Save my left boob!

[Iwannabail]

Hi, can’t get to a breastfeeding clinic today and wondering if anyone had any advice for why I can get newborn latched onto right breast properly for most of time, but not my poor left breast which is getting ripped to shreds :(. Any tips! I am doing tummy to tummy and nose to nipple. Baby is 6 days old. Thanks

I’m not the best to advise as I struggled to breastfeed for similar reasons BUT would advise that if you can, hand express from that breast until you get to a clinic so you aren’t made any more sore but so your body still knows to make milk.

I hope you are feeling better really soon x

Just as a last resort, I successfully fed one sided after having a similar struggle. A couple of days of pain but worked fine after that and no problems with supply. In my experience, the Breast Feeding Network gave excellent advice when I was struggling.

I wasn’t advocating switching to one boob only btw but just wanted you to know that if you have to, it can work out well.

I had this a bit, but the opposite way round.

My DS had torticollis - tension in the neck resulting from either being squashed in the womb or some damage during birth.

We took him to a cranial osteopath who specialises in treating children and she sorted him out in a couple of sessions.

The process of loosening up the neck muscles also helped with reducing the plagiocephaly (flat head), which he had quite badly on one side of the back of his head.

@Iwannabail I had this problem too, I bought some nipple shields and used them on the offending nipple just to offer it some light relief! It helped with my babies latch and I was able to stop using it after a week when my nipple had finally recovered and myself and baby knew what we were doing then

oooo nipple guard sounds like a great idea in the short term. Its super annoying as right boob is fine ha ha. I took my first one for some cranial osteopathy - going to wait and see what they say at the clinic first though. Thanks all.

Try local breastfeeding group for advice and support, but like a pp I also ended up on one side only.

I ended up feeding DS in an across body hold on my right boob and an underarm rugby ball hold on my left boob. It suited him and was final at home and overnight, but I never mastered the underarm thing when out and about.