Breastfeeding Question - Riverton, WY

I breastfed all three of my girls and they always preferred the right side, probably because I am right handed and could hold them more comfortably. A pillow under the baby to help you hold the baby in a better position. Also when my babies would ocassionally refuse to eat on one side, I would start them on the side they didn't like while they were the hungriest. It also may be that one side is producing more milk than the other, which is very common. You could call West Valley and get the # of the local Le Leche office here in the valley. Hope this helps. M.L.

Hi J., I had this happen with both my kids. My theory was just a kink in their neck, because it really seemed like discomfort for them in the usual feeding position. It sort of makes sense, while they're too young to support their own head they can't move it into a comfortable position on their own and probably end up kinked and then sleep like that, just like us. At least that's my theory. Either way, for me it always went away just like it came, quickly, and in the meantime the changing positions (i.e. head positions for the little one) usually did the trick. Hope this helps!

Try starting on the "unpreferred" breast. Especially when she is the hungriest, such as first feeding in the morning.

I would have her ears checked. Could be an ear infection or problem. My twins did the same thing BOTH of them. KIDS.. aren't they funny little things? Or maybe she just likes to be held a certain way? Kids are picky!!!

When she's REALLY hungry, start with her least favorite side. Seems like my boy had the same thing, so that one side was always easier (and thus bigger!) than the other. But over time it evened out, as soon as he really got used to nursing. So hang in there; it will get better.

I have been taking my 5 month old to a chiropractor for different reasons but he has told me to watch for my son not nursing well on one side. He said it could be an indication that his neck is out of adjustment. It makes sense to me. Babies need adjustments, just as adults do sometimes. If it were me, it would be worth a shot. Babies respond very well to adjustments.

I had this problem with my first. I found that with him, I just had to do the football hold for a while and finally he did not care anymore. Do whatever you have to so that you can nurse on both sides and not have problems! Good luck

J.,

I also exclusively nursed all 3 of my children until they were about 18 months. I experienced the same scenario with 2 out of the 3. With my last baby, I eventually let her nurse off of the preferred side and pumped the other side. It worked out great as there was always a bottle of breast milk in the fridge so my husband could feed her. It also allowed me to always have a reserve of backup milk in the freezer.

Hopes this help.

I have the same problem with my 7 month old son. I didn't do anything to try to correct it and my breast are definitely lop-sided. His favorite side produces so much more. I have tried to use the pump on the other side to get it working more but that just takes more time than I often have. Good Luck.

Some babies go through a period like this. Don't stress about it. Continue to do what you're doing. Continue to offer both breasts. If she refuses the one even with a position change, don't force it; just let her nurse on the side she prefers for as long as she wants. She won't go hungry, because the breasts produce according to the law of supply & demand. If she's nursing more on one side, that side will produce more milk. Eventually she will probably start to take both sides again, although my kids always did prefer one side over the other (from pumping, I know that the milk comes out of 1 side faster--they liked that side better!).
"The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding" from La Leche League International is a good resourse, as well as the League itself (offices, website, local members), as are lactations consultants & WIC offices for any questions or problems breastfeeding moms might have. Good luck!

My little girl was/is the same way. I noticed that if I nursed on the side I finished with the time before she would fight it, or only suck a few sucks and pull off screaming.

So I usually offer only one breast at each feeding. If she finishes on one and wants the other I give it to her. But at the next feeding she doesn't want the side I finished off with. I think she has gotten so good at "emptying" my breasts that she wants the fuller of the two. She does seem to have a favorite side and I usually give it to her twice as much. Plus I noticed I get almost 1/2 as much from her "favorite" side when I pump.

She also won't eat if her diaper is wet or messy. She is very picky about her diapers.

Hope this helps.

My 1st daughter did this too. I kept "tricking" her to nurse the other side, and eventually she was ok with it. I thought it was because she was so right handed that she couldn't stand having her right hand feeling trapped. My 6 week old son did have a preference for the other side. I thought it was because the milk flow was too fast- made him choke. I let him play favorites, figuring it would help even me out. :) Now at 6 weeks he doesn't seem to care much. But he also is healing from a fractured collar bone, so maybe it just hurt to nurse on that side.

My guess is that you have a stronger/faster let-down on the side she prefers. If she's not super hungry, she's probably more patient with the low flow side.

My son definitely prefers my left side. After almost two years of nursing, I have a D cup on the left & a C on the right; only annoying during bathing suit season.

Hi J. I had the same problem. when i was nursing my little boy. i would just simply start him first thing on the side that he cared less for and after a while it switched he began to dislike the other side so I just switched which one he like the least to the first. it seemed to work for us. untill he was 14 months old and then he just decided that he no longer wanted to nurse. good luck and keep trying. ~C.

I have had the same issue. I has gotten better but I still notice it sometimes. It seems as though my son prefers lying on one side over the other, but I also read that it is impotanat that they lie on both for there eyesight. I noticed it help when I would lie in bed and nurse. I sometimes would lean over him with the breast he did not prefer to nurse to see if that helped and to prevent engorgment. I just kept offering it eventually he gave in. Good luck!

I haven't had this happen to me, but I was wondering if maybe your little one has an ear infection and it hurts to lay on that side. Just a thought. Hope everything works out.

J.,
Hi! My daughter sometimes prefers one side as well and I think it is due to tightness in her neck. She had slight torticollis after she was born which is tightness or shortening of the neck muscles. This caused her to only look in one direction and cry when we would make her stretch the other way (which we had to do with every diaper change!) Watch your daughter for a day or so and see if you notice her favoring one direction over the other during other times besides nursing. Gentle stretching to the side and ear to shoulder stretches could help if that is the case.
K.

I had the same thing with my son in the first week of breastfeeding and was told that it was possibly a clogged milk duct that he couldn't get enough out of that breast in the regular position or that he maybe prefered lying on that side. I switched to football position, too because he would lie on the side he prefered then...it kind of tricked him into drinking on that side. I did that for a couple of days and then tried the regular position again and it worked.

Just went through this this past week with my son. If I'd switch to football hold he'd finish, but wouldn't let me cradle hold him anymore on the left side. Ate fine on the right breast.

Took him to the ped, turns out he had a very bad ear infection. Started him on antibiotic and numbing drops and now he's doing fine again.

Hi J.:

She could have an ear ache or maybe cutting a tooth on the one side, maybe try giving her some infant tylenol a half hour before nursing her and see if she tolerates nursing on that side.

~K.

My son always had preference to the left side. I think you are on the right track with trying a different position- I'd also suggest lying down or maybe even try one of the baby slings to add other positions. I made sure to start on the right side and watched the clock to make sure he fed long enough from that side before letting him go to the preferred side. Over time, it was nice to have a side he liked, because it actually became a part of his night ritual; he could always fall asleep feeding from the left side.

She might have an ear infection and laying on one side might hurt. That's what I would check for. I know it's rare for breast fed babies to get ear infections, but my daughter did and she was breast fed. Neither of my kids had fevers all the time with ear infections, either. The only way I knew my son had one, before he could talk, was he wouldn't sleep. So I would have her ears checked.

I have the same thing happening with my 3 1/2 month old. The football hold has also helped me. I have also found that if I stand up and nurse she latches on immediately and stays latched on until she is finished. I usually walk around and bounce her while she is nursing from her least favorite side.

i agreee with jack's mom start on the least fav side then after she empty it move her to the other

My daughter (2 monoths old) also nurses exclusively. A few weeks ago she started fussing at my left breast and didn't seem to be nursing. I realized that the milk wasn't coming out as easily on that side, and I believe she was fussing because it was a lot more work to get the milk out than the other side. (I had a slightly inverted nipple on the left, also, and thought that the milk just wouldn't come out as well as my right side). After experiencing a plugged duct and resulting mastitis, I learned that the solution was to just continue nursing on that side as much as possible. Perhaps the way that your daughter's mouth and your breast fit together is not allowing the milk to flow as easily, since when you change positions she doesn't fuss at all. My suggestion is to just keep at it. Keep nursing and changing positions (we did some crazy ones to get my duct unplugged). Hot compresses before nursing are also a wonderful way to help the milk flow. Or taking a hot shower or bath beforehand. (My nipple is no longer inverted, and the milk flows well on both sides now!)
**very important that you do empty both breasts, as to avoid infection. Mastitis is excruciatingly painful and totally wipes you out for days. I know of several easy and natural remedies for plugged ducts and mastitis, if you do need them let me know.
You also might try contacting a La Leche League leader and can find one in your area from this site: http://www.llli.org/WebUS.html
Hope all goes well!

I would look for ear infections. She might be having pressure on an infected ear when you hold her a certain way. Good luck.

My daughter is nearly 6 yrs old, so bear with me, as it has been a LONG time since I've been there... but if memory serves, part of the reason she preferred one side over the other is because the milk came out at a different rate on one side than the other. For me, since I intended to exclusively BF as long as possible, I solved the issue by letting her nurse only on the side she preferred. I pumped the other side out & saved it for when she started in daycare. I was even able to do both at the same time, which was kind of a time saver.

Since you produce as much milk as you require, my production more than covered her needs, and I was careful to be consistent, so I avoided having mastitis from overproduction. ALSO, she got both the foremilk & the hindmilk, which have different nutritional value (ok, It's been too long for me to remember which is more fatty & which has more protein, but...)

Check with your doctor before you do this, but honestly, I did this practically from day one, I had a good supply of frozen milk for when she started day care, and even ended up with so much in the freezer that I threw some away after a while. :-( My doctor thought it was a great idea for me. I ate a lot of oatmeal, flaxseed, & drank a lot of water in order to keep my milk production up - and yeah, I think it may have helped me lose weight faster too :-)

I was proud that Hope never had to use formula, Both from a time & a money standpoint, I know I saved a lot, besides, it was a great bonding time for the two of us.

Good luck!

xtina

Hi J.,
I have a 2 1/2 old girl who does the same exact thing. I think as long as she is getting enough on one side during these times (I figure she isn't hungry anymore when she does this) it's not a problem. I will try her back on the original side--sometimes she'll go back for a little while. Sometimes I will pump the one side she won't eat from. I don't know what it's about but probably a phase. Good luck!

Maybe babes ear hurts on one side. A little early for ear infections but could be. I would keep offering both sides and use the football hold for sure if it works. I have a friend whose baby developed a perfernce for one side and she was able to continue nursing but it sure isn't fun. Hopefully just a phase. Keep up the good work.

Hi J.,

This is usually due to a tightened neck muscle on the side she is trying to turn to. The medical name for it is Torticollis and if it goes untreated sometimes the skull bones can become misshappen. I would just take her to your pediatrician and have them take a look at her and see if they think she has this. Either Physical therapy or the pediatrician can teach you how to stretch the neck muscle so she does not do this anymore and is better able to latch on that side. Hope this helps
Sincerely,
K.

Keep pumping on the unfavored side. Eventually they will switch and then you will still have great supply.

Both of my kids went through preference stages--I'm in one right now w/ #2. I think it's completely normal--I just kept offering the least-preferred side first (unless the other side was really full) and eventually they outgrew it and it never really affected my milk supply. I wouldn't worry about it unless you start to see your child not eating enough or, if it was me, if I started to look lopsided.

i like to lay on a specific side to start falling asleep, so i figured it was something like that. the baby is just trying to get comfy and that is the preferred position. i did the same thing-- give them the side they want and switch to football hold to finish on the other side.

Does your daughter have a cold or stuffy nose? My son had a hard time nursing on one side when he was congested. I had better luck nursing on the least favorite side when he was kind of sleepy.

Hi J.,

I actually had this happen with my second baby. I found out that it was probably that I had a plugged duct. If you start the flow for her before attaching it will probably be easier for her to get it going. It may be that its just hard work and she doesnt want to work at it at the time. Switching the hold puts or suction on other duct so it would seem to help. I hope this helps.

My daughter nursed off both sides for the first two months of her life and then she completely refused the left side. After talking with lactation consultants I pumped that side hoping to produce more milk (every 2 hours for 2 weeks)and she still refused. My daughter is now 13 months old and only nursed off of one side for 11 months and is doing just fine. She is still nursing and still only on the one side. If you are worried about milk supply, the more your baby nurses the more milk you make so it is entirely possible to get enough from one breast (twins do it all the time). My breasts are different sizes, or course, but nothing a nice bra can't help! Hope this helps a bit!

Y.

Hello,
My son had always preferred the right side. It seemed it did not come out of my left as well. It also go worse before I would get a yeast infection, I kept getting those on my left side. I found the football hold also helped when he was little, but eventually they get to big for that. And if I massaged the breast lightly while I was nursing it seemed to help the milk come out better.

have your doctor check her over...my grand daughter suffered a broken collarbone at birth and it hurt her to lay on that side....could be that for some reason it hurts for your baby to lie on that side when she nurses....

J.,
My sister-in-law had a similar problem she took the baby to the chiropractor and it fixed it right away, but she couldn't bring herself to continue to take her there. She ended up laying down to nurse her every time even when they were on vacation, she laid on some pretty nasty floors. The chiropractor told her is was just due to the trauma they go through during birth. we could always feel her little back cracking and adjusting when she wiggled while we held her.
I don't know if that shines any light on the situation but good luck!
Sam

I have two children I breast fed, but they didn't do this. If this is new for her is it a posability she has an ear infection the other side and it is painful, or maybe the milk flow is better in the one? Have you had any problems with a clogged duct? Just a thought.