(Also known as the post in which I use several terms which will result in some strange Googlers feeling disappointed and vaguely ripped off.)
Breanna prefers nursing from the right side. Hayley did too when she was a baby. I can only assume the left has a crappy letdown in comparison or something of that sort, and that’s why the right is more popular. This is really annoying because I have to fight to get Breanna to latch on to the left side; the only way I can easily do it is if she’s just waking up and then in her sleepy daze she doesn’t complain.
If you’ve ever breastfed a baby you’ve probably found yourself, at least once, familiar with the side effect to a preference like that – since the neglected side doesn’t often get emptied completely, it also doesn’t always refill completely, and as a result you wind up with a telltale pain, kind of stabbing in nature. That would be me today. If I can’t get Breanna to nurse on that side soon, I’m going to have to toss her in the bouncy seat or the swing and break out the pump because although there are other remedies such as hot showers, hot compresses, and massages, the only thing that really works for me is to get the damn milk OUT.
Anyway, this whole thing led to a rather amusing misunderstanding.
Sherry: Ow. Oh, OW!
Hayley: What’s wrong Mommy?
Sherry: Oh, nothing really. I just have a clogged duct.
Hayley: (excited) You have a DUCK?! WHERE?!
She was a little deflated to learn that I do not, in actuality, have a duck, clogged or otherwise. Alas.
Heh. You know, there have been a few instances of clogged duct around here that I swear hurt worse than the contractions. It’s just the sharp stabbing burny-ness of it that gets me. The things they don’t warn you about! (Worse, though, was a milk blister. OUCH.)
Hello there! My son would get fussy about nursing one side and it usually meant he had an ear infection – no fever, no tugging on ears, no other fussiness, etc. But, it sounds as if she’s always been this way, right? Just thought I’d tell ya. Hope your clogged duck feels better soon!
Wendy – Yeah, an ear infection was the first thing I thought of when she started doing it, but it’s been a really long time now with no signs of an infection. I know that Hayley was the same way, she always preferred the right over the left, she just didn’t start so young.
I’m starting to think maybe the right side produces chocolate milk or something! 😉