very low milk supply on one side

Hello,
My first baby (a girl) is 3 and a half weeks now, and (though I am delighted
with her!) I have been having lots of troubles with breastfeeding. It seems
that as soon as we have one problem solved, a new one crops up.

The latest is that my left breast has, within the last few days, become much
softer and produces much less milk. It is strange because it was producing
fine prior to this, and I always alternated which side I offered first and
followed all the advice.
I have been trying hand pumping and manually expressing, but I can get very
little to come out on this side. I try offering the left side first, but
baby seems to quickly grow impatient with the low flow.

Has anyone had such a problem and/or have some advice for me? I am thinking
of renting an electric pump, but I don't know if that will help or not.
Thanks,
Kristen

"Mike & Kristen" wrote in message
news:z_4dc.45674$Pk3.41634@pd7tw1no...
Hello,
My first baby (a girl) is 3 and a half weeks now, and (though
I am delighted with her!) I have been having lots of troubles
with breastfeeding. It seems that as soon as we have one
problem solved, a new one crops up.

Good for you for persevering. Problems should hopefully start easing up
and stop newly appearing within the next couple weeks.

The latest is that my left breast has, within the last few days,
become much softer and produces much less milk. It is
strange because it was producing fine prior to this, and I
always alternated which side I offered first and followed
all the advice.
I have been trying hand pumping and manually expressing,
but I can get very little to come out on this side. I try offering
the left side first, but baby seems to quickly grow impatient
with the low flow.

Has anyone had such a problem and/or have some advice
for me? I am thinking of renting an electric pump, but I don't
know if that will help or not.

My son (second baby) started rejecting my left side when he was 2 1/2
months old. I pumped for a month and kept trying different things -
side lying, football hold, nursing while he was very sleepy, nursing in
a dark, quiet room (tough with a then-2-year-old!) - but he has not
nursed on that side in 4 months (to be fair, he hasn't had the chance in
about 3 months since I stopped bothering to offer it). He's 7 months
now, still exclusively bf'd aside from starting solids a month ago, and
healthy as can be. I think at 3.5 weeks you've got a better chance of
getting your daughter back to taking both sides equally but I just
wanted to let you know that even if you don't, you'll still be able to
breastfeed. Continue always offering the left side first. It is worth
trying, and a high-quality electric pump can only help. The downsides
have been that my DS has had growth spurts measured in weeks rather than
days, which just about killed me from lack of sleep, and I think it's
because it takes my body longer to catch up with his needs due to only
having one side to work with. I'm also quite lopsided but it's rarely
that noticeable under clothing, and I'm told once he weans it'll go back
to normal. Good luck!
--
Cheryl S.
Mom to Julie, 3, and Jaden, 7 months