Hi EB ladies,
My DS (5 months) doesn't seem to like my right breast. Not all the time but often enough ..... he fusses and wiggles, it's difficult to get him on and once on he pulls away a lot. There isn't anything different with the right one as far as I can tell.
Any thoughts?
Thanks :-)

No thoughts, but my now-very-old DS went through a right-boob-hatred at a similar age! I started feeding him in all sorts of weird positions and he went back to normal about two weeks later.

Have you tried holding him in the same position, but moving him across to the other breast? Hard to explain, but don't turn him around. Keep him in your right arm.

Maybe he has a stiff neck? I had a friend who had this problem and she took her baby to a physio (or maybe osteo I can't quite remember) and her dd went back to feeding from both sides.

My children have both fussed on my right breast until the are about 4 months old. In my case I think that side has a much faster flow that they can't physically cope with till they are a bit bigger.

Kellymom has a few good articles on side pereference that helped me. Nipple shield was my best remedy for the really bad breast refusals.

I had the same problem.
It turned out that my daughter had a chronic throat abscess which resulted in her having her tonsils out at 10 months. When she first become fussy on the left side I sought advice from my friend who is a MCHN, a lactation consultant and the ABA helpline but no-one suggested that it may be a medical problem so perhaps make sure that there is not physical issue first.
Eventually the problem was recognised and I've got her back on both sides but for quite a few months she would mainly take the left side. I kept up the supply on the right by pumping, feeding her standing and rocking, getting her while sleepy, lots of skin to skin contact and the football hold.
Conventional wisdom says to offer the least popular side first but this never works for us.

? something to do with flow.
At what stage of the feed does he do it?
If he does it early in the feed then try some distractions, calming voice or singing/rocking and some gentle breast squeezes/compressions to help milk flow so he waits until let down.
If he does it later in the feed you could keep a close eye on him and when you sense he is about to tug or fuss then do the breast compressions and the milk might flow and ward off the fussing.
Its hard to know, could you give ABA a ring for a chat and ? if it still is an issue then see a LC who can watch a feed?
Otherwise I'd just go with the flow and if he fusses despite trying the above then switch back to the left again and then try the right side again. He may be more calm/satiated by then then be more patient?
I might be way off track but I hope that helped.
All the best.

I agree with the stiff neck theory. Might not hurt to get him checked out by a paediatric physio.

The other thing is your letdown on that side may be a little slower than the left so he gets frustrated when it doesn't come as fast as the other side. Perhaps try putting a warm compress on the right side prior to the feed to see if that aids in allowing for faster letdown. Otherwise, if you have a pump, use the pump to start the letdown for him and then put him to the breast.

I was also going to suggest keeping him in the same position as he lays when feeding on the right side. Basically you try and "trick" him into thinking that he is feeding from the left side both times. It can work for some feeds.

Good luck.

Both of my kids had tight muscles on one side of their necks which resulted in them not liking holding or turning their heads one way.

I would suggest a visit to a physio/chiro to get them to check out.

After only one visit with my DS he was moving much better and less fussy when I changed which side I held him on.

Both my girls have always preferred righty because there is more there and they haven't had to work as hard to get it so they didn't like lefty. Could be a supply thing.

+ 1

Both of mine prefer / preferred the left for the same reason

Leftie has a faster flow than rightie for me. Therefore my babies always prefered leftie. I'm a little lopsided But one day I'll win tattslotto and fix them both up after the babies finish sucking them into sad, pathetic little shadows of their former glory.

im having the same problem but with my left boob! DS screams hysterically like hes in pain or something. i dont know what to do

Have you tried holding him in a football hold so he is under your arm and laying the same way as if he was feeding on the left?

my cousin and his wife have just taken their newborn little boy to bowen therapy sessions coz he had some stiffness and bones out from birth process. i spose its a pretty common thing? i just thought it was a supply thing too, my dd always liked one over the other ( but then so does hubby, whats up with that?sorry tmi).. if in doubt though, always get him checked out. all the best.

This works for me

Yep, I need Lotto too! Mine liked my saggy right one best. The left looks better, but mustn't have worked as well. I'd forgotten all about that.

What a fantastic range of possibilities, perspectives and suggestions .

My DS1 and DS2 love lefty but not so keen on righty. DS2 is 4 months and really does prefer the left but will feed from the right. For me it is a supply issue. Lefty has a fast let down and lots of milk where the righty doesn't seem to produce as much milk. Not that much of a big deal for me though, although my boobs are a bit lopsided most of the time.

My GP (who I saw before I went to a physio and chiro) said that when babies are almost fully grown in-utero they run out room to move too much and quite often this means they don't get to establish full range of movement in all their neck muscles.

So quite frequently when they are born one side of their neck muscles are more flexible than the other. So when you switch them to the side where they cannot move as much due to the stiffness it can cause them pain to feed from that side.

If you think your baby is in pain I would definitely suggest a GP/Physio/Chiro visit

Thanks for all the suggesions ladies.
He doesn't scream or cry like he is in pain ..... it's more like fussy and cranky. So I don't think that he is sore but you might be on the money with the supply idea. When I was pregnant I leaked quite a bit only from the left boob now I think about it. So maybe the right one is just a bit crap. There is definately milk there as I can hand express it out but maybe there just not much or it's slow to come out. My daughter didn't seem to mind either side but he is partially bottle fed and used to getting his milk fast! He might be a bit of a lazy boy :-). I'll try the warm compress idea maybe.
Why do we even have 2 boobs? Handy for twins I suppose but mostly just confusing .... which one to start on, one breast per feed or 2 ?? Maybe we will evolve to be just one-breasted eventually :-)