one boob has stopped working...

[cherrycobbler]

After a bit of a rocky start, I am now EBF'ing my six month old DD. One of my boobs has, since DD's birth, always seemed to have more milk than the other one - always felt/looked fuller, I could express from it and not get a drop from the other one etc. DD was happy feeding from the smaller side though and I could hear lots of swallowing and see milk etc so obviously it wasn't faulty! I did try to do more feeds from the smaller side for a while to see if my supply would even out but it didn't seem to.

In the last couple of days however my DD will only feed from the smaller side for a couple of minutes before complaining. If I then put her on the bigger side she'll happily feed for quite a bit longer and come off seemingly satisfied. If I refuse the bigger side but keep offering the smaller side she just gets cross until I give in.

Just wondered if anyone knew if it was possible that the smaller side has just stopped working? And if so, if anyone had any ideas on what can I do about it? I am reluctant to exclusively feed from the smaller side for a bit as it doesn't seem enough to satisfy DD, and I don't want my supply on the other side to suffer. I am also not too keen on the prospect of just having one enormo-boob next to its smaller unused cousin...

It could be possible that the amount of milk being produced has gone down, since she is not pulling a lot of milk from it to begin with, iykwim. Sometimes one side may have a faster flow than another and babe may get frustrated that it's not coming out fast enough for it.

I would suggest starting feeding on the smaller side until she pulls off, switch to the larger one for around 5 mins or so, and then put her back on the smaller one to finish with. It seems a really big pain in the neck to keep switching, but you have to keep stimulating and drawing the milk out to tell you body to keep making more. It takes around 24 hours for the body to supply enough milk to meet the demand. You have to keep "demanding" that breast to make milk and they should start to even out after two-three days. If all else fails, keep expressing milk from the smaller one during every feed (or even between feeds) to keep that side from completely drying up.

Sometimes babies like to lay on one side more than the other, so try changing feeding positions on the smaller one and see if that makes a difference too.

Hope that helps!

thanks so much - that's really helpful, will give your suggestions a go. Think the switching sides mid feed is going to mean we limit our public feeding for a bit, what a great excuse for some DVD boxset watching sofa snuggles. thanks again!

Good advice there, but also to say enough of the "faulty" and "stopped working" phrases :) What you are describing is perfectly normal and happens to many, many women. It's very normal to have one boob with a bigger or faster supply than the other, and for babies to have a breast preference (which may or may not be related to this).

It's perfectly fine to allow her to finish what she wants from smaller boob, then move her to bigger boob. You can switch back if you want but I wouldn't suggest fighting it - there's little point, really.

If you can, I would suggest just trying to go with the flow. You might want to try offering her small boob first time each time, provided you feel that it's not going to impact big boob (and you'll know if you start to feel too full in big boob). But saying that, I wouldn't necessarily bother as I think it's all so normal and will just settle itself into a pattern that's ok.

X post.

Bear in mind that you can do anything you want in public, even if you do something different at home. It will make no difference to the ultimate outcome.

Mine are the same so I tend to let her have her early morning dream feed on my faulty less loved breast. Quite funny when I try and give her the less loved one when we're lay on the bed and she is wide awake, as she rolls over, commando-crawls towards me and suckers onto the other one. Have no real choice but to go with the flow :)

Thank you both - really nice to know its normal and it's not just me. No more talk of faulty - I much prefer 'less loved'!

Ps catherine your DD made me