Lobsided breats 😭😭 how to increase milk supply in 1 boob!

[SunnySide1992]

Hey everyone FTM here, so i have had a rocky journey with breastfeeding. Got really, really bad mastitis in one breast and was really ill because of it. I never got told about the importance of keeping the breast expressed. So that same breast is the least favourite one. If i pump both breasts i can get 5oz from the good one but only 2oz from the other one. How can i increase the lower one? Its really bringing me down i wont give up on BF, i am determined to carry on but really need my milk supply to be more even

I have a stronger supply in my left breast than my right simply because I favour it when holding my baby. He doesn't care either way so I'm causing the problem myself I know. I need to make a concerted effort to offer him the other breast only for a few days I think. Breastfeeding is supply and demand so that should solve the problem.

I know this and yet... I still keep feeding him primarily on the left side

Your post has prompted me to make more of an effort now. If you do the same then you'll see your milk supply increase in the other breast too. Use a haakaa to ease engorgement in the breast your baby usually feeds from for a few days while you're evening things out.

I couldn't get DD to latch onto the left breast in the beginning and she favoured the right because of that, so I always had one bigger than the other, but after a couple of months of feeding the supply on both was more even as I got more confident with it. Size never changed but supply did, it was still not as efficient as the right, when pumping, but was never an issue for DD on a feed. Kellymom is s good website for information relating to this.

Pumping isn't an indicator of supply, so please don't worry about that. As long as your little one is having a good amount of wet and dirty nappies everything will be fine 😊

I have just made peace with having one super-boob and one that doesn’t produce as much. It happened with my three year old and it’s happened again with my 15 week old.

If you’re feeding at night, offer the less good boob first. It might help, it might not. Once you stop they will readjust - it’s not forever!

I think it’s really common to have a preferred side, for both mum and baby. I was that way - did the majority of feeding on the left, the right was way less comfortable especially in terms of latch, so I didn’t use it as much. I was lopsided for a while but not forever, and as I had ample supply and baby fed from one side at a time then it wasn’t always the same side that was bigger. For me, this is only a problem if it’s a problem for you. If breastfeeding is otherwise working then just ignore it. If you really want to even up then it’s feed more from the side you want to increase supply on and less on the other. But it’s not necessary.

You can increase the lower one by feeding from it! If you always start on that side (and feed from it until your baby brings him or herself off) then your supply will respond probably fairly quickly. You’ll get engorged on the other side though so use a Haakaa to express that side while you’re feeding as someone else said.

Always start on the side with less milk, then feed from the favoured side if/when baby wants more. Don’t worry too much about the pumping volumes. I also had one breast produce more milk than the other. I’m fairly sure I literally have more milk ducts on the left side and fewer on the right. After the first month of feeding I starting feeling lopsided so I started to always begin with the right breast instead of alternating. It worked for me and stopped the lopsidedness causing me any issues or getting me down, but the left always did produce more when pumping.