My baby is 6 weeks old and he is my second so all in all nursing has been easier this time around. My one issue is I am clearly producing more milk in my left breast than my right. During the day I nurse on one side at a time and that has been working but through the night I nurse him on both sides to hold him off longer and he is not nursing as long as he should on my right side. I think because the milk isn't coming as fast as the other side, he will not nurse on it for very long. I am afraid this will affect my milk prodction. Does anyone have any ideas on how to increase milk production on the one side?
Start with the right side first - he'll pull harder and it will help production go up. If you have a pump, you could use that to get the right side going a little bit before offering it to him. Then switch to the left. It will help. I had the same issue, and it really did help. Good luck!
Higher production in one breast is very common, and I have the issue, just with opposite breasts. I usually feed on one side only also, but if it is the higher producing side, I pump the other breast that makes less. Or, if he nurses on the side that produces less, I will pump that breast after nursing, even if nothing comes out, just to signal my body to produce more in that breast. It has helped so far. Just remember to put him on the less producing breast more often. That signals the body to produce more in that breast. You may never have "equal" production, and that is OK.
Good luck!
I have one breast that produces more milk too. I don't think it's anything to worry about.
Perfectly fine. Don't try to hold off nursing at six weeks. Go ahead and give the right side first when he is hungriest and sucks harder. Make sure he completely empties that one first before moving on to the left side. If your left side does not empty, pump the rest out so you don't get engorged.
Mine are the same way (but the right produces more.) It's okay! There have been lots of days where I'll nurse right right left. And he's 4 `1/2 months and still doing fine. My body is still keeping up with him. I tend to only nurse on one side at a time as well.
Breastfeeding is best when you feed on demand. If you continue to do so, it shouldn't matter if one is producing a bit more. (Or in my case, when I pump, it's about double.....)
Happened to me too. Nothing I did changed the fact that I produced more in my right than my left. I asked my doc about it because the right one swelled bigger when I was engorged too and she said I could have milk ducts in that breast. I KNOW the baby favored that one because the milk came in greater quantity and faster. I would start him on the one he didn't like as much as often as possible when his suck was strongest. If he refused, I eventually gave in. But, I didn't give in a lot until he was like 9 or 10 months old....at that point, I pretty much nursed him off the right and pumped the right and left both while at work. Good luck!
All infants/toddlers have a favorite breast and will nurse more from that one. Sometimes they will even have a partial nursing strike, where they boycott the non-favored breast for up to a month (that I've heard of).
If you want to nurse from the favored breast and pump the other side? Or pump after he nurses from the side he doesn't prefer.
I had the same thing happen too. One side always had much more milk. Just keep feeding him both side. I often started feeding him on the slow side and switched him over to the other side a bit later. I think as long as you keep feeding him both sides you should be fine.
