on one side will make you even more lopsided. I'd stick with it as long as you can.

[MiscellaneousAssortment]

I beg to differ... My 'shit boob' is the right one - glaring at it now. I did end up using the left a lot more for bf & expressing as it was just easier.

But now my left boob is permanently bigger & droopier than the right... Years after stopping bf and expressing. Shit boob indeed :(

[TestingTestingWonTooFree]

My left boob is the good one. I am left handed. I gave up on the rubbish one when I was mixed feeding and not doing much breast milk.

[MrsKoala]

There's sticking with it and getting results or sticking with it fruitlessly and wasting time tho. When i remember ds1's first 3 months i just remember sitting strapped to a pump almost constantly. i never got anything done at all. My arse was just tuck to the sofa with a machine on my boobs.

When i had ds2 i didn't have the luxury of that kind of time, so i tried for a couple of weeks and gave up on the left. With exactly the same result as when i had with ds1 but without the 3 months of agony.

With dc3 i probably wont bother trying at all apart from for the colostrum.

[OhIfIMust]

Same here - shit lefty. One side looked like a pancake and the other like Pamela Anderson while I was expressing. My boobs evened up and went back to normal when I stopped expressing. You can take fenugreek supplements to up milk supply more generally but when I did that it was still only about 2oz from shit lefty and at least 6oz from Pammy. I think it's worth persevering as long as you're getting some sleep alongside expressing and then feeding baby. Good luck xx

[CruCru]

This is quite normal. My right was far more productive than my left, mainly because I used it more. I'm right handed so feeding on that side was more comfortable.

[honeysucklejasmine]

I am very jealous of the volumes some of you are getting. If I take my time I can get a combined total of about 3oz.

However, really pleased to realise I am not the only one who's baby thinks breastfeeding is too much like hard work. She's only 3 weeks so hoping she'll get it eventually. But tbh pumping is a lot less hassle. it's just making bottles that's a PITA

[villainousbroodmare]

This is so funny that so many of us are the same. Those could be my bottles! (DS is 7.5 mo and mixed fed now as I'm back at work.)

[BettyBi0]

It might sound like a silly question but are your nipples the same size? Mine were only v slightly different shapes but I tried using different size flange funnel thingies and it really helped even things up

[LowlLowl]

My left boob is the good one. It's bigger than the right one - always has been and since having babies and breastfeeding it's got worse! I can barely express anything from my right boob with DS2 and it was the same with DS1. But then I seem to breed lazy feeders and neither managed to EBF so it hasn't mattered too much as we have been mixed feeding.

[Oysterbabe]

That's interesting Betty, right is bigger but I wondered if that was just because it's the good one.
I'm not finding expressing too much of a bind at the moment so I'll push on with it while trying to encourage her to take more boob. I only do it once overnight now and up every 2 sodding hours anyway

[HollowYourFart]

I didn't realise this was such a common issue! This happened to me with DS3 (I was fine with the first two DCs). I had one lame tit and despite never having a problem latching on or expressing, it just never produced the same volume....only gave out about 1/4 of the other side. The problem never improved and I eventually only fed DS3 from one side. He ended up on bottles at 4 months (compared to 10mths for the other 2) and I was pretty lopsided for a while.

He's 4 now and my breasts are pretty much the same size again thankfully.

[BatMobile]

Thanks to this thread I've realised that I find my right boob so much easier to position as I'm right handed. Why hadn't I figured that out before?!

[MrsKoala]

When i was perservering with the left i found a rugby ball style hold of the baby worked better than the traditional across the body hold which worked for the right. My dc are/were also very lazy. At 3.6 and 18mo they still wont chew and have to be spoon fed mushy food or wont eat at all. Trying to latch and do a bit of effort was never going to happen with them!

[MrsMook]

With DS1, the left seemed to be better, and with DS2 it was the right. Maybe it was their latches. DS2 was a lazy latcher. I've just had a flashback to him being 9 weeks old and clearly knowing what he wanted, but very reluctant to open his mouth properly to get it!

I struggled to get anything out with a pump the first time. Hand expressing was better. Second time I got a Medela which was much more productive, but I got another bottle refuser anyway.

I ended up feeding 2 feeds to 1 on my right due to agonising vasospasms for hours after feeding. It had a tendency to make me lopsided. One day he skipped his morning feed, and the lopsidedness was very evident by lunchtime. Its settled back since stopping feeding.

[QuestionableMouse]

Could you try expressing your left side more often than the right? Might help to even things up.

[FankEweVeryMuch]

My left boob is also the rubbish one that al four of my children have fussed on. I wonder why it is so common?!

[DisappointedOne]

I EEd too (8 months!) and never noticed different supply. For supply try fenugreek tea/capsules, anything with oats and lots of water.

What I would say is that while EEing delivers breastmilk, which is fantastic, your body is getting no cues from your baby via saliva and nipple, so I don't think the nutrition is as perfectly matched as with normal breastfeeding. (Have been trying to work out why my daughter (5) is so much skinnier than her breastfed peers - certainly not genetics!). May be worth getting some contact between mouth and nipple.

Keep going though. You're doing an amazing thing.

[ridemesideways]

You may have less ducts on that side. Really normal. Btw, my baby was a snacker. Fed every 1.5 to 2hrs round the clock until she was over 6 months, I'm sure..

[ClaudiaApfelstrudel]

you can have my right boob if you want it's bloody annoying me