Not emptying breast.

[Expecting1]

Tanner's gaining weight, pooping and peeing a lot so I'm not worried for his health ... I'm worried about my sanity lol.
His feeds have gone from half hours to anywhere from 4 to 23 minutes (and these little feeds will hold him over anywhere from 1 & 1/2 to 4 hours!) and he's not emptying my left breast. The only thing I've changed recently is I stopped his morning bottles and pump (I now EBF and no longer pump once a day) BUT I got soooo soooo exhausted and stressed this morning I gave up getting him to stay on 'lefty' and begged Hub to give him one of the last bottles of my milk.
Now I'm sitting here with a stiff, sore lefty and a nice soft righty but I really don't want to pump
Is there any way to get him to empty the breast? (We've tried changing and playing to wake him but even when he's wide awake when he's done he's done )

 

[Mum2BKW]

Are you left or right handed? You might be holding him differently against one breast to the other and he prefers one way (it might only be a subtle difference with the angle or position against your nipple). Have you tried different feeding positions on your left breast, like the football hold?

 

[Expecting1]

Right handed. Yeah we've tried a few, he likes the classic cradle, and if we're both laying down, he loves being on his side he's actually on my left right now but after 3 minutes of big hefty gulps, he's asleep..... I'll change him and offer left again but he wont go past 5 minutes I bet.

 

[Expecting1]

Yep. I was right. 2 minutes. He's been crying for feed every hour today but he wont eat!!! I'm so exhausted and tired. I haven't had any time to myself today. Please tell me this is just a phase. I'm crying right now because I know he'll be screaming in an hour and if he's not screaming for boob he's screaming because he's trying to fart.

 

[noon_child]

Sounds like he's going through a growth spurt combined with your left breast maybe over producing milk or has either a heavy or too slow a let down (I know, I know too many possibilities). However now you have stopped pumping, your body has a chance to adjust to your babies preferences (i.e produce a bit less so that lefty is more comfy for you). It is common though for supply to tale a few months to stabilise completely - and then you'll panic again cos your breasts will not feel like they have any milk in them at all!

My LO didn't like my left breast when newborn but at 3months on she preferred it (prob cos very quick let down).

If it is a growth spurt, the fussiness and constant hunger should only last a few days. Once that has passed (till the next one), hopefully your breast will become more used to his feeding preferences and become more confortable all by themselves. If he is satisfied with only a few minutes from lefty then that is OK. there is no rule saying he must feed for X amount of time from both breasts. Some babaies flat out refuse one breast and are successfully nursed from one breast only.

I think you have done the right thing stopping pumping.

 

[Expecting1]

Ugh how are the poor things supposed to regulate when he's all over the place lol.
The left has only had heavy let down since he started his hourly screaming session at my nipple.... maybe he scared it lol.
I'm trying to find humor I'm sorry if it came off as sarcasm/bitchyness.
I'm not dreading the feeding, I love it when he feeds I just wish he would stay on like he used to

 

[Pielette]

I sympathise, when Milo was around 3 weeks he went through a phase of hating my right boob for some unknown reason! DH and I used to joke about how he was obviously crying because he knew he was about to get old righty

I never did figure out why for sure, although I think it might have been a more forceful let down. It sorted itself out in time and he is fine with either boob. Just grit your teeth and get through the fussiness, and definitely leave the pump for a few weeks.

 

[rose.]

I might have missed this as I haven't read every post, but how about hand expressing some milk from the left before your son latches to make your letdown a bit less forceful? Also I used to find that if my boobs were really hard Alfie didn't latch. Hand expressing a little milk would normally make the boob around my nipple a bit softer so he was able to latch

 

[Expecting1]

Thank you, I'll try