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Why Babies Have A Favourite Boob When Breastfeeding

Yes, it can happen.
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While favouritism is a normal part of child development, it's funny to think that this can start as early as infancy. But believe it or not, some babies actually have a preferred boob when breastfeeding, and there's a perfectly logical explanation for this: one is just better than the other.

Midwife Cath Curtin, from Melbourne, Australia, explained this phenomenon on Mama Mia's Year One podcast. "A lot of women lactate better on one side," she said. "For some women, one [breast] is really big and one is really small."

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"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 added.

Behavioural psychologist Karen Pryor and Nursing Your Baby author Gale Pryor confirmed on Baby Center that it's perfectly normal for babies to prefer one boob over the other.

"This tendency is harmless," they wrote on the site. "Your breasts will adjust to produce different levels of milk according to the frequency with which each is nursed."

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They also noted that there's a benefit to letting your little one finish one breast before switching: "He'll get the rich, high-calorie hindmilk that comes at the end of each feeding."

Breastfeeding mamas are advised to switch breasts with every new feeding, but midwife Curtin reminds us that it's more important to just listen to your baby. After all, fed is best.

"Just... respond to your baby," she said, "every baby is different."

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