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Pretty much every kid has a favorite something: a favorite blanket, a favorite bedtime story, and definitely a favorite boob. You're not alone if you've ever suspected that your breastfeeding child prefers one boob over the other. Now, one midwife has spoken about the reasons your little one loves to play favorites.
Australian midwife Cath Curtin made an appearance on the popular Mama Mia's Year One podcast to answer a few questions many mothers have about their children's breastfeeding preferences.
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When it came to the subject of babies favoring breasts, Curtin offered a pretty simple explanation. According to her, a lot of it has to do with the fact that both breasts don't always lactate the same way. "A lot of women lactate better on one side," she said, per the Huffington Post. "For some women, one [breast] is really big and one is really small."
Many teach the belief that children nurse about the same amount on each breast, and for the most part, this isn't necessarily untrue. But for women whose children have a clear preference, it can be increasingly difficult to follow the standard "up to 20 minutes on each breast" guidelines for their newborns. This often leads to concerns that their children aren't getting enough milk. But Curtin says moms shouldn't be too worried about this. "I've looked after women whose breast tissue has only developed on one side and they've breastfed babies really well on the one side," she mentioned.
Karen Pryor, a behavioral psychologist, and Gayle Pryor, author of Nursing Your Baby, cowrote an article on Baby Center discussing the issue as well. In addition to confirming that it was completely normal for babies to prefer one breast over the other, they also shared that your body would adjust accordingly. "Your breasts will adjust to produce different levels of milk according to the frequency with which each is nursed," the article read.
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When addressing the advice many moms receive telling them to switch up breasts every feeding, Curtin said it's much more important for mothers to focus on their baby's needs. "Just ... respond to your baby, every baby is different," she said. "If your baby is happy, gaining weight, weeing, sleeping, you're doing a good job."
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