Hellobee Boards

@ssmom: how often is she nursing? It could be that's she's just a "one boob baby". Both of my kids would only take one breast per feed (I had an oversupply, and fwiw full feeds only lasted 5ish minutes as well. I'm pretty sure it was just shooting down their throat )...whenever they woke for their next feed I'd offer the opposite breast.

If she is going decent stretches before getting hungry again, and pooping and peeing well, I'd just leave it be. Some babies don't need both breasts in a single feed! Also, i don't know if it's a typo or not, but make sure you alternate which breast you offer her first (you say "by the time it's time to switch her over to my right breast") so both breasts keep a supply and your baby doesn't develop a preference of one side over another.

@ssmom: don't pump the other side. Hand express a little if you absolutely need to, just to get more comfortable, but breastmilk is all supply and demand so the more you pump, the more you'll make. You should even out soon!

ETA: unless you are returning to work and need to get a freezer stash. In that case, maybe you'd want to pump? I SAH so I didn't have a need for gallons of milk in my freezer. Maybe a WOH Mom can chime in!

@ssmom: for the first month I'd pump the other side for 3 or 4 minutes to relieve the pressure. I ended up building up a huge freezer stash (that he was allergic to and I had to donate). I slowly dropped the pump sessions by a minute a week and my body adjusted.

@pollywog sounds very similar to what I did too. I had a crrrazzzy oversupply and my son always only nursed 1 side at a time, like from the very beginning. I made so much milk I would actually have to get up in the motn and pump the side he was going to feed on before I nursed him b/c otherwise he would get like 8 + ounces out of 1 boob. Not kidding. Too much for a nb with terrible reflux. I also pumped the other side for a while just for comfort (I was incredibly engorged all the time) and also developed a monster freezer stash. Eventually I stopped pumping the other side and just switched sides at every feeding.

Unfortunately my son was never sleepy, though! Nonstop screaming from the beginning!

My newborns had jaundice, so they were extremely sleepy nursers and were definitely not getting enough to eat. The only thing that worked were to change their diapers at the point their sucking kinda slowed down, and then LITERALLY putting ice packs on their face or ribs to startle them awake, once they dozed off, and if they still slept through that, I would set them down on the floor on a muslin blanket and they would wake up after a few seconds from the Moro reflex or suddenly not being warm and snuggled. Feedings took forever and I did have to top off with a bottle of pumped milk or formula a lot in the beginning because they needed the volume to push out the bilirubin. But yeah, none of the normal tricks worked that well for us. It took us weeks before they would just eat.

@ssmom: hugs mama when is the next appt? If she is gaining well hopefully that will put you more at ease!

@ssmom: That's awesome! I know, it's such a roller coaster and always wondering and worrying! Hang in there!