how to help baby

We had this problem too. My LC gave me some suggestions to help it get a bit better. You can try holding her in a football hold on that side... sometimes a baby gets used to feeling your body warmth on one side of her body, so when you nurse her on the other breast, that side of her body isn't getting your warmth, and she doesnt' like it. You can also try to start her nursing session on the first breast, just until she stimulates a letdown, and then sliding her over to the other side, again in a football hold.

It took a while, but my daughter did get the hang of nursing on both breasts. She still does prefer my left to a certain extent though, and for the first couple of months I had a recurrent plugged milk duct on the right side... I'm not sure if it was from her not nursing as often on that side, or if she didn't nurse on that side because there was something wrong with the duct that was causing the plugged ducts. Either way, she did grow out of it. If she flat-out refuses to nurse on that side, and you can't get her to do it no matter what, pump on that side so that you don't lose the supply in that breast. When she gets a little older (as in, a couple of weeks, not months), you can try to get her to take that breast again, and you don't want that side to have given up on her.

Good luck mama!

My 2 cents: Is the right side now so full that it's hard for her to get a good latch? Maybe pump it first, before you have her nurse on that side?
The other thought I have and I think this is a simple thing that's often overlooked: Apparently so many babies have a little neck trouble from the birth process (including my own - we're still working on his head tilt) and an early "chiropractic" or maybe "body-mind-centering" or "craniosacral" session can do miracles for nursing issues. We went for a session when ds was 7 days old and it changed everything. That's my experience anyway. Good luck and congratulations on your new baby!

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How long did it take her to grow out of it? Did you stop getting plugged ducts in that side also?

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I can't remember exactly when it stopped being a problem for her, because we had a lot of things going on and those first weeks are a blur (we moved when she was 11 days old)... but I know for sure that by 6 weeks she was nursing on both sides, and I want to say that it was before 3 weeks, but I'm not positive. I did stop getting plugged ducts in that side... by 4 months maybe? I'm sorry, I wish I could remember more definitely. For the first two months I had a plugged duct at least once a week, but after that it started to get much better, to where I'd get it once every two weeks and it was easy to massage out. I think that if I had pumped during the times that she was refusing the right side, I wouldnt' have gotten so many plugged ducts -- my breast was rarely well-drained, so it caused problems. I was also having some other issues with oversupply and such, so that more than likely contributed.

My DD is 12 weeks old and still prefers my right breast far and beyond the left one. When she was younger, the LC told me to always start on the side she didn't like. If she would take it, great. If not, she said don't stress too much and switch sides. Let baby nurse on preferred side first and then switch her back to the other side. It seemed to work a little bit. Now that she's older, I think my flow and let-down are more forceful on that side and she can't keep up. She does choke a litte (poor thing), but I just always stick a burp cloth in between us so that when she pulls off and spits the milk out, we both don't get soaked. I am just patient with her and, though it seems she spits out a lot of milk, she still seems pretty satisfied at the end of nursing on that side and I can tell I have emptied out well enough. My LC also mentioned that the slightest difference in nipple structure can cause this aversion or that baby could just have a really strong aversion to laying on one side vs. the other.

I have just resigned to the knowledge that it will always be like this on that side. Who knows - maybe she'll just "get it" one day and will not be bothered by that side anymore?

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Thanks for the response..that's encouraging!