Feeding from one side only - advice please

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Hi everyone, this is my first post - I've just discovered this site even though my third child is 4 months old. My problem is that I have had recurring mastitis and soreness in my left breast since my baby was one week old. I was about to quit breastfeeding (though he is not too keen on bottles.) However I have noticed from other discussions on the site that some of you have breastfed from one side only due to the baby having a strong preference for one side. It would be great if I could continue to BF from the right breast for a few months longer as there are allergies in the family. Any advice on how to drop feeds from the left one without risking getting mastitis again? He does have a slight preference for the right side anyway (which may be contributing to the mastitis.)

I b/f ds on one side only for the last few months of breastfeeding him. I had a battle every time to get him on to the right hand side, due to a very fast flow. I got him to feed on the right by convincing him he was actally feeding on the left; I would position him as if he was going to feed on left and the pulled him through to the right (I also expressed a little as with me the flow was the problem) I then dropped feeds slowly from the right (it was a nightmare feeding on the right anywhere other than home).

I would feed him on the right four times a day for a week, three times a day for a week, twice a day for a week and then once a day for a week. Then no more fighting with the right. Yippee.

I weaned him at nine months then onto the cup - he too hated bottles. He is a pro with the cup now at 10 months and no weaning off bottle worries.

My boobs are almost the same size as each other again!

Thanks SugarnSpice for the tips.

Both my dd and ds have shown a real preference for the right and I've probably fed from there 3 times for every 2 on the left for the first few weeks, 2:1 until 6 months and, since then the left has hardly been used. I'm not sure about dropping a side at 4 months but I would guess it is possible.

Good luck, mastitis is the pits.

Hi,

I had the exact same problem as you at around the same time, and I continued to feed from one side only for a couple more months, until my dd was 6 months and well on the way to being weaned.

My doctor actually told me bluntly to give up breastfeeding when he gave me the antibiotics for mastitus, but I didn't want to! He seemed to think it would be imposible to feed from only one side. I actually found that with the mastitis the milk was drying up on that side in any case. It eventually dried up to the point where there was only drops there.

The only other thing I did do was start giving dd water as well. She always used to feed completely from one side, then have the foremilk on the other side before she was satisfied and I was worried she might be thirsty as she couldn't have the foremilk any more.

Good luck with it all.

Update - my mastitis turned out to be an abscess, which I wasn't surprised at as right from the start the "lump" was half the size of my breast and I didn't have the feverishness. I've spent a few days in hospital having it drained (you don't really want to know the details) but the outcome is definitely no more feeding on that side. I am still feeding on the other side but supplementing with formula. I found the Playtex bottle system to be a godsend, especially in hospital as I did not have to worry about bringing in a steriliser, etc.