One sided breastfeeding

[Ziraphale]

Anyone else established breastfeeding and found that their kid will only feed from one side?

I've got one boob that's producing normal milk in spades and the other seems to now be making small amounts of yellow colostrum like stuff, which seems to have come about mainly because my baby (now toddler) aggressively favours one side over the other.

I've been breastfeeding for 16 months and planning to keep going for the foreseeable.

They're the same size, so I don't have one giant boob and one small one. I don't pump (over it, hate it) but do sometimes hand express.

Do I just accept that it's all about lefty for the foreseeable or can I get righty back on track?

I would get your GP to check that all is ok in the rejected breast. Probably fine but it does need checking.

My mum bf 4 of us off only one breast. The other one never made a drop.

Some babies do just favour one side, but it always needs checking out.

My mum did it too, with both of us, 12 months plus each time. No problems at all

Mine preferred to feed on one side, on the other side he would feed better if he was lying down.

Milk goes back to colostrum when they are weaning, and the different breasts do produce differently depending on what feedback they are getting. It's OK as long as you're not getting blocked ducts, but I agree with getting checked out - it's VERY rare but one sided rejection is sometimes due to a tumour in the rejected breast.

Thanks everyone. No lumps or bumps but I'll bring it up with my GP anyway.

Otherwise, should I just accept that righty is out of commission or keep trying to get my supply back up?

I struggled to hold a baby to my left breast and it leaked constantly. Used right only from 8-14 months with dc1, with dc2 decided earlier just to use the right, from around 4 months, until over 2 years.

Up to you really. I tend to prefer my left as it keeps my right hand free.

Try keeping the baby held in the same direction when you put them on the other breast (i.e. a 'rugby hold' position for the other breast). This is what I used to do for mine if they started favouring one side. The other thing I do is start walking around the room whilst holding them near the unfavoured side and it seems to make them want to latch on for stability whilst you walk.

After a couple of months ds only fed from one. For five years.

They're both still pretty fine and upright now considering.

Have your doctor check it out. When they got bigger my children tended to prefer one side but had a go on each for each feed and with my twins I started out by swapping them so they had each side at each feed but by 5 or 6 months they stuck to their own side always (I always fed them at the same time to save time) so the hungrier one built up a bigger milk supply on that side - very clever supply and demand system - nature is amazing.

Oh I've just re-read your post and realised you're talking about a toddler not a baby. Ignore my earlier post 🙈