Picking Sides

tarheelgirl8 · August 2015

Anyone else have a LO with a very clear preference for one breast over the other? DD always nurses at least twice as long on my left breast. It doesn't matter which breast I offer first, or what position I use. I'm a little concerned about developing a supply inbalance. I'm planning on discussing with my LC from the hospital, but I'm curious if anyone else has experienced this as well. Any tips? Am I worrying over nothing? I wouldn't care so much if it weren't for my poor overused left nipple!

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abmommy15 · August 2015

I have no tips but DS is the exact same way with my right. I've tried different positions and it doesn't seem to matter.

Kalikins · August 2015

I had something like this. I found out it was because my girls had a harder time latching on one side than the other due to a slightly inverted nipple. Something to check.

SashaDenn25 · August 2015

Ive had this with my right and my poor right nipple hurt so bad. The LC just told me to make sure to pump my left and always try to initiate with it. She also had me rather than flipping baby over to keep same position on each side to just slide baby over. So on my left shes in football carry position and then I slide her straight over to right and lays across my chest. She was doing great across chest with right so I kept trying to flip her and LC said just slide over instead. Shes now successfully nursing both sides but will do one side longer than the other during any feeding by a great amount (10mins one side, 20 plus another), but theres no favor its just whatever side she ends up on more during a feeding. Maybe this will help and hopefully LC can help you out!!

jesselayne8 · August 2015

All my kids preferrd my left nipple because my right nipple is flat. It takes some work to get that nipple out but we usually work through it by the time my babies are 1-2wks old. I usually offer the more difficult side 2nd if the baby is hysterical hungry or first of she is calm. Persistence pays off. If you are having a particularly bad day with the no preferred side then I would pump it once or twice that day so that it is stimulated enough to not affect supply on that side.

jessandandy09 · August 2015

Yes, all of my babies have preferred my left breast. It kinda sucks.

toccoaparker · August 2015

LO prefers my left side, I'm fairly certain it's because I have a cyst on the right side that makes it harder to nurse though...

Lalala2326 · August 2015

Yep both of mine have preferred my left. I have to do the slide over thing to as PP described. I feed cradle/cross cradle on the left and football on the right. It took a while to figure that out with my first daughter. I started right off this time as soon as I realized my second daughter had the same preference, and my boobs have stayed a lot more even. I will say feeding in the football hold sucks though the bigger the baby gets. My older daughter kept that preference right up till she weaned at over 18 months.

kat+1 · August 2015

Have you tried the foot ball hold?

tarheelgirl8 · August 2015

@kat+1, I have. I used it a lot while at the hospital because it kept DD off the incision from my c-section. But at home and now that I've healed, I find that it's a little harder to get positioned well enough to hold her comfortably in the football hold, because she's so long. In the hospital bed I could maneuver the positioning of the bed so that it worked. Maybe I need to give it another try though, and do the slide method.

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