7mo deliberately goes into a shallow latch?

[Fedfedfedup]

Hi all

My 7mo has been doing this for a few months- I'll latch her on normally but very quickly she will go into a shallow one and start pulling her head back with my nipple still in her mouth. She won't pull off completely but if she does accidentally, she will quickly latch back on. Pretty much the entire feed goes on like this. If she doesn't pull back, she grabs fistfuls of my boob and pushes that back, again putting her into a shallow latch. She is still sucking and I can see milk around her lips but I don't understand why she does this? My nipples are pain free but it does hurt when she claws at my boobs. I regularly check her mouth and there are no signs of thrush (I on the other hand am on and off fluconazole and can never seem to shake off the thrush completely!). She appears to have been teething for an ETERNITY but surely this can't affect every. Single. Feed. Surely??? The only time she does latch on and feed properly is when she's asleep on the boob. She is the same on the bottle- on and off constantly.

She had her tongue tie revised early on which made a huge difference to the excruciating latch she had as a newborn.

Has anyone experienced this before? What could it be? Any ideas? It's driving me nuts and she gets frustrated after a while too. She is combi fed and I'm pumping to up my supply. I try not to wait until she's famished to nurse her, but she is literally like this every feed.

[Fedfedfedup]

Bump...hoping someone might have some wisdom on this

[Macaroni46]

I don't know why she's doing this but maybe you'd both be better off stopping with the breast feeding and moving to formula? You've done 7 months and there's a lot to be said for happy mum and baby.

[Harriscap]

Babies do this, faff about. It's normal.

[TwittleBee]

Oooo my little boy did this too at around 7 months and I remember asking in my antenatal groupchat about it; about 2/3 of the BF babies were also like this around 7 month mark. I wonder if its something to do with further upping supply as they become more active? Or they're just experimenting. We all assumed teething at the time but 3 months on and I'm still waiting for my one to get any teeth!

[LillyLeaf]

No words of wisdom but my 8.5month old DS does this. It drives me crazy. I'm not sure how much longer I can BF him for but he's EBF and I don't want to introduce a bottle now and he's not quite there with a cup yet. He's on and off constantly and flings himself back then latches again. I have no idea if he's getting enough. He's also slapping my breast, scratches me and pulls my bra strap. It's exhausting. I'm just hoping it's a phase.

[TomRipley]

What @Harriscap said.

It's just messing around. My baby is 10 months now and actually did a sort of hand stand with his legs over my shoulder while latched on today.
The squeezing they do is because they realise it makes the milk flow faster.

Have you tried giving her something to play with while feeding? That might help

[Isthisnom]

My 7months old does this too, in fact I was just about to google it and came across your post! Sadly I’ve no idea why he is doing it but it’s incredibly annoying. He does seem to be getting enough milk though. Sorry I have no answers but you are not alone!

[ToffeeAppleCaramel]

I haven’t experienced this sorry but a few thoughts which you might already have tried.

Position - is she less comfortable now she is bigger. We had to adapt how I breast fed as my girl got bigger. Laid back breastfeeding / lying down feeds both work well for a deep latch for us.

Teething - I know you have said it’s been going on for a while but teething can. Is is equally bad from all angles, or if she has just had something to soothe her gums?

Distractions - is she pulling back and looking around? Is it the same if you feed her somewhere quiet, calm and dimly lit?

You might have tried all of this already and really sorry if so. I’ve had lots of up and downs with breastfeeding and it’s different every month but I have found advice from la leche league / milk making mama invaluable to keep going.

[Gwynfluff]

Take her to a quiet spot to feed. Then go back to perfect positioning. They get bigger and longer at this age so feeding on a bed or sofa so she is fully supported and doesn't have her feet dangling can help. If she pulls back push towards her and make sure she is fully tummy to mummy.

[Fedfedfedup]

Hi all, thanks for your tips. I am keen to continue BFing and have been advised to do so as DD hasn't agreed with any formula- even the hypoallergenic ones. I am still topping her up with a hypoallergenic formula though because her weight gain slowed down a few months back- around the same time she started being weird on the boob.

[Crunchiedelight]

My DD did this at probably the same age. Drove me bloody mad. It’s a phase but you can put boundaries in now. Keep re latching every time she pulls back and insist on a good latch. She’ll get it eventually.

[yikesanotherbooboo]

I totally agree with the faffing around comment.DC3 always had a shallow latch but was an efficient and happy breast feeder until he was 4 . My breasts were fine so I didn't interfere.

[shouldistop]

My 4mo has recently started faffing about at some feeds too. I find the ones he's 'best' for are first thing in the morning, bedtime and his overnight feed. I assume these are the times he's hungriest and just concentrating better.