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One side per session

klgallupklgallup member
in Breastfeeding
I am 25 weeks pregnant with my second child. I am hoping to have a smoother breastfeeding experience than I did last time. My son had a bad latch and I pumped for over a month in the beginning. I was able to get out latch issues worked out and we successfully made it to 6 months which I was happy with.

One thing that made breastfeeding difficult for me was that my son insisted on nursing on both sides every time. I did a lot of NIP and this was not ideal. I hear a lot of other moms just nurse on one side per session and would like to see if I can make that work.

The LC at the hospital told me to have my son nurse on each side for at least 10 minutes. At what age do you shift from nursing on both sides per session to only one side?
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Re: One side per session

  • VitaLunaVitaLuna member
    You have to do whatever your baby wants. Some are fine with one, some want both, and some go back and forth with what they want. Nursing a certain # of minutes on each side is bad advice.. You want to empty one side before switching to the other (if you have a baby that wants both sides) to avoid issues.

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  • kjsmith9kjsmith9 member
    Yeah I don't know that you can really "transition" them - just do what the baby wants.  DD has always nursed from one side, except during growth spurts and right before bed time (starting around 6 months)... but I didn't do anything to make her that way.  She just has never had much interest in the other side.
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  • emmyfreeman27emmyfreeman27 member
    I dealt with oversupply for the first several weeks, and my MW suggested only nursing on one side per session- and we have done that ever since. If you are dealing with a low supply, I wouldn't advise it, but it definitely helped bring my supply down a bit faster. At times, she nurses on both sides (ie, maybe once/week), if she seems to have drained one breast and still seems hungry.

    LO is almost 10 months now, and it's worked great for us. :) However, I am now about 5 weeks pregnant and am thinking I may have a dip in my supply and have already starting trying to compensate by offering the second breast to her, in hopes of upping my supply a bit.

    (Also, the LLLI book suggests that nursing on one side/session is fine- even for multiple sessions in a row, especially in the first several weeks when your body is still adjusting/figuring out your supply needs!)

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  • klgallupklgallup member
    Thanks for all the responses. As for how it affected NIP, I was making him switch sides, not taking his lead. If I didn't physically remove him from my breast after a while, he would never unlatch and I would end up with really sore nipples. So in public when his feeding slowed I would unlatch him. He would start thrashing around and kicking off the cover while I was trying to get my bra back together and take out my other breast to offer it to him. It made me uncomfortable because I preferred to stay covered while NIP.

    In hindsight I think that he was not getting much hind milk which probably contributed to his reflux issues. Like I said, I think I made lots of mistakes while breastfeeding my son that I hope I can do better and be better educated this time around.
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  • klgallupklgallup member
    Got it!
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