One side or two?

[somuchcoffeeneeded]

I feel like I should know this but.... when breastfeeding should I stick to one side at a time or offer both? Baby is 3 weeks old.

I offer the other one after she seems to have finished on one. If she doesn't take much, I start her on that side for the next feed.

As @TeckanandMultra said.

At 3 weeks, generally they'll take both sides.

It can be confusing remembering which side you fed from last! Some people move their wedding ring to the opposite hand, or wear a hair bobbin on their wrist, which they move to the appropriate hand after each feed.

Congrats on your new baby!

Definitely offer both sides at that age.

Start on the side you finished on last feed.

I have very rarely offered the second side. As a young infant she went to sleep during the feed and it was hard enough to get her to do a proper feed from one side nevermind both sides so we did frequent one sided feeds.
I had a fast flow and once she was bigger she seemed to get all she needed with short feeds and was uninterested in the second side on the few occasions I offered it.
Until about 5 months when we got on top of her reflux and allergies she fed between every half hour and every 2 hours for 3-15 minutes a time. When she isn't reacting to foods she now feeds for 5-10 minutes every 2-3h at 7 months.

I have an app that helps me keep track of feeds and which side is next. I swap each feed unless she has had a big feed on side A and then a small feed on side B so that side A feels softer than side B in which case I do a second feed on side B.

Offer the second side but don't worry if they don't always take it. I wear a stretchy bracelet that I swap over so I know which side to start on next.

Had Dd December and midwife in hospital encouraged one side mainly then offer other but start other next time. She said if you swop to quick they just take the fore milk.

Then community midwife came along and "noted" that I was failing to use both sides correctly.

@brokengate Breastfeeding advice from the nhs is really shoddy/patchy unfortunately.
Ds2 was born in December too. One midwife told me to press/pull my boob away from his nose gently (so my giant boobs wouldn't suffocate him) the next one along scolded me and told me I'd get blocked ducts from doing that.
44 hours after he was born midwife called me and told me I'd need to start pumping as my milk hadn't come in yet and the baby might not be getting anything as I couldn't hear him swallowing I didn't pump, he was over his birth weight by 6 days. My milk came in 3 days after he was born as is normal.
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Doesn't matter :) Follow the baby's cues.

Generally, feed on one side until they come off or change from strong sucking to fluttery, intermittent sucking (you can leave them on if they are doing this, it is beneficial to do so, but if you want to take them off because for example you need to put them down or do something else or you know they usually need winding halfway through or you just need a baby not to be attached to your boob any more, this is fine). If they are still awake you can give them a bit of a wind and then offer the second side. Again feed until they come off or until the initial strong drinking has reverted to intermittent sucks, and then see how they seem from there - they might be asleep (in which case keep holding them or put them down - whatever you prefer!) Or they might be alert and awake but happy, in which case enjoy that rare window and do experiments to see what they react to! ( was that just us?) If they are still rooting or still seem unsettled, try winding and then offer the first side again. You can repeat this as many times as you like. It's common when cluster feeding to go 4, 5, 6+ "sides".

Some people like to alternate which side they start on. You can also choose to start on the side you finished on. Personally I never found it was hugely important - if one boob is noticeably bigger, fuller or heavier than the other, start on that side. If not, it probably doesn't matter, unless you're prone to blocked ducts.

Foremilk/hindmilk is a bit of an outdated theory now. All milk is milk. It isn't helpful to be clockwatching and swapping them over or keeping them on for X number of minutes, but all babies will have a different pattern, so no need to worry if your friend's baby is behaving differently to yours. This is a good explanation although even that is old now - as far as I'm aware this is still correct, though:

milkmatters.org.uk/2010/12/27/foremilkhindmilk-and-a-lot-of-confusion/

Sounds like your hospital midwife was up to date as of about 10 years ago and your community midwife's training was even older!