>I've nursed all three of my children, two of them for extended periods (4
years, and on-going at almost 4 years). Both of my two long-term
breastfeeders preferred the right side, to the extent that I was quite
lopsided for a while. I think partly it is because I am left-handed, and
found myself putting the first child on the right breast more often because
I needed my left hand free to take notes in class (she went to graduate
classes with me her first semester of life). Then, years later, I had a
lumpectomy on the left breast with a circum-areolar incision, which cut some
of the milk ducts on that side, so it didn't produce as much milk. With my
third and last child, he has always preferred the right side, and I used to
have to trick him into nursing from the left by laying him on my right side
in bed, then rolling way over so I could latch him onto the left side. As
long as his head was turned to the left, he seemed not to care, but it was
uncomfortable for me. When he was old enough to talk he said he didn't like
the left side because it didn't make as much milk and it was harder for him
to get milk out of it. He is now almost four and still going strong on the
right side only.
There is one study in the literature about women in Hong Kong, who
routinely nurse their children only from one side because they need the
other arm free for handling their boats. The reference is: Ing, R., N.L.
Petrakis,, and J.H.C. Ho 1977 Unilateral breast feeding and breast cancer.
Lancet, 2:124-127. This article talks about how the risk of breast cancer
in the right breast (the suckled one) is very low, while the risk of breast
cancer in the left breast is much higher, in fact it is the same as in
"developed" countries where few women breast feed for any length of time.
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Katherine A. Dettwyler email:
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Anthropology Department phone: (409) 845-5256
Texas A&M University fax: (409) 845-4070
College Station, TX 77843-4352
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