Can supply drop in one boob

[HaveToWearHeels]

DD is EBF and over the last week she has had a preference for my left boob. When feeding from the right she is constantly bobbing on and off and pumelling it like she is frustrated. When on the left boob she feeds like mad and usually falls asleep contentedly.

Is it possible that because she is not feeding from the right very much supply has dropped in that side ?

Would expressing from the right help to get it going again.

Due to this problem she always has her last feed at night from the left boob, so she should always start on the right however when I wake up in the morning the left one is fit to burst where as the right one is like normal.

Any advise welcome.

am not an expert but IME ou definitely can get differing supply in each breast - it happened to me with my first baby due to him favouring one breast over the other.

There might be a reason why she's feeding more effectively from one side - can she turn her neck well both ways and is there a chance she's teething or has an ear infection?

My DS had mild torticollis so he had a preference for one side as it was more comfortable, and resulted in a noticeable difference in supply (and breast size!)

My solution was to a) get the neck fixed and then b) consciously favour the under-producing breast by starting every feed on the "low" breast and only moving to the other breast when I was sure the first one was empty.

The supply in the low breast caught up fairly quickly but it was extremely uncomfortable for a while as I got quite engorged on the "good" side. I was very vigilant about blocked ducts and mastitis.

Whether you do this or not probably depends on whether you are bothered and how old your baby is - perhaps worth bumping for an expert opinion before you change your feeding routine. How old is you LO?

Both mine have fed more from my left mainly because I'm right-handed and am always trying to do something else while feeding.

Have you tried changing her feeding position; sit on the bed or sofa and put some pillows on your right side for her to lie on and have her body under your arm. It might just be that she prefers lying with her right ear down.

theyoungvisiter thanks for that, very helpful. DD is 18 weeks on Thursday.

We think she may be teething, although we can't see anything, she is constantly chewing her hand or my nuckle. We have just introduced a teething ring you put in the fridge which she loves. She is also dribbling loads and getting grizzly in the afternoon which is unlike her, so today I have used some teething powders and teething gel which helped.

Also the ear infecion you mentioned, she is holding her left ear when she is feeding on the left which is th top ear (iyswim) which might mean this ear is underneath when she feeds on the right, could be extra pressure on it. Ears can play up when they are teething can't they ?

jollyma Good idea, come to think of it she prefered my left when she was only a few weeks old and the midwife suggested that postion. I will give that a try, ta.

You could try a dose of calpol and see if it seems to make her more able to feed on the right side - that might at least tell you if comfort is an issue.

But I guess it might equally be that she's just favouring one boob because as jollyma says, there are positioning issues or something, and because it's more developed a better supply, she's favouring it more and more iyswim.

Did you feel like she fed more effectively from the left side even before you noticed the difference in supply? Or has it only come about recently?

As I say, I sorted it out for myself by favouring in the low breast, but I don't want to tell you do this in case there are other considerations.

I would bump for someone like tiktok just in case - personally I was happy to do this and it worked for me but as I say, I'm not an expert so there may be reasons why this is not a generally good idea (aside from the obvious ones of engorgement etc).

sorry - x-posted with your last. Sounds like it might be just something that's crept up.

Slight typo in my last! "because it's more developed" - rogue "more" crept in there somehow!

feeding lying down is brilliant anyway and a great skill to develop! It saved my sanity with DS2 - I don't think I would have got any sleep at all without sleep-feeding

Definitely a good idea to try that and it couldn't hurt.

Thanks again theyoungvisiter I might give always feeding from the right first a go and try the underarm position. She feeds quite often through the day so I think I will be ok with engorgement and I can always pump a little if I think there is going to be a problem (has mastitis when DD was two weeks so know what it is like )

If she continues with this I can try a dose of calpol see if that makes things easier for her.

Tiktok can you add/advise anything ?

bump

bump

OK well I tried the underarm feeding and she is still fussing. She had Calpol last night as she is teething and was really grizzly, it calmed her but she was again still fussing on the right side. She will take it for 2-3 minutes then the fussing starts (I am always starting on this side as per previous advise). The only time she is only remotely happy on this side is first thing in the morning, which is the only time it seems to have any milk (built up overnight)

I am now getting worried about supply as she was sleeping through 12 hours and now she is waking after a few hours because I think one boob is not sustaining her enough. Her last feed is now taking almost an hour as she is draining every last drop from the left after spending 2 minutes on the right.

Any further advise welcomed, I think I will start expressing the right to see if I can get the supply up.

Where do you feed her? Always in the same place? My DS will not feed from my right breast if we are sitting on the sofa, he squirms around and bobs on and off but as soon as I take him upstairs to my bed and feed him there he is more than happy.
Perhaps you could try a different feeding place if you haven't already....
Re supply I called the NCT breasfeeding helpline the other day 0300 330 0771 and was advised to feed from the one I wanted to up my supply in at the start of every feed, express from it and use a warm compress/flannel before each feed to help the milk flow. Also there is some good advice on kellymom about upping supply such as leaning over them to encourage a faster letdown reflex...here www.kellymom.com/bf/supply/index.html
If i knew how to post that as a link I would have!!
Hope that helps - I also get a big boob on the one side overnight which is agony in the morning and I have been using ice pack on it after each feed which is helping but you wouldn't want to do that until you have sorted the other one I guess.

thanks heathermc very helpful. I have been feeding from right boob at start of every feed so I am off on the right foot, I think I will start expressing from it and try the warm compress, right boob always seems flat unlike left boob which is always rounded. Even my partner noticed yesterday that I was lopsided lol.
I don't always feed her in the same place, first feed of the morning is always in my bed where we chill out until lunchtime, she naps quite a bit in the morning, and feeds on an off in between. afternoon we are downstairs on the sofa then last feed in in nursery in nursing chair.

Thanks once again for the advise and link

No bother, am also very lopsided - right is sometimes 3 times the size of left. Nice.
All worth it in the end etc etc

doesn't help you any but we are just the same...my little girl favours the right and hardly touches the left at some feeds. I am just going with it.

Hi Willow, how old is your little one ?. I am finding that as she normally has both boobs before bed she is not getting enough to take her through the night