Breastfeeding on one side only - is it possible?

[mahaliha]

Posted a couple of days ago about a mastitis lump not going away. Well it turns out it was a 6cm abcess deep within the right breast. Had it partially drained in a&e yesterday but have to go to specialist centre tomorrow for more draining (has since filled up again :( ).

Anyway my question is, after the abcess has cleared up and right breast back to normal, would it be possible to stop feeding on that side and feed only on tne left? The reason I ask is that the right breast has always been problematic, I've had mastitis twice before in that side and DD has always been fussy on the right but seems to love the left!

The left side has been no problem at all (apart from cracked nipples in the early days). I am also terrified of the abcess returning on the right if I continue to feed off it.

If I stopped feeding on the right would it just create more problems? Or would the milk just dry up on that side? I'm not too bothered about looking lopsided!

Btw should mention DD is 6 weeks old.

Thanks!

yes, it is possible, yes you may look lopsided.
if you decide to do it you would want to gradually cut down feeds on that side, otherwise you may well end up with mastitis/blocked ducts etc on that side again
have you seen a BFC at all?

Yes I've seen a few BFCs, they helped me correct the latch, although I can never get it quite perfect on the right. Even when baby's on relatively well she tends to twist her head about and slip off. It's probably the root cause of all the problems I've had. The trouble is DD will not open her mouth very wide when latching on the right, although she latches beautifully on the left.

Would the left breast be able to compensate for the right being out of use?

yeah i was wondering about latch probs on the right too.... have you tried holding her in a rugby hold? so she is lying the same as she would be feeding omn the left?

but yes, the left will compensate and just start producing more so you shouldn't have any trouble... again, doing it gradually will give the left breast a chance to up supply while the right slowly diminishes

yes
very possible... my aunt did it (a few years ago) for my cousin (now 7) she had a nasty infection in 1 breast, (& was hospitalised with it) so fed baby on ONLY the other breast.

when she had my next cousin (now 5) all was well again and she managed to feed him from both breasts.

Yes have tried the rugby ball hold, it worked a few times but then she got wise to it!

Will try gradually reducing feeds on the right when I'm better, don't want to go through this again!

Sorry cross posts with you nannyl, thats good to know your aunt managed it. I really want to keep going as long as possible, but only if I can feed just on the one side!

I'm pretty much just feeding on the left now because DS always pops off and fusses on the right. He's 8 months. I started a thread about it a few weeks ago here and most of the people who responded seemed to think it was fine.

HTH

I've just stopped feeding my DD at 20 months. All on one breast although did express from the other for 6 months. Like you, I wasn't bothered about being lopsided but don't seem to be.

i have two friends who have fed successfully over 12months from only one side, by choice with one and because of baby's choice with other. one was very lopsided, but you wouldn't have noticed unless she pointed it out.

DS BFs mostly from one side, I think because of difficulties when we began BFing. I'm a little lopsided, but I don't think that anyone would notice.

I almost only use the right side to feed DS and have done for a few months. I get enough milk out for him (managed to express 250ml one morning when I had to go to work) and it works fine for both of us

I only fed DD on the right hand side. She just wouldn't take the left at all. She bf until she was 2.3 with no problems. I was lopsided (noticeably so at first) but it calmed down after a few months.

Ah thats great, thanks everyone for your replies, glad to know it's possible.