Baby won't feed from left boob

[fizzicles]

Unless I hold him 'rugby ball' style. Trouble is, he's 7 months and about 24lb, so way too big to do that comfortably. I ended up all twisted round and it's going to knack my back even worse than it is already.

Any ideas why he's suddenly stopped feeding on left normally? I presume it's painful for him somehow, since he screams every time I try (since last night), but I'm stumped as to why it's hurting him. What could it be?

[Mustang27]

I have you tried feeding from your left when you are lying in bed?

[fizzicles]

Yeah, I used to feed lying down, but stopped when we moved him to his own room a month or so ago, and he doesn't like it anymore. Tried earlier to see if it would help, but he just screamed.

[Mustang27]

I’m no expert so I can’t really suggest anything major sorry. I bf until my wee one was 2 though. Is there potentially a blocked duct and your flow might not be to his satisfaction at the mo? Maybe nip to see the dr make sure everything is ok. Refusal is strange maybe he has some type of discomfort maybe teething or earache that causes pressure?

You could phone the breastfeeding helpline and see what they suggest as well. I hope you get it sorted soon breast feeding can be so bloody frustrating at times.

[JohnLapsleyParlabane]

We had that on the right. She went totally against it at about 8 months and hasn't fed on that side since. She's almost 2 and has between 2 and 367 breastfeeding per day! I was lopsided for a while but it settled down.

[HettiSpaghetti]

DC1 would never feed on the left - he had really bad reflux. It was to do with direction that the stomach emptied causing acid rise into oesophagus. (If I sleep on my left side in bed it often gives me acid indigestion as well).

Might be worth asking the GP about silent reflux.

[JordanMcDeere]

Mine stopped feeding on the left when he was teething. Never really went back to that side during the day, but will happily feed from it at night. Maybe try anbesol or something before feeding

[Mustang27]

JohnLapsleyParlabane between 2-367 feeds a day!! Lol the joys

[silkybear]

I took my dd to a cranial osteopath as she would only feed on one side after an instrrumental birth and the midwife recommended it. Seems unlikely it could be the same thing after 7 months but sometimes they get a crick in the neck or have slept funny and it hurts them to be in certain positions. I had 4 sessions and it made a massive difference to her feeding and sleeping so maybe worth a go.

[fizzicles]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I just got DH to come and see what happens when I offer my left boob, expecting him to scream blue murder, as he has every other time in the last 24 hours, and obviously he's now feeding perfectly! Typical eh?!

[Mustang27]

Ah that’s great that he took it as normal. Babies are fickle lol. How’s today gone?

[fizzicles]

All fine thank you! They are funny creatures aren't they? He's a bit snotty, but seems pretty well now apart from that. In fact – he slept all evening, had a feed at 11ish then slept through til 7:30 this morning, which has basically never happened before!