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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

Original poster

How can I get him to open his mouth wider?

31 replies

Wholelottalove · 31/12/2010 18:01

Hello, my third post this week. DS is now 17 days and has finally started to latch on and feed from the breast. He is gulping and clearly getting some milk (wet and dirty nappies fine), although we are also still doing some top ups of EBM via bottle, especially at night.

My main issue is his latch is quite shallow and towards the end of the feed he slides back and chews on my nipple. When it comes out of his mouth it has a ridge accross the top of it and is quite sore.

I find it very hard to get him on because he really does not open his mouth in a nice wide gape but makes a snatch for the breast like it is a bottle. However with a bit of wriggling when he is on I can manage a reasonable latch although not entirely pain free (DD fed like this for a while too).

How can I encourage him to open his mouth nice and wide? He tends to get very frustrated if I keep trying him for too long or keep taking him off to try and relatch and will scream until we give him a bottle of EBM.

Am I doing the right thing letting him feed with a less than perfect latch? I am just so pleased he is going on at all it feels more important to get him feeding then keep working on his latch as long as he is getting enough to eat.

OP posts:
cinpin · 31/12/2010 18:21

Try to get him to latch on properly otherwise you will get sore. Put your little finger besidre your breast and then he will open wider and then you can slide finger out. Also try feeding laying down. Hope this helps

NineLadiesDancingThroughLife · 31/12/2010 18:30

I used to look at DD and do a wide open mouth and say 'aaaaaah' at her until she copied me - and she did! Twas on the advice of the hospital lactation consultant/bf expert. All the other mums on my ward did a Hmm face, but it really worked.

You will probably feel silly, but for a couple of weeks I did it at every feed and she finally got the hang of it.

The other thing I did was to kind of squeeze my nipple into a flatter shape to help DD get further onto it, which also really helped. You have to hold the baby's head with the opposite hand to the boob they're going on, then use the hand on the boob side to do the nipple bit. That really helped too.

Good luck, I know how hard it is when you're trying to correct an almost-right latch Smile

MoonUnitAlpha · 31/12/2010 18:33

Have you tried teasing him by rubbing your nipple on his top lip?

TruthSweet · 31/12/2010 19:26

NineLadies - I did that with DD1 who was bottle fed for 8 weeks and that is how we got her to latch - me saying 'aaaaah' with my tongue over my teeth (she usually latched with her tongue back in her mouth like she did for bottles). Glad I wasn't the only nutty one!

Monkeytoo · 31/12/2010 19:31

I agree with the rubbing your nipple on his top lip then be ready to guide him on really quickly at the moment where he opens the widest. Also once he's latched on then you may be able to sort of wiggle in a bit further. You can also flip down his bottom lip a bit further with your index finger gentle to give him more of that 'fishy' mouth shape that might help. You are doing the right thing perservering even when the latch isn't perfect. It's not great in the sense that it can be painful for you but as you carry on his latch will likely improve.

Monkeytoo · 31/12/2010 19:31

Sorry should have added - the 'finger flip' bit is for when he's already latched :)

HermyaTheRedNosedReindeer · 31/12/2010 21:04

Nineladies I did this as well, although I was told to say 'open' and then stick my tongue out. DS did copy me, but I did get a few looks.

KellyBronze · 31/12/2010 21:12

When latching him on you can try pressing your breast just above the aerola with 2 fingers so that the nipple points upwards at a steep angle. once he get on, let go. It is ensure that he gets more breast tissue from below the breast than above the breast.

CarGirl · 31/12/2010 21:16

mine struggled with opening their mouths wide enough, took them to cranial osteopath - they all had tight temple areas and once they'd been worked on the latch was much much improved (much to my relief!)

Original poster
Wholelottalove · 01/01/2011 09:53

Thank you for all the suggestions. I am doing the 'open wide' thing with him and sticking out my tongue, although he's not copying yet - he is looking bemused though!

I also tried the nipple sandwhich an managed to latch him once overnight. He has guzzled a lot of EBM in bottles overnight which suggests he is not getting enough in the day off the breast?

Just latched him even though he wasn't massively hungry and he latched quite well with the nipple sandwhich like you describe kellybronze but then pulled himself back after a few big gulps to the end and fell asleep when I took him off.

monkeytoo I tried to ease his lip down but I think he thinks am trying to take him off so clamps down hard with gums.

cargirl that's interesting, I might look into that.

This is so frustrating! I didn't bank on having feeding issues with DS as well as DD.

OP posts:
ReshapeWhileDamp · 01/01/2011 10:23

WLL, this is our problem too! I was trying to get him to copy me sticking my tongue out, but he's usually too fixated on going for the boob to notice.

I'm going to try some of the other tips here. Thanks! Smile

Original poster
Wholelottalove · 01/01/2011 10:34

RWD let us know how you get on. I'm going to go to some BF groups next week hopefully and get some more hands on help. Also thinking of going back to the LC although it is a long drive and money is a bit of an issue atm.

OP posts:
onimolap · 01/01/2011 10:34

I'm pretty sure this wasn't advised, but I used to open DS's mouth wider by pressing lightly on his chin as he approached.

Megletitsnow · 01/01/2011 10:44

My DD was like this, she never got the hang of opening her mouth wide and she bf for 5 months.

I used to flatten my breast and 'post' it in her mouth so she got a decent mouthful.

Original poster
Wholelottalove · 01/01/2011 10:58

Meglet - did you get sore/did she gain ok like that? I think I sort of did that last time an latch was less ouchy.

OP posts:
Megletitsnow · 01/01/2011 11:17

I never got sore actually, I think I had wedged enough breast in her mouth to prevent it happening. It certainly felt well positioned.

She gained really well, she didn't lose any weight in the first few days and just shot up the weight charts [feeder emoticon].

It was a faff having to help her latch on all the time, but it wasn't hard to do. She just needed a little help.

Her speech and eating have all been fine, so I don't know why she wasn't able to open her mouth very wide as a young baby.

ReshapeWhileDamp · 01/01/2011 11:53

Meglet - that's what I did with DS1 too. He thrived, and I didn't have any of this sore nipples business I've got now.

Damn, I'm sitting here with DS on, and forgot to try any of the above and he's well into his feed now. /braces self for recriminations and takes him off to re-latch.

islandbaby · 01/01/2011 13:16

Oh, I am so in the same boat, and I am SORE!

I feel like I've tried all these suggestions and none are working. 'Posting' my nipple into his mouth seemed to be working (along with tipping his head back on the approach), but now my breasts are just killing me.

I have been expressing and bottle feeding to give myself a rest physically and emotionally because it often becomes stressful for all of us, but I think that the easiness if taking from a bottle nipple is just making him less inclined to open his mouth.

Have managed to time having a really shit time of this with the holidays, so no help from the pros until tuesday...

MrsSnaplegs · 01/01/2011 13:40

wlland rwd I have same issue with DS and as you know have been battling thrush this week, DS has poor latch, is nipple feeding so it has been sore to point of tears but a couple of days off by expressing has settled things down more. Advice here is same as I had from BFing support worker so nothing further to add except you are not alone! Luckily he is gaining weight well so something is going in!! 7lb7 on 9 th now 10lb2 2 days ago!

Original poster
Wholelottalove · 01/01/2011 13:44

Sorry for those in the same boat although relieved it's not just us in the nicest possible way. Well done for the great weight gain MrsS Sometimes it gets easier when their mouths get bigger I think?

We have had a slightly better feed where he latched nicely although went back to end of nipple again at end when asleep. I only did one thing differently which was to feed him 20mls or so of EBM in an open bottle like a cup. He had to open his mouth and put tongue forward to lap at it which seemed to encourage him so when I replaced cup with breast he did a widish gape which I managed to catch. Going to see if it works again at next feed but wondering if should try switching totally to cup rather than bottle. Bit messy though. Don't know if you might want to consider it island as alternative to bottle.

OP posts:
KellyBronze · 01/01/2011 14:41

try this on page 9 (of the actual document) which is what I was trying to describe further below.

KellyBronze · 01/01/2011 14:45

PS: it is the page titled Attachment: Exaggerated Attachment. Kinda confusing as the pdf page is 10 but the booklet page is page 9.

DayShiftDoris · 01/01/2011 15:23

Exaggerated attachement for defo would really help

Bit more bizarre but feed with him sat up at the breast - sounds odd but all the principals are the same - tummy to mummy, nose to nipple, nice and close but you sit him upright and that makes the jaw naturally drop open due to gravity - it's a position used for babies who hold their tongues up but might work for this too.

Original poster
Wholelottalove · 01/01/2011 17:56

Thank you for the link kelly have given it a go and had a quite good feed so going to continue. I can see we're making progress so hoping it continues to get better.

OP posts:
InvaderZim · 01/01/2011 18:08

OK, that's an amazing, informative leaflet! Why oh why don't they publish that anymore??