Gloria Buoncristiano-Thai wrote:

> Her toddler has completely weaned from one breast.  He refuses it even
> when sleeping.  First question, has anyone come across children who wean
> from one breast at a time?

Yep, I have one of those!  Molly (three years on Thursday) gave up on the
right breast at about a year old.  Between 5 and 8 months post partum I had
repeated plugged ducts and 2 breast biopsies.  That breast just seemed kind
of wimpy after the repeated plugged ducts.  My doctor (ultra supportive
husband of my LLL co-Leader)  could find nothing unusual except a kind of
"hollowed" area around where the majority of plugs were.  We decided it was
due to involution in that area.

> The breast in question is smaller and never seemed to make as much milk
> as the other.  Could the child feel that the liitle bit of milk from this
> breast is no longer  worth the effort?

I think was partly the case, and partly that it didn't taste as good (higher
sodium from plugged ducts and decreasing supply).  I nursed 2 older children
on that breast with no problems at all.  My theory is that a different ductal
system was producing for this baby that wasn't with the others (one of the
spokes on the wheel), and it had a "kink" in it somewhere that caused the
problems this time around.

The first summer that she stopped on the right side, wearing a bathing suit
was difficult, and if we went a long stretch between nursings, even regular
clothes couldn't hide the uneveness.  Now that she is almost 3, the
difference is barely noticable.

When I ask her now if she will nurse on that side she says "no, yucky" but
the other side tastes like "chocolate milk".

Kathy

--
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Kathy Koch, BSEd, IBCLC
LLL Leader, AAPL
mailto:[log in to unmask]          Great Mills, MD, USA
"Within the child lies the fate of the future."   Maria Montessori
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