one boob still going, other given up...

[VigourMortis]

I am making rather a ham-fisted job of giving up breast-feeding. With more bottles, my supply has dropped and one boob has almost entirely stopped but the other is still producing enough for DS to feed a couple of times a day and during the night. He loves his boob and I've loved bfing him. He's nearly seven months.

I gave up because we need to ttc again right now due to my advanced years and indeed my periods have just come back.

I have one boob much bigger than the other - could this be a problem later, when I have stopped? Or will they even out?

Could I relactate the other side and carry on bf, as I would have done had it not been for the ttc issue? Or would that make my fertility drop again?

I'd be really grateful for any info and advice,

oh dear am I the only lop-boobed mum on the net?
Bumping...

Nope, you're not the only one who only feeds from one side, but my DS is 16 weeks, so I can only offer advice on how to keep up breastfeeding, not how to wean, and also can't comment on whether yours will remain lopsided since I am still in the thick of it! I think mine will always be slightly uneven, the things we do for bf, eh?!

BTW, you'll probably be seeing me on the TTC while bfing support thread in a few months, we want to get cracking when DS is about 6 months! No sign of periods yet

No advice on ttc etc. but DD preferred one side (my left if you're interested ). I was very lopsided whilst b'fing but went back to normal within a few months of stopping. DS now also provides the left side, so I'm back to looking a bit freaky for a while

If you are only partly bfing, there's little chance of your periods going away again. You are fertile and could carry on / relactate if you want to. Exclusive bfing suppresses periods - normally they come back by themselves once baby starts eating other foods. This is natural child spacing in action - babies are born to women every two to three years where exclusive and prolonged bfing is the norm.
Your babe may self wean when you are pregnant again, as some babes notice a change in the milk and don't like it.
As far as your boobs staying like it - who knows? Another babe will make them both larger for a while...

LifeofKate my periods came back yesterday actually, but I'm pretty sure I ovulated two weeks ago, so it would have been my second one, so basically almost as soon as I started introducing bottles, my cycle restarted. Good luck with the ttc and congrats on your baby..

So I can potentially carry on with my night-time feeds. If I want to crank my left boob up again do I just get DS to take it? Is that how relactation works?

Basically yes!You never lose the ability to lactate hence aid agencies during a disaster encourage mothers (and aunties/grandmas and even women who have not breast fed) but it can take a great deal o perseverance. What ever youdo don't go cold turkey on the bottled milk but try expressing when you give a bottle to get your body used to making milk again.

Also night feeds have the biggest effect on fertility (check out Kellymom.com for info).

Sorry for abrupt post its dcs bedtime

Thanks very much truthsweet, I'll give it a try.

I've got some better info now:-

Here are some good tips on dealing with the emotional side of relactation plus some practical tips too.

LLLI has some more advice here.

Dr Jack Newman the bfing guru of North America has some fantastic videos of good latching and how to tell if baby is getting milk (so you can reassure yourself DS is actually getting something .

Some links on TTC whilst bfing:-

Here. Ignore the nauseating baby dust type stuff please!

Most importantly however successfully relactation goes for you, DO NOT beat yourself up if it doesn't go to plan or if you decide that you wouldn't want to nurse through pg or tandem nurse, you nursed your baby for 6 months and that is a fantastic achievement.

I hope everything goes smoothly and you get pg soon. I'll bet you'll be on here in a few months time bemoaning a baby who won't stop feeding even though you have 1st trimester sore boobs! (That isn't meant to put you off trying to nurse DS again but a heads up ).

I have nursed DD1 to 3.6y/o, DD2 is 2.4y/o and is still nursing and DD3 is 24 w/o (having a wobble with her at mo but completely unrelated) so I have nursed through pg2, then tandem nursed, then tandem nursed to month 8 of pg 3, then tandem nursed again .

It isn't always easy, I won't lie but for me and my family it worked, different things turn out to be the best for other families and there should never be a one size fits all approach to parenting.

Thanks Vigour Hopefully I won't see you on the TTC thread because you'll be pregnant before long Good Luck

Hope so Life although at 42 it will be a gift, DS makes our life pretty rich as it is... Good luck to you too..

Thanks to Truth for all the info. And for the kind words - I actually do feel pretty good that we've got to 7 months and it's really nice to have someone call it an achievement! DS is a demon breastfeeder, he had it all sorted in the recovery room (c-section) and managed to get from the 50 percentile on birth to the 98th at four weeks, thus solving the mystery of why I didn't seem to have enough milk .

I will try to crank up my left boob a bit and carry on bfing overnight and for those comfort feeds when nothing else will do..