3 week old now not latching on properly - and one breast not producing as much milk

[roisin's-dad]

hi there,
We've got a 3 week old girl, who until last night was exclusively breast-fed and was doing well - putting on plenty of weight and filling nappies nicely.
But in the last few days my partner has noticed that where rosie was latching on really well on both sides, she's now not latching on well on the right side - which means she's gulping air and getting lots of wind. My partner's tried different holds - cradling and rugby ball and variations - but it didn't help her latching on.
Things are made more difficult by the fact that the left breast now seems not to be producing much milk at all. My partner's just tried expressing and got very little from the left, tried on the right and got a bottle full.
So we have a situation where rosie's not getting much milk from the left side, but now not latching on well at all on the right - and getting lots of wind.
Because rosie's been feeding almost every hour (possibly because of not getting much from the left) - just to give my partner a break and get a bit of sleep, she had a bottle of formula last night and did ok from that, but we would like to continue breast feeding her if we can.
This morning we've got some milk expressed so we can bottle feed breast milk if we need to, but we're really hoping to get some advice on how to stimulate the left breast again, and why after 3 weeks rosie's not able to latch on to the right side suddenly.
thanks for any help or advice!

 

[Shifter]

How are your partner's breasts feeling to her? Does the right feel heavier than the left or vice versa? Is there any redness or pain?

In what way is rosie not latching on well? Is she going on but bobbing off again? Or not getting a good latch but generally being in the right place? Or is she actually refusing the right side?

I'm not sure why she would suddenly have trouble latching when it had been fine but it's almost certainly not a supply issue on the left. When you express you generally get much less than a baby can draw down. When your partner expressed and got nothing from the left had rosie just fed from that side? If she's favouring the left then it's probably that your partner had plenty in the right side to pump out but not so much in the left - but rosie would still be getting enough on the left. iyswim?

The only advice I have really is to keep trying her on the right side, be persistent and even a little rough at first. I had to literally clamp Jack's head to me at first while he got the idea of what to do.

HTH
xx

 

[roisin's-dad]

hi there, sorry for not replying sooner.
We've had a better week or so, and things seem to have improved - she's still not quite latching on as well as she used to, but we're getting better at burping her now and she's gained 10oz so she's doing really well.
thanks for taking the time to reply - I do appreciate it