Anybody have experiences on feeding off just one breast?

[FifiFerusha]

I have has latching issues from the start with my DS. I breast fed my first child for 7 months and all went well, but DS can't open is mout wide and latch is shallow, no matter what I do. I have had problems for 6 weeks now and ended up with severe mastitus on my right breast and a large abscess, which meant a stay I hospital.I didn't feed off it while in hospital and milk has dwindled. However, I have always preferred to feed off the right as latching is better and I suffer no pain. I am at the point that it is either give up and turn to ff or could I continue bf just on one side. I can't bear the pain of feeding of the bad side anymore and it is literally getting me, my family and DS down. My HV said to just express of the bad side for now until maybe his mouth grows bigger. To be honest though as life is I want to reep the advantages of bf and not spend my time feeding then expressing due to how time consuming this would be. I know this sounds selfish but I have another child who also who resents feeding. I don't express we'll either and where the abcess wound could hurt or hinder healing. So, in a nutshell what experience shave people got of feeding from one side only. My HV said it can cause weight loss. Luckily my good side has a greater milk supply, more then DS can drain so am hoping it will be ok. He has put on about 6. To 8 oz a week previously when both sides were used but was born small at 6. 12. Does feeding from side make the size in breast difference significant. In honestly after the time I spent in hospital this has occurred anyway but figure this outweighs the pain caused by feeding on the bad side. Any advice, experiences much appreciated.

My DD preferred one breast over the other, and I also had a lot of latch problems, (tongue thrusting) with lots of mastitis, so I see where you're coming from..
My advice is to get a hospital grade pump and pump from the left breast while feeding from the right. Freeze the milk to suppliment, or to use when weaning.

Years after weaning, the breast my dd preferred is tiny, and saggy, compared to the other one - it's causing me no end of trouble with bras and clothes not sitting right. If I had pumped my boobs would be the same size.

I know vanity isn't a very good reason to pump, but you have to think about life after breasted feeding too.

Good luck with it all, imo mastitis was the worst pain on earth- even worse than labour, kidney or gallstones, as you can't take anything strong for it as it goes into the milk.

You're doing a great job.

Also, sometimes a bottle like Avent of ebm can teach the babe how to suck.

My dd improved her suckle after she had a few ebm bottles - we used Avent, and the smaller teats (tiny holes) from NUK later on when she had got the latch right.

Wow, I never considered the after effects on the size of breast. Got me worried now. Will try expressing on next feed while DS feeds. Not very good at the multi tasking of it and milk always end up going anywhere other than the expressed bottle :). Got a medela swing is this ok? just hope I don't intefere with the abcess wounds, that might cause more problems I guess. Sure my body will give me pain and tell me within the first 30 second though. I really have a low milk supply now in that breast so am curious to se how much if any will be expressed.

I kind of fed off one. For the first few weeks of BFing had lots of problems on one side and as well as Mastitis got a massive blister which then scabbed over. So fed on the right and expressed from the left about 2 to 3 times a day. It was a pain but I got used to it and after an initial struggle to get more than a drop I could express around 5 ozs really quickly.

This arrangement kept things ticking over until my nipple healed and baby got bigger. I then timidly tried the left and it was fine. I then fed more on left than right for a bit to build up spply and the. It was all fine.

So.....what am saying is don't give up! Express a couple of times a day and then try again in a couple of weeks on the sore side. I bet it's fine by then.

Good luck.

I fed on one side only and both boobs are fine now, although the right hand side one was much bigger at the time. It didn't caise weightloss ( why would it? The supply just increased).

Shame your hv has worried you. One breast only is fine - you will be doing twice the stimulation on that one breast and it's not all that unusual a thing to do....no reason why this would not make sufficient milk.

Call any of the bf helplines for confirmation of this :)

Thanks to all. That is reassuring. I think it is either do that or give in to ff, argh after all this hard work and pain. Am still trying to nurse from the sore breast as I am being somewhat indecisive. However when I say nurse I mean for only a few minutes to keep it from drying out as both myself and DS do not enjoy the experience. I am not too vain so don't mind the difference in size. . . And DH just sees them as milk makers at present hehe. Time to buy some bra pads for the bad side that might be a good idea. Seeing a different HV on Thursday, so will continue being indecisive til then.

Also, did try expressing while feeding DS. How on earth do you ladies do this? spent my time working out how to position DS and the pump, failed miserably. So pumped at a different time whilst not feeding, got half an ounce in 30 minutes and the pressure of the plastic bit that you put on your breast left my abscess wound very sore. So, might just go with being a one breast feeder!

IME HVs are not the best at BF advice. Contact a BF helpline and try to get to a BF support group.

I bf my ds for 2 years from only 1 breast (mastitis and abscess as well). I did have ridiculously lop sided boobs until he was about 1 year but not so noticeable after that and they are the same size now.

Gosh, I breast fed from one breast for a very long time. I've bf 4 dcs but always had a bit of a problem with my left nipple as it is partially inverted and always v hard to get a good latch. I always struggled bf, but managed to do it for 10 moths, 11 months, 16 months and 3 years with each dc. Towards the end of bf, I always went to to one boob. With the last 2 dcs, that was probably for a cumulative 2.5 years at least. No real size differential. I finished feeding this January, and it seems normal? The only problem now is I need to wear full-cup bras, not Demi-cup .

I had mastitis followed by an abscess whilst feeding DS1 - tried feeding him on that side after it had been treated but he just screamed and refused... So went on to do 13 months on just one boob. No problem at all with his weight gain etc - the supply on that side increased to make up for it. I was totally lopsided although bra pad and strategically placed scarf hid it. Got pregnant again straight after weaning and still feeding DS2 so no idea what my boobs will end up like long term!