Possibly daft questions re alternating breasts at each feed

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We are starting to get the hang of breast feeding after a difficult start but I have a few questions.

DS (four weeks old, was prem/low birth weight ) feeds every 1.5 - 2 hours for 10 - 25 minutes at a time on one side only (I alternate each feed). He comes off himself, very occasionally falls asleep on the breast. I was expressing from whichever breast he'd just been on but have stopped this as it was stressful.

I've read that for supply it's best for babies to have both sides, but if he's feeding for a short time and comes off of his own accord surely there's no point offering the other side as he'll reject it? Will my supply be effected by the way he's feeding now? And is there anything I can do, or will he just want more as he gets bigger?

your supply is far more likely to be effected by you worrying about this than if he's only taking one side at a time. As he gains weight he will start to want more and your breasts will respond by producing more.

Some babies only like to have one side at a time. Both of mine did. DS is 91st centile and he only takes one side per feed. You really shouldn't worry about it.

If you want, you could try offering the other side whn he comes off, he might take it, he might not. But it sounds like he's pretty content with just the first side.

Congratulations on your new little baby

I had a tough start with dc1 and on the back of that I would suggest that you always offer. It's my personal advice, not based on any amazing bf knowledge. But if you offer, he might just have a bit more, and you can always be certain that you have offered the maximum. I just found it easier for my own peace of mind - I didn't have to decide and worry and wonder, I just always offered both.

Offer and font worry if he doesn't take it. Then try your hardest to remember which book it was and start with that one next time. Thus us almost impossible to do.

Thank you all, that's put my mind at rest. Good to hear your 91st percentile babyb I keep
A record of which breast he's been on, my memory is not reliable at the moment.

Oops posted too soon, meant to say it's good to hear your 91st percentile baby only has one side per feed, TicTac.

Thanks again

working I was advised to stick to one breast so that DD got the hindmilk to help the weight gain (no idea of the validity of that btw but it was fine for us. I too had difficultly remembering which side and used to write on my hands! A friend recently had an app that tracked what side and how long the baby fed for on her iPhone which she found helpful.

Thank you, MrsHerculePoirot, it's good to hear others have taken this approach - were you happy with it?. I do put him back on the same side if there's a short gap between feeds, just I'm case that means he's getting more of the hind milk.
I think the app is ibaby feed, a friend recommended it but I do get a bit obsessive about the stats so trying to only use it to remember which side to try.

Yes, if she wanted to feed again within two hours I was supposed to put her back on the same side, if it was nearer three hours then go on to next side. It did work for us, I did feed very regularly early on and then about every 3-3.5 hours for most of the time after that. Once settled she fed for about 10 minutes each feed - I always worried this was too short, but it worked for us and she is now nearly four and absolutely fine!!!

Thank you