Nipple sucking

[Pippinsqueak]

How do I stop nipple sucking in an 8 week old? This has just started in the last week, I take her off and put her back on. It's worse at night and is making me sore. No issues breast feeding since birth.

You need to talk to a breastfeeding advisor about a good fix. Babies sometimes try and use you as a dummy if they are not very hungry or don't open their mouths well to fix beyond the sensitive part of your nipple

I think the op is right that you could probably do with some RL support but as it's the weekend most BFing Groups will probably not be running.

Have a read of this on latch from Dr Jack Newman and he has some useful videos here

If you call one of the BFing Helplines, you can talk to a fully trained BFC who can provide sone useful information and support. Have you got the numbers?

Have you found the Infant Feeding Section on MN yet too?

No I haven't got the numbers, I just don't understand how she could be great at feeding and then start messing around. Her sleep is all over the place too going from every 2-3 hrs to every 40 mins after an initial 3 hr sleep since this started.

She feeds for 5-10 mins then falls asleep then up again 40 mins later. All the while nipple sucking and then playing before falling asleep. I feel like she's not getting an effective feed hence why she's waking up, but I've been told she's too small to let her cry when she wakes.

During the day if she latches much better as she's fed every 2 hrs ish as she is napping/playing.

I thought things got better as they got older :(

No I haven't. The Helpline numbers are heree*.

The Helplines can get busy in the evenings so you'll stand a better chance if speaking to a BFC if you call now.

I think once you get her to open her mouth wide and latch properly, it might be worth trying sone breast compressions to get her interested and hopefully stop her messing around.

Once you've done that, hopefully the sleep will follow

You are right about not leaving her to cry at night too. If she's waking she does need feeding unfortunately. There are some good tips heree* on getting her to go to sleep and stay asleep. Hopefully these will help too

Sorry, I've got no idea why most of that is in bold

Thank you so much that last link was helpful

Glad you found it helpful