how much is enough? and why only one side??

[mamabear1111]

First off I'm sorry for all the questions but nursing this time ( baby #5) is proving to be a lil challenging =( so here goes.....
DD is 5 days old and she usually only eats about 8 minutes on 1 side then falls asleep for a few hours no matter how hard I try to wake her up. Stripping her, rubbing her head,back & feet, putting her feet against my cold water bottle and last night even tried a few drops of cold water on her head.....nothing!! She'll fuss long enough to get back on the boob but then she's fast asleep. Is she getting enough that she's that content?? Is she really full for that long??

And now on top of all that, she also won't eat on my right side! She will latch on and get right back off no matter how hungry she is. I've tried offering that side first, offering after she eats on the left, using different holds, I even went as far as to rinse it off before offering it to her and she still acts like she dont know what to do with it. Is the milk on that side different or something? any and all advice is needed and welcome ladies, after our dissapointing visit with the dr this morning I'm starting to second guess myself about everything now so any help would be nice =) thank you in advance mamas

[maggiemom2000]

It is pretty common for baby to refuse one side. The nipple may be shaped differently, the milk may flow faster or slower, baby may be uncomfortable laying on that side, many reasons!

Try getting baby latched on the left, then part way through the feeding try sligin her over to the right without changing her position.

She may get full off of one side in 8 minutes. How many wet and poopy diapers in the last 24 hours? A baby this age who is getting enough milk usually has at least 4 poops a day.

[mamabear1111]

She's having 5-7 poopy diapers and about 4-6 wet diapers a day and she seems content. She's not fussy or acting like she's starving but the dr made me worry by saying she wasn't gaining enough. 7 lbs 8oz at birth 6 lbs 13 oz at 5 days

Quoting maggiemom2000:

It is pretty common for baby to refuse one side. The nipple may be shaped differently, the milk may flow faster or slower, baby may be uncomfortable laying on that side, many reasons!

Try getting baby latched on the left, then part way through the feeding try sligin her over to the right without changing her position.

She may get full off of one side in 8 minutes. How many wet and poopy diapers in the last 24 hours? A baby this age who is getting enough milk usually has at least 4 poops a day.

[gdiamante]

We ran the numbers in another post... baby is gaining fine. I see all kinds of normal going on here.

[mamabear1111]

Any tricks to get her to nurse on the right side since she keeps refusing it? Is this something she'll out grow?

Quoting gdiamante:

We ran the numbers in another post... baby is gaining fine. I see all kinds of normal going on here.

[gdiamante]

Just offer. Most babies outgrow it. Try different positions.

[GoldenLinds]

Totally normal. My 20 month son still has bouts of refusing one boob or the other. Try any position you can to het her to take it. If she won't then give the other. If she's falling asleep on just one side then do some reading on block nursing. It'll help. My son was the same foe the first few months before we could do both boobs in a feeding. Just make sure tou express or pump the one she's refusing to avoid any blockage. It might help her get to a point where she will take it again too. Don't panic. That is hard. When he was first tefusing the one sife I got so worked up every time I offered it to him because I was afraid he wouldnt take it and well vicious circle:/ Give her a minute. Place her in position and bare the breast and then take a minuteto do some deep bbreathing before you actually try latching. Then you can both be more ready.

[newmom3917]

That's so weird.. I was about to make a post saying almost the exacct same about my son.. he's 4 days old and he nurses about 15 mins on one breast and just tonight (all night) he won't take my right breast at all.. he fusses whenever I offer it to him. He'll eat off my left just fine but not my right. He'll latch on for a second, then cry and push away.. and he will keep doing that even when I change positions. After I keep trying to put him on the right side a few times, I eventually give up and give him the left, he'll nurse for 15 mins, then go back to sleep. :-/ I feel like I'm not doing enough because the lactation consultant at the hospital told me that by now he should be nursing about 10-12 times a day and about 15 mins on each breast each time he feeds.

[maggiemom2000]

Quoting gdiamante:

We ran the numbers in another post... baby is gaining fine. I see all kinds of normal going on here.

Yes!

[fortressmom]

For a few weeks my YDS refused my left breast.  The nipple is shaped a litle different from the right and he had a hard time latching. Once he got a little bigger it was no longer an issue. Everything sounds normal to me with your babe mama!

[Mom2Just1]

My so hates my left side. He is finally taking it. I had to keep offering. My son has also only ever nursed one side at every feeding....except during growth spurts. He is gaining and happy for the most part.