Anyone with tiny boobs who can give advice on latching

[Clydesdaleclopper]

I'm really struggling with latching on my 6 week old. I've had to stop again and just pump as he's done so much damage to my nipples. I've seen a couple of bf counsellors but that hasn't really helped. The problem is that I've got very small boobs and most of the advice given in books, websites etc is impossible to implement as I can't get my baby in the 'correct position'. I've tried letting him latch himslef which just results in nipple sucking. Please help

[Bambiraptor]

Hi, sorry you are having a hard time. I haven't any personal experience of this but I have always been led to believe that boob size has nothing to do with successful bfing.

Hopefully someone will write a response who has had the same situation as you. If not I would try the bfing counsellors again.

Sorry no help, but you do have my sympathies, I do know that bfing in the early weeks is very hard but it does get easier.

[ProfessorGrammaticus]

My boobs are tiny (AA) but it still worked ok - what do you think is the trouble with Ds's position? All I can really remember is "nose to nipple" tbh!

A friend of mine used nipple shields, then cut holes in them with nail scissors to wean the LO off them again, once things had healed. If you've done 6 weeks then you can obviously do it - take heart from that.

[verylittlecarrot]

Hi Clydesdaleclopper, sorry things are difficult. You'll get loads of support here on mnet - you've come to the right place!

I am not an expert, so I'm bumping this for you, as there are some fab experts on here that will help. In the meantime though, a few suggestions...

Has the baby been checked for tongue tie? This can make feeding difficult and is easily remedied.

Do you feel the bf counsellors were properly able to help you get the latch better when you were being helped by them, and did they stay with you for the whole feed? (or did you find yourself thanking them politely and thinking to yourself that they hadn't really been able to help?) Please don't give up seeking help; not everyone is able to identify and assist with problems satisfactorily and it's not unknown to have different people give different advice, so keep asking for assistance until you feel things are better.

Are you able to feed lying down? I found this really helped, it took some of the pressure off, and freed my hands up to make little adjustments to position if needed as I wasn't trying to support the weight of the baby too.

How would you describe the problem with positioning? You mention that you can't get the baby in the right position because of your small boobs - are you able to explain what happens?

You may have seen these already, but have you watched these videos? I found them really helpful with positioning. I've got ickle boobs too, and very pale areolas, which makes it difficult to see whether the baby has the ideal "assymetric latch" with more of the areola taken into the mouth below rather than above the nipple. However once the initial latch positioning was in place, (nose to nipple, tummy to mummy, big wide mouth and assymetric latch) I focused less on whether things looked like the textbooks, and more on if things felt comfortable, if baby had a wide mouth with loads of [my tiny] breast in mouth, if I could see or hear swallowing.

I'm sure an expert will be along with some real advice soon, but in the meantime hang in there, things can be sooooo difficult sometimes in the early days and you are doing incredibly well to persevere.

[Tea71]

Hi there.
I have very small breasts (in fact, I'm flat chested and never had the need to wear a bra b4 getting pregnant), but have been bfeeding exclusively for 5 months.
Didn't find the literature given to me about breast feeding v helpful because they always assume all mothers have huge boobs.
The important thing for me was to support baby's head, bring to nipple and not worry about how much nipple and/or boob was going in baby's mouth. Other thing was to make sure I was comfortable and relaxed otherwise baby would not latch on.
Also, found it much easier when I ignored all around me who said I was doing it wrong, or that not enough breast was in baby's mouth, etc.
You say that when he latches himself it "just results in nipple sucking".My baby only latches on to nipple, but taht doesn't mean she isn't get any milk. Doesn't really matter if they just got a mothful of nipple an no boob, as long as they get milk IMHO.
Hope this is useful to you.
Good luck!

[neolara]

Small boobs here too and none of the pictures I found in books and leaflets really showed me what to do because all those women seemed to have huge breasts which meant their babies were in different positions to mine. All very confusing.

I think three things really helped me. The first was getting a breast-feeding cushion because it helped DD to stay in the correct place once I had finally got her to suck. I know that this doesn't make a lot of difference for some people, but for me it did. Secondly, I got advice from a great midwife who sat with me repeatedly latching DD on and then getting me to take her off if it still hurt. If you feel you BF counsellors were no good, please try to find someone else. There WILL be someone who can help. Thirdly, at around 6 weeks, my DD just suddenly "got it" and worked out how to latch on properly herself. I don't think I did anything in particular, but maybe she just got more alert and determined to feed. Hopefully this will be the case for you.

Really hope you can find someone to help you work it out. It can be bliming hard at first, but if you manage to work through it, BF becomes a really lovely thing to do with your baby.

By the way, amazing videos, VLCarrot

[verylittlecarrot]

ooo yes - the cushion. If one's boobs are small, then they are usually several inches higher than the average norks, which means you often have to hold the baby higher. I found that once I had got a good firm bf cushion that took the baby's body up to the right height this helped a lot. I can recommend the hideously expensive but effective "my brest friend", which has made things much more comfy.

[Beenleigh]

not much help I'm afraid, but from one small breasted woman to another, good luck, and it is possible!
x

[CarGirl]

I had tall heavy babies and the best thing for me was ditching the cushions and literally having the baby sat upright on my knee - have no idea why it worked but it di. Try feeding laying down too - you don't have to support their weight out and you've got 2 hand free to get them off if the latch is painful.

With all 3 of mine I ended up seeing a cranial osteopath as they just didn't open their mouths wide enough to get a pain free latch, the treatment worked for us.

[GreebosWhiskers]

I have very small boobs & am still bfing 11.5mo ds. I used to find it easiest lying down with ds flat on the mattress so I had both hands free to help get us both comfy (I still prefer this way but now that he's mobile & very easily distracted he does tend to leg it up the bed with me yanking him back by the ankles)

If your nipples are a bit ragged Lansinoh cream is fantastic & I agree that small boobs are usually higher so a support cushion would be a good idea too. There was woman at toddlers whose boobs were so big she could just lift up her top & lie her newborn acroos her knees.

Well done for making it this far - at least you know you can do it.

[Katsma]

I second the My Breast Friend cushion. Found that when I was more relaxed, things became easier.

Also, felt better when I'd tried expressing manually and found that what felt like just nipple sucking actually resulted in a lot of milk flow.

And if it's any consolation, it means you won't end up with 'spaniels ears' when you've finished bfing, unlike other ladies who are more generously endowed

[Clydesdaleclopper]

The problem is when he is just nipple sucking it is absolute agony and I've ended up with very badly cracked nipples. I think part of the problem is that my tummy is still very big so when I put him tummy to tummy in order for him to reach my nipple he has to tilt his head forward rather than back as they show in the diagrams so he doesn't get a big mouthful of aureola.

[naturopath]

I also had a huge tummy at first but I just kind of rested him on it. Then again, all bodies are different.

[claireybee]

Yep, use a cushion or something to help lift baby up to correct height. Make up your own positions, I found having dd upright in a sling was a good one (but she did have good head control from birth so maybe not ideal if your baby is quite floppy) To feed lying down i used to have to lie over dd which kinda defeated the point of it being the lazy way...!

[naturopath]

claireybee, I do both of these positions as well