Jacqui,

When my son was born, I always let him nurse first in the first week, before
his older sister could nurse.  I was not worried about who got all the
colostrum or anything like that because my daughter nursed after my son did.

After the first week, I gave Anna the left (slow) breast and Simon the right
(fast) breast.  It turned out Simon had a tied tongue and perhaps some
issues with my oversupply, so for awhile I tried only feeding him from the
left breast (and noticed he vomited up fewer feedings like this).  Anna was
all too happy to take the fast side, swore off solid foods completely, and
gained 5 lbs. in 2 months (she was just shy of 22 months old when Simon was
born).

After a few months, once my supply calmed down and Simon could handle more
milk in a feeding, we switched sides again so that Anna only nursed from the
left (slow) side.  I had to allow Anna only one side because she was nursing
more than Simon was!  Simon got whichever side was fuller at whatever time
he wanted to nurse, which sometimes meant Anna got less milk from her left
"milky."  

I tandem nursed them for almost 2 years.  In Anna's last few weeks of
nursing, she was barely latching on and not "drinking" the milk, which drove
me crazy.  Finally one night, she announced "I used to drink the milky when
I was a baby, but now that I'm big, I forgot how to drink!"  I suggested
maybe today would be a good day to wean (we had been talking about her
friends who had weaned) and she sat up, said "OK!" and that was it.

Simon is still nursing 5-6 times each day and insists on "oyyah one" when
he's done with the first (usually the right) breast.  He very rarely only
nurses from one side.

As an aside, I was pumping milk a few weeks ago for a friend in need, and I
was getting 3-5 ounces in a day.  Neither side seemed to produce
significantly better than the other, though the right side is much bigger
and Simon prefers it.  When I have a tiny nursling of my own, my right side
produces 3x what the left does, on average.  I thought having Anna the
toddler with her stronger suck would help even out the two breasts, but as
it turns out, I think this is just my personal anatomy and my left side will
always be slower.

Hope this helps,
Diana in NY

             ***********************************************

Archives: http://community.lsoft.com/archives/LACTNET.html
Mail all commands to [log in to unmask]
To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail
To start it again: set lactnet mail (or [log in to unmask])
To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet or ([log in to unmask])
To reach list owners: [log in to unmask]