Refusing right breast

[Newmumlondon]

3 month dd today has refused right breast v angrily all day. Has been v difficult to feed lately as teething (I know its early but she is, been checked out by doctor yesterday). Left breast not much milk left, right breast giant and hot. She won't sleep coz she's hungry. Mil here but just stares at me pityingly and suggests a bottle. Am drained and emotional - any ideas? Has tried tricking her by switching breast but she won't take it. She's screaming now fromhunger but won't eat, am in tears don't k ow what to do ..,.

Are you using the same position each side, so she has to switch which side she's lying on to feed? Could that be uncomfvortable for her? It may have been obvious (I'm no expert!), but I didn't want to leave your post.

Good luck!

I tried keeping the same position and switching but it didn't work. Gave her some calpol, she fed for ages on left, but there is no milk on that side, had a five minute snooze then fed on the right and is now asleep on my right nipple :-)

No idea what was wrong, she was refusing the right side all day.....

Sometimes babies will refuse one breast in the normal position becasue they have an ear infection which makes lying in that position uncomfortable. I wonder whether she was in pain and the Calpol sorted it? Might be worth getting the GP to look at her ears if it happens again.

My 3 month old started refusing the right breast 3 days ago! She eventually took it at lunchtime but refused again in the evening. She gets very angry and screams but will take the left with no problem. I am going to try calpol before the next feed - thanks for your posts, I thought I was the only one whose baby did this (mentioned it to a couple of friends and they thought I was mad!).

I took her to the gp on Wednesday to get checked out and she is fine. She's refusing the right again having been ok all night. I've been told that it could be caused by a blockage, gonna try a hot water bottle....

She fed on the right overnight with no problems but screamed again this morning. Definitely do not have blockage on right as sofa cushions can testify!!Got her to take a bit by keeping her on her right side and just moving her across - not very comfortable for me though but better than being lopsided - may start listing to one side if she doesn't stop this!!Hope your hot water bottle works. Good luck

My DS was refusing the right side a few weeks ago now. I ended up having to feeding him rugby ball style so he was laying almost the same way he did to feed from the left.

He did eventually give in and start feeding on that side again but it took a lot of encouragement. I just keep slipping him on in the old position when he was tired, or in the middle of a feed when he wasn't hungry or full.

Yeah, she was fine over night too, took a feed this morn then refused. Have tried switching sides yesterday but she figured out what I was up to! She's just woken up so we will see how the day goes....

Ihave this and DS is 4 months old. Sometimes he takes it sometimes he won't and will scream until I put him on the favoured breast.

I have given up working out what is wrong tbh. Could be postion, oversupply, fast or slow letdown in that side.......who knows. I am lop sided most of the time but feed him from there when he will take it and when he won't and starting to get engorged I pump it off.

A bit of a faff though.

DS is often stroppy with the right side, have you tried rugby ball on that sidem ut usually fools him in to taking it!

Just got her down after a massive screaming match, would feed for short periods on the right then realised what was happening (she was in rugby style hold) and got very cross on left as well as milk not flowing fast enough and she was very tired and hungry.

Bf counsellor advised could be small blockage - apparently they can smell if there is a blocked duct. I was kind of lumpy on that side and got the pinching feeling when she did feed - I think you can still have a good flow but one duct blocked which causes the problem. Hot bath seemed to improve things throughout the day, although bed time was a total nightmare, she would feed on the right to an extent. Hope that helps anyone else with the same problem!

My DS went through a phase of refusing to feed from the left and it was particularly bad around 12 weeks. I have a faster let-down on this side and it tends to spray out rather like a shower and I think the poor little boy found it a bit much for him!

He is over it now though (nearly 5 months) and drinks quite happily from either side, so it could be a temporary thing with your DD too. He often has a bit of a cough and splutter and pulls away during the let-down bit though!

Have you tried expressing a bit off first before feeding if you think it's coming out too fast? (I never bothered doing this though as not organised enough! ) If you can get her to feed from the left at night you could try sticking with that side for a few feeds - maybe left at night, right in the day? I did this for a while and am now back to alternating for each feed, so it hasn't had any lasting effect on my supply.

Good luck!

We seem to have found a compromise that is working for both of us - rugby ball hold on the right (b-feeding peer supporter showed me how this worked as I could never figure it out before) and cradle hold on left. She will feed in cradle hold on the right during the night. Phew! What funny creatures babies are!