early days latch problem

[TwistedWitch]

Help. Ds is only 3 days old and i'm struggling to get him to open his mouth wide enough to get a decent latch. I bf my eldest boy and don't remember having this problem,now i'm worried that if my nipples get really sore I'll end up ff. Any advice would be much appreciated thank you.

Congratulations TwistedWitch

Are you seeing your mw today? She should be able to give you some pointers to getting a good latch.

In the meantime, you could have a look at biological nurturing

If it doesn't feel right, don't forget you can unlatch and then try again until it feels comfortable.

Hope you can get some RL help today.

You can try making a big wide mouth at him for him to copy as that is supposed to help them learn.

Not being able to gape wide can be a sign of tongue tie so get someone competent to check for that (someone competent may not = MW). Or it could just be a baby who hasn't yet learned to gape wide!

Post back if any other probs, sore nipples etc.

And congratulations!

Congratulations on your new arrival.

Is your LO opening their mouth at all? I was surprised at how fast you have to latch them on once the mouth is open, so maybe try bringing him to breast a little quicker if you can. Don't be afraid of being too quick. Also do keep trying and relatching until it's comfortable.

Some discomfort is quite normal whilst you get the hang of it. Severe pain and bleeding are signs you need more support. Find a RL support group if you can, it does help to talk to other mums who have been through it and found ways of coping.

Thank you all. hopefully midwife will be round soon and i'm sure there's a support group at local health centre. In the mean time i'll have to try to get my speed up to catch him when his mouth is really wide. Can't wait to see my toddlers face when he sees mummy pulling 'open wide' faces at the baby .

I was advised to tilt my nipple up by pushing on the outer circle at the top (if that makes sense) as my dtds were prem and really struggled. tbh I thought I would struggle on until 12w and then go for bottles but at 12w they finally got the hang of it so we've kept going. Good luck x

PrincessS- it sounds like you are describing the flipple. The (russian) animation is in the link.

Also, some suggest waiting for that moment just before the mouth is really wide. That way, in the time it takes you to move him on, the mouth is at full gape.

Thanks to this I just gave biological nurting a go and it seems to work for us!

My LO doesn't really do the wide gape either and she tends to kind of hoover in my nipple until it's deep enough. With this because of gravity, she was deep enough right at the start!