Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

Good boob/ bad boob

9 replies

xMrsSx · 05/01/2011 07:34

I'll try not to ramble but a couple of queries to try and improve our bf.

DS 9 weeks, following 75th centile so not worried about his intake as such. BF on demand which was every 3 hours but now upped to 2-2.5 (normal I know). I have a tendancy towards oversupply, and a fast letdown. DS only ever feeds for 5 mins, never falls asleep on the boob either

ok, so left boob is being useless! I have always found feeding much easier from the right but have been concious not to use it more often. The last couple of days my left nipple has been getting a bit sore, not excruciating, just feels a bit grazed. No previous pain with bf. Left nipple is much smaller than right and I have massive norks so latching is really hard - have tried lots of positions, nothing helps. It is worse at night as tryng to feed with less light/tired me/tired DS.

My question is does it matter if I don't feed from the left during the night (DS usually feeds at about 10.30pm, 2am, 4am, 6am at the moment, was only 10.30pm, 2.30am, 5.30am)or would this effect supply too much? Could I pump from the left during the night instead? (PITA tho) Or would it be the end of the world if I only ever fed from the right?? DS never ever takes both boobs at a feed anyway- has sicked it up on the rare occasion he has.

I am trying to make the bf experience better for my DS who seems to be an unhappy little man a lot of the time which I think is due to wind/colic and this fussing at the left breast is making that worse. I know I should be grateful to have a quick feeder etc but I'd be happy to be feeding him for longer/more often if only it would actually comfort him. But it just seems to make him sick/arch/cry as if in pain so I am presuming he is getting some reflux. He takes a dummy to comfort suck Sad. This crying starts early afternoon and gets worse with each feed until he falls asleep for the night, no crying/wind/sick etc during the night.

OP posts:
xMrsSx · 05/01/2011 07:35

Blush sorry for the ramble, I guess I am feeling a bit emotional and sad for him Sad

OP posts:
shocknews · 05/01/2011 07:53

No help sorry but bumping for you x

PumpUpTheJam · 05/01/2011 08:34

Has your baby been checked for tongue-tie? Mine was born with it although no midwife/HV spotted it - was only after weight loss that i called a lactatation consultant. Since then i've met lots of other mums whose babies had this condition and I remember one whose baby was tognue-tied only on one side, so couldn't feed well from one boob. Might be worth investigating? Good luck.

PumpUpTheJam · 05/01/2011 08:36

Also totally understand re the oversupply, had same issues myself - a nightmare of spluttering and vomiting as it all came so fast at her! I followed the tips here about how to reduce supply just to what she needed and am really happy with how its going - i still have enough but not so much that I have rock hard boobs like Jordan any more.

www.llli.org/FAQ/oversupply.html

xMrsSx · 05/01/2011 08:53

Thanks PUTJ but DS had TT snipped at 8 days so not that. I did block feeding for a while which really helped me get ontop of my supply, so much better on that front now. Let down still fast but DS can cope better, more of a problem when the flow slows now and he gets frustrated (think he's used to fast milk). Thanks for the link. I appreciated anyone trawling through that mammoth post!

OP posts:
Swaliswan · 05/01/2011 09:34

Try taking him to a cranial osteopath. This worked for all three of mine who preferred one side to the other. I'm not very good at explaining how/why the treatment works but a good osteopath will be able to. I know that it sounds a bit strange but I had three different BF counsellors suggest it to me as they had known lots of babies benefit from it so I gave it a go.

Swaliswan · 05/01/2011 09:35

BTW, I have oversupply and fast let down as well and the treatment helped all three to cope better with this.

xMrsSx · 05/01/2011 16:24

bump...

OP posts:
japhrimel · 05/01/2011 19:10

I've been having issues one side too and not feeding so much that side led to plugged ducts. Pumping does work, but Ive also found nipple shields a godsend when I otherwise cant face the pain on one side. Not ideal bhut better than stopping bfing or being in teats!

New posts on this thread. Refresh page