6 Mos Old Boycotting My Left Boob!

Babies have preferences... which never last forever. Think of it as a partial nursing strike. My daughter wouldn't feed from my right breast for 3 weeks then went back to both as if nothing happened. I pumped the side she wasn't nursing from and stockpiled it in my freezer.

My daughter went through a stage where she only wanted to nurse on my left side. The lactation consultant and I decided that it was probably because my milk didn't flow as quickly as the right and she didn't have a hard time keeping up with it. (I had overactive letdown) I also remember the lactation consultant saying that many babies prefer one side (typically the mom's dominant hand side) because the milk tends to flow more easily/quickly or has more milk than the other. I would definitely keep offering the left and pumping it if he refuses in order to keep your supply up. Also, you could try putting him in a different position when nursing on the left so that his body is in the same position as when nursing on the right (you may need to use a pillow or something to help support his body). Maybe he prefers to lay a certain direction.

I couldn't breastfeed, so I haven't had this experience, but a couple of my friends have had this issue. One of the babies had an ear infection, and laying down on that one side was painful. The other was just picky (in other words, they don't know why she didn't want the one side, lol), so they just offered her the one side first (and wouldn't switch her to the other until she nursed from that side) for a while until she didn't have a preference. Dunno if either of those helps, but I hope so! Good luck!

When you change sides slide him over instead of flipping him over. But a preference is totally normal, but it all evened out for me, I work and my right side was better for actually nursing but my left side pumped better

I had a not-as-good letdown on the left, and when my LO was nursing, for awhile he wouldn't want to nurse the left (had to work harder, I guess?). Anyway, what I would do is nurse on the right till I let down, then quickly swap to the left side.

If he's pinching, keep removing or disengaging the pinching fingers, regardless which side he's doing it. Try to redirect the activity to running fingers along something (your skin, his blanket, etc) instead.

haha my son almost 5 months old now, also exclusive bf, prefers my right as well...I have gotten him to nurse on the left though. Sometimes different positions like side lying and sometimes offering the left breast when he is hungriest, like first thing in the morning. And pump the left if you need to...

You're not going to like my story. My daughter has always preferred my left boob. She is 17 months old now. While she will occasionally nurse from the right, sometimes when I offer it to her, she will tell me "no." I asked about this at a breastfeeding support class when she was about 7 months old, and there was a woman there with a much older baby who said that she was only producing out of one side.

I don't know if any lopsidedness is irreversible, but I've always been lopsided even before babies anyway. Of course, it's more noticeable now that I'm nursing, but hopefully it's not too obvious afterward. But right now I call my boobs "California," because my left is a C and my right is an A. I have always heard, though, that it's not the nursing that stretches out your boobs but the expansion during pregnancy. It could be something that pro-nursing advocates have made up to convince women to continue breastfeeding, but right now I choose to believe it. :)

Good luck.