newborn question - urgent

[MumNWLondon]

Hi, just went to visit my new niece born on thursday weighing 6lbs6oz. SIL really keen to BF. Although over the past few days she has been able to get her latched on, since last night breasts very full (she has big breasts anyway) and nipples much flatter than normal. Baby is finding it really hard to latch on.

I am going to get her RL help, and in the meantime I suggested handexpressing (in bath) to try and make breasts softer and nipples more normal shape before a feed, but any other suggestions?

When she hand expressed even though she is very full, milk still a bit organgy and coming out v slowly, just few drops.

I ended up hand expressing a little bit and then using something cold to perk my nips up (it's a bit porn star but whatever works).

With hand expressing my milk always came out slowly as I couldn't stimulate a decent let down. If the baby gets on I would imagine it will come faster.

Hope she gets it sorted.

She could try a warm flannel on her breasts before expressing

thanks and bumping for tiktok.....

I used the pump to express before a feed and latching was much easier. It was only necessary for a few days. hth.

Hand expressing, warm flannels ... Also make sure that nothing is restricting the frequency or length of feeds both day and night, put baby to breast as often as possible.

Expressing doesn't remove the milk as efficiently as a baby does hence the slow-seeming flow of milk, especially if she's just getting the hang of it.

Flat nipples suggest baby may not be latched on well. Maybe try a few different positions?

i had this on my left side, spoke to midwife who suggested using the rugby ball hold, which is easier for baby to latch on when breasts are quite full....hope she gets sorted :)

Mine tend to be a bit flat. When I was engorged I expressed some off to 'loosen' them up.

And I also had to squeeze my breast to shape it so DD could latch on every feed (until we stopped at 4 months), she never cracked latching on herself as she didn't open her mouth very wide.

second the rugby ball hold for full boobs!

This was my flat nips saviour

Nipple shields if it goes on too long?

can she kind of squeeze her nipple into the mouth, squeeze it to give it shape and make it easier to latch on to?

When I got very big breasts in week 1, I could see my small DS was just getting a small mouthful of available nipple - not the big mouthful of aureole and nipple he was supposed to be getting. He would 'pop' off and I could see he wasn't sucking efficiently, and was getting frustrated.

Does that sound similar to what your SIL is epxeriencing?

If yes - I found hand expressing really hard (still do), although I could just about squeeze some out under a hot shower, using both hands, one either side of breast. However, a manual pump worked really well (contrary to all advice I'd been given beforehand about how hard expressing with a pump was...).

I also found, once they were a little softer, that holding my breast with one hand in a specific way helped my DS latch on. It's like the 'hamburger hold', BUT vertical rather than horizontal. I wish I could draw you a picture! Basically, with my DS in the cross cradle hold, I gently squeezed my boob at the top (like I was testing a big avocado for ripeness, thumb one side, fingers the other). It made my hard wide boobs a little 'narrower' from top to bottom and helped my DS latch on. I really hope that description isn't confusing, sorry - can't think of a better way of putting it.

(Incidentally, I found the proper 'hamburger hold' totally useless. It made it harder for my DS to latch on, not easier.)

agree with those who say hand express a little. Use fingers in a C shape around nipple to shape it for easier latch. If baby is getting a bit frantic, possibly even express a few drops into a cup and use it to cup feed baby to calm them down enough to latch on properly

The most important thing is to get some real life help. Make a list of numbers - midwife, health visitor, la leche league, nct, and work your way down the list until you get the help your sil needs. *I know some HVs are shocking but mine was the saviour of my bfing dd.

By the way, can I just say how lovely you are for doing this for your sil.

Hey MumNWLondon, how's it been going?