Tips for correcting bad latch?

[FuzzyWuzzyWuz]

DD is 12 days old and I'm at my wit's end with trying to bf. She's lovely and doesn't want much but we just can't get the hang of latching on properly. I'm in agony during and after feeding. I've had extra support from my midwife, and I've been reading La Leche League stuff and the Mumsnet help pages to try and get tips on where we're going wrong.

Part of the problem seems to be that she doesn't open her mouth very wide, so my nipple doesn't go to the back of her mouth. However, when she gets so distressed at me taking her off to try again, I've been giving in to the pain and just dealing with it, until I'm so sore the thought of feeding makes me feel sick. I've tried skin to skin, I've tried the head bobbing thing, I've tried various holds, and last night DP went and bought ready made formula in desperation just to get something into her as I couldn't do it myself. I'm now afraid of her being hungry because I can't deal with the pain.

Can anyone give some tips on improving our latch technique please? I'm doing tummy to mummy, nose to nipple but it still hurts like hell. She gets frustrated and starts to scream like a banshee which reduces both me and DP to tears also.

Thanks in advance.

Can you see someone in person? A breastfeeding counsellor or specialist rather than a normal midwife?

Has anyone checked for tongue tie?

Not til Monday - my midwife is a bf supporter but she's off duty this weekend. Really just hoping someone's got some tips to get us through to Monday when she's back. I'll ask her about the tongue tie though.

Thanks,

I really feel for you, so wanted to reply, although I'm really no expert. I had latching problems too (although DS wasn't as distressed as your DD - I was the one who was stressing about it) until a friend told me to 'make a burger' of my breast by squeezing it (horizontally like you're wearing mittens iyswim) with one hand, and then guiding the baby's head onto the nipple by guiding her chin on the breast and then pivoting her head onto the nipple with the other hand. This wasn't perfect, but I persevered, and it got better every day, and now I've been breastfeeding for almost 7 months.

Hope this helps. You never know. Might be worth a try. Good luck finding something that does if not, and hope I haven't wasted your time with an over-simplified solution

Forgot to say, I was told at a bf meeting that you should do this vertically, but that never worked, and I never thought to try the horizontal method until a friend mentioned it.

Have you tried the Jack Newman website? It has lots of videos I think.

I'm of the personal opinion that sometimes nipple shields are better than not feeding at all. Would that help with the pain while you work on the latch?

Thanks all, some good ideas thank you. Will try hamburger tonight and look for nipple shields tomorrow.

Good luck, really hope it improves soon.

hi there im no expert but have managed to get to almost 4 weeks with ds2 after terrible bf experience with ds 1 which i wont bore you with here, but my top tips are, get real life support do you have any sure start childrens centres near you ? they usually have bf support groups sorry that's not much help on a sat night, but also a mw said to me it's like sucking on a balloon for the baby so the burger idea is good, and make sure you're not too full, if you are just hand express a bit off, (easier in the bath for me) pain killers paracetamol & ibuprofen and savoy cabbage leaves also help!

FWW please do not go down the route of nipple shields as there is no evidence to show they benefit improving the technique. You would be better to express and cup feed baby and rest nipples and go to a support group Monday to get help with attachment. Very often the position just needs slight modification and the latch sorts itself. Better still get an experienced midwife to check for a tongue tie and give you support. If your are nose to nipple with the head, shoulders and bottom in a line then try looking away with her close enough to self attach. Very often mums move at the last minute, being eager to get baby on, and that alters the position and therefore the latch. Make sure your shoulder doen't move forward too. Good luck

Hello, hope things are going better today. Someone else gave a link to this leaflet on a previous thread, and I think it's brilliant. Might the exaggerated attachment help you?
leaflet

Gah i'm with you - we are on day 18 and have been going to BF groups or had the MCA round on a daily basis for 9 days and we still can't get the latch right. You'd think by now we'd have done it even by accident! I can do it at the groups but as soon as we are home and its the middle of the night I don't have a clue how to get it right!

Today we are trying the rugby ball hold and fingers crossed it keeps working!

Cradle hold! Changed our feeding. You need to make sure to have the baby's head well back before latching on (if you start nose-to-nipple and then their head goes back this is right, but we found nose-to-nipple meant DD lunged for the nipple!) and then apply a firm pressure to the baby's back to pull them well into you.

You can also shift positiion slightly when they're on to make them more under your boob and off to the side to get the good deep asymmetric latch. Jack Newman's videos can help with what to look for, but we found cross-cradle (what he suggests) didn't work for us.

The lower lip flip (look on the askdrsears.com site for bfing help inc this) is also great.

Nipple shields are better than using formula for a break. They won't help with improving latch though.

Just wanted to offer my support really. Been in this position with both DDs and it's really hard physically and emotionally to keep going. I managed to get there in the end but took 12 wks first time and nearly 6 this time.

My tips would be get real life help asap as you plan to do and in the meantime...

Paracetamol for the pain and to help relax you a little. Try to forget all you have read and been told-I am sure a large part of my problem was trying to get the perfect latch and position and over thinking it especially once at the cracked bleeding nipples screaming baby stage.

Are you holding your baby close enough to you and with her face high enough? For me this means mouth level with nipple so baby is both high enough and far enough around my body (towards armpit) to comfortably reach the nipple. I also find leaning forwards while latching helps hugely-contrary to lots of professional advice

I would also say that when following latching tips remember that the entire process happens much faster and more fluently in real life. I have spent hours painstakingly waiting and attempting to engineer each little step when actually it works best when I stop thinking and just get the baby in the right place then push her forward when she gapes.

Sorry this is long, lastly, hang in there it does get easier especially as baby grows.

Good luck.

All, thanks so much for all your advice. MW came round today and DD is now back at her birth weight so we must be doing something right! She's given me some details of local support groups so I'm going to get in touch with them and see how it goes.

Hey, congrats on getting DD back to her birth weight already- there must be some very good stuff in there! DS was exactly the same re not opening his mouth wide enough and I have to say, nipple shields saved the day for us. I only used them for a day or two because I felt they were somehow stopping him from getting to the hindmilk, but they just seemed to sort out his latch (whilst giving my nips a well-needed break!). Maybe give them a try if all else fails?

Great news! Hope the pain eases up soon.