When do you know to change sides?

[Beautitude]

I'm pretty new to this bf thing, my experience with ds1 was pretty short lived so I'm still learning so this may be a silly question. Ds2 has always been a one side kinda guy, I had a great deal of oversupply in the early days but now that my supply has settled down I'm finding that he is feeding really often so I'm trying to get him to take both sides. The main issue with this is that he really isn't a fan of the left side so he fusses and cries when on this side and usually gets pretty worked up. I think this side is still quite quick for him. I try to give him this side first when he is really hungry. The right side I call his dummy side lol as he we spend forever sucking on this side and sometimes at night will only feed off this side ( will flat out refuse the left ). How do u get him to accept the left breast better and how do I know that he is done feeding on one side? He will feed forever off the right side but seems to be done after 5 minutes on the left. My breasts both feel quite flat now since my supply has settled down.

[kelebek]

this is from my own personal experience and everyone is different but I found I had a 'dodgy' right side, that is DS would prefer the left side and be done with the right side so much quicker then the left side. At times he would feed from the left side and not need the right side and then the next feed I would feed from the right side and he would want the left side.

My biggest advice would be to relax and let him guide you. DS was a very efficient feeder and would literally be done in 5 mins and as he got older would literally feed for 2 mins. He would feed every 2 - 3 hours though and I had lot's of suggestions to stretch the feeds as he was 'snacking'. The thing for me was that at the beginning he would literally feed for an hour so to be done in 5 - 2 mins I didn't care if I was feeding every 2/3 hrs.

I also found that if we were going through a growth spurt that he would feed more often and would want both sides. For me the more I tried to put him into a routine and 'work' things out the more frustrated I became and it made it harder. The more I went by his guide I found that he got into his own groove and routine. It did vary but we did have some direction. This didn't happen for us until about 3-4 mnths though.

Goodluck and I hope you get some more advice.

[Blujooce]

Have you tried different breastfeeding positions?

I've only been breastfeeding for 4.5 months so I'm by no means an expert - but I can offer my two cents - and it definitely isn't a silly question.

My littlun has a definite preference for the left boob, and so do I! She fits perfectly all nuzzled in on the left (cradle hold), but on the right it's always been more awkward. My right boob is slightly bigger than my left, and it has always made it a bit trickier for us both to get in a comfortable cradle position on that side, but it's become much easier as she grows. When she was younger though she would get really fussy about the right boob, and wouldn't stay latched for long. So I changed her position on the right boob, from a cradle hold to a rugby ball hold, with her lying on a pillow looking up at me. Worked like a treat. However, when we were out and about, obviously I didn't have my pillow with me, but then she'd take the right boob in a cradle hold no problem. Some reason she was fussier about it at home then when we were out (go figure). But that worked for us - maybe try different positions for different sides for your littlun? Also lying in the bed on my right side with her latched on sideways was also really comfy for both of us (and still is).

I believe that it's important to feed regularly from both sides to make sure that a) you keep your supply up, and b) that your son gets enough milk. When one boob is finished always offer the second one. I guess if it continues to be a problem you could always express the side that he doesn't take, and then feed it to him in a bottle? Bit more messing around but might be another way around it for now, if changing positions doesn't help.

"He will feed forever off the right side but seems to be done after 5 minutes on the left". Another thought - maybe he only needs 5 minutes on the left boob to get all he needs at the moment, and that he continues to suck on the right side after a feed because he uses it as a comforter after he's finished? Watching Tilly I can tell the difference between a 'feeding and swallowing' suck and an 'I loved being comforted by your boob' suck

[studymum]

I kinda just followed their reactions. Both would start to yank and carry on when one side was getting to slow, so I would switch and they'd be happy again. DD1 started both side by a few weeks, but DD2 was a few months. I did find however DD2 didn't like one side from the word go, so I found holding her normal hold on the side she liked and football hold on the other, so she was facing the same way either side, seemed to make her think it was the same side, I dunno. Even now she sometimes pigs out on one, then snack on the other, but during growth spurt stages would pig out on both, then drop back off again. Now I always just offer the second side when she happily comes of the first.

[Jennifer13]

Like some PPs, my DD had a preference for my RHS (but it got more obvious after a while, rather than initially). To avoid too much supply in one side (I suffered from mastitis and was trying to even things up), I would swap sides twice so the LHS got two turns. I would start on the LHS (the less preferred side), which didn't last long, and then when she'd stopped actively sucking on the RHS, I would swap back in a football hold. This would generally keep her going for a bit longer on the LHS.

TBH it's not really a problem if one side has better supply than other unless you're concerned. Mums can feed twins so realistically just one bb is enough for one baby!