please please help me...refusing one breast no matter what i do! i'm at my wits end

[Heathcliffscathy]

ds has always had a favourite breast (the slightly smaller one) as it is easier for him to latch on to. the bigger one is v big when engorged (I don't think i look lopsided but there is a definite difference between my right (smaller) and left hand sides including my feet.

however, in the last few days he has started to totally refuse the left hand breast. I have a very very strong let down (people in my nct group laugh at it as a spray the room if i'm not careful) which is part of the problem.

however this seems to go beyond that! He cries hysterically now if i present him with the left breast.

he fell and bumped his head on sunday so i've been paranoid that something is wrong when he lies on that side. however, he won't take this breast lying on the other side (rugby hold). he won't take it BEFORE let down. he won't take it no matter what unless he is so half asleep that he doesn't care. he cries hysterically and turns his head away...it's very dispiriting.

at the moment i'm managing to get him to feed from it when he is sleepy so in the night or straight after a nap, but if he is even slightly alert he goes ballistic and will only take the other breast...and it seems to be getting worse. i'm thiknking if it carries on then he will refuse it altogether within the next couple of days.

i've tried ruling things out: it's not about lying on that side, it's not about the let down...

i think either he hates the shape of it, or it tastes different to the other one (is that even possible).

this is getting painful and any help would be very gratefully received.

Have you tried pumping to lessen the engorgement and make it 'smaller'?

he doesn't like it even before let down. even when it isn't engorged. what is it???

Have you tried expressing from it to empty it a bit before you offer it to him?

Have you tried lying down on your side to feed?

X posts

i nearly always lie down to feed if in the house.

i have tried all the obvious things. tonight i tried giving him the breast from the other side and it wasn't engorged and he just flipped.

trouble is, he's gone from having two breasts worth at his bedtime feed to one and it's having a knock on effect on this sleep. a severely deleterious one. arghhhh.

tiktok? anyone...is there any answer to this?

bump

just a thought, i am wearing a jojomamanbebe BFing top and only the nipples stick out of the holes! Maybe he wouldn't be able to tell which side is which.

how about pumping off an oz or so to make let down less strong and then feeding lying down?

sophable, my DD has gone through a period like this when she has completely refused one breast, but she did eventually go back to feeding from that breast again after a couple of days. In the meantime I would express from your full breast to ease your engorgement. You could freeze your milk for future use so it wouldn't go to waste.

We are going through a smililar phase just now - my DD will scream when presented with my right boob even when she is starving. As soon as I put her on to my left boob she feeds happily .

It is likley that it is just a phase that will pass.

great kellymom article on this

My middle one had a bit of a stage like this with my spurty left breast, I also have a strong letdown in the early weeks).

I used to start her on the preferred side and then move her over in rugby ball hold to the other. Or start her on the least preferred side when she was just coming round from a nap and still a bit dopey.

If it persists and/or baby seems unwell may be worth getting them checked for an ear infection as this can make it painful to lay on a certain side. And if your dd has had her jabs very recently her leg may be sore on that side.

oh yes, and until she had got over her aversion, I didn't offer the hated breast when we were out!

In some cultures its thought normal to breastfeed on one side only and the other breast just goes dry or almost dry: this is called feedback inhibition of lactation by health professionals. When mum pig does not produce enough piglets to cover all her available teats the unused ones go dry too. It's a bit like a thumbsucker refusing to suck any other digit even though the suck one is sore from sucking. This is called "oral tactile imprinting". You can look up this term on the internet. Your next bub might choose the other breast as my second one did.

My DS is the same! Glad it's not just me then!

He hates my right breast and I am pretty lopsided now. I think it's a combination of engorgement, fast let down etc, oversupply.

I am just perservering when I can as he will take it when tired or half asleep! If I get too big and full there I just pump it off and store in the freezer.

It is a pain though. I have learned to be strategic in my feeds and off the hated one when just waking up or in middle of night. I NEVER offer it if out as he would just kick off and create a scene!

HTH to know you are at least not alone on this!

i honestly think it must be the shape of the taste of the milk as he won't go for it in rugby hold (lying on his 'good' side) nor will he go for it when I've pumped and it isn't engorged anymore. but he did feed from it in the middle of the night last night.

it's all a bit dispiriting tbh.

My DD went through a similar phase rejecting my left breast. The "rugby hold" position did seem to help, as did using a breast shield which slowed down the flow significantly. I also took her for a check to see a cranial osteopath who found she was slightly "out" in her right hip area - the side she was lying on to feed on the left breast. After one treatment with the osteopath, using the rugby hold and the breast shield things began to improve.
I also found feeding from her favourite side first (the right) helped slow down the flow on the left a little bit when it was time to switch her to the left side. She took to the nipple shield quite well and after a while (a week or so, I think) she didn't need that any more and decided that the left side wasn't so bad after all. Good luck with your little one :-)