Breastfeeding after 1yr: Milk dried up on one side - is this normal?

[mamamorgana]

Hi everyone and happy Mother’s Day in the UK!

I’ve been breastfeeding my son for 14 months and have never had any issues, although we cut down to just twice a day (morning and before bed) when I went back to work, and that’s been working perfectly for several months.

Then suddenly this morning I went to try and feed him as usual - in the morning I always start on the left side and offer the right if he still wants it (at bedtime I always just offer the right side as generally he gets really sleepy and I can put him down to sleep after about 10 minutes) -
and found he wouldn’t stay latched and kept crying and thrashing about until I offered him the right side instead.

anyone else had this experience when breastfeeding after one year?? Is this a sign of the end of breastfeeding? I don’t really feel ready to stop yet :(
any advice or tips, or if anyone else has had this experience I’d be grateful to hear!

If he's happy to feed on one side, that's totally fine! I bf 3 dc for 18mths-2y each and every time they had a preference.
Watch out for:

• a blocked milk duct on that side. Get dc to feed a bit from it in case each time they feed. Look for a patch of redness/warmth - if you see this then massage the breast in a warm shower or bath twice a day to try to unclog. It can cause mastitis so be careful.
• baby having an ear infection or even teething. This can make it harder to feed on one side as it hurts more from that angle.
• general fussiness - doesn't mean the breast is drying up. A good tip is to give the favourite breast when baby is awake / alert and switch to the least preferred when they are sleepy/ not entirely sure what's going on. If you keep offering both sides, he may well just start taking it again (sometimes takes ages though!).

Good luck!