which is better?

Re: which is better?

• charlatti member

  April 2009

  Totally depends on your baby. Does your hospital offer lactation consultants? You might also want to find a class or read a book on BFing. At the beginning, I've heard you should offer both breasts to make sure the baby is well fed and to stimulate your milk production.
  

  
  

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• Lotte134

  April 2009

  mantle:

  We are due in less than 2 weeks and I have heard differing thoughts, pleasee clear them up:

  Nursing one side at a time

  OR

  nursing a little on both?

  Which is better?

  I went with option 3: nursing until my baby is full

  Sometimes he takes one side, sometimes both; it just depends.  The only 'rule' I follow is switching which side I start from at each feeding so both sides get used equally.
  

  

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• jesnbrent

  April 2009

  Technically, you are supposed to offer both breasts at each feeding. You need to make sure you don't end a feeding on one side too early to switch to the other side though. At first, foremilk will come out, which quenches thirst.. By the end of the feeding dc will be getting hindmilk, which is fattier and filling. If you take dc off the breast and switch to the other side too soon, he or she will not get the fattier hindmilk. It would be better to let them fill up on one side, then offer the other side.

  Hope that makes sense and helps.

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• bennett member

  April 2009

  Ditto the previous user. I always alternated which side I started on (hand tip: use a safety pin on your shirt hem, it sounds dumb, but I promise, you will feed so many times a day, they will start to run together and you WON'T always remember.)

  MY LC "taught" me to nurse until she unlatched from one side, then offer the 2nd breast. Most times she'd take it, sometime's not. Even if she does, you offer the last breast first, because she probably won't eat as much on the 2nd side. Again, nuse until the baby is finished and no longer interested.

  I had a 3 strike rule (she distracted easily) so I would offer it 2-3 times after she unlatched to make sure she wasn't just distracted and not really finished.

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