Breast feeding a small baby

[Lyns22]

Hi girls. I'm just looking for a bit of help.
My daughter is almost 2 weeks old and ebf however she has a very small mouth and latching on is proving quite difficult. She is getting enough but taking ages to feed as she is only getting the nipple in her mouth. It's really sore, how do I get her to open her mouth wider or is this just the way it has to be? Mw just told me to express for a few months (?!) till she got bigger. I have tried to express but not the lovely bonding experience I had hoped for!
Many thanks for any advice you may have x

I breastfed my 3lb 12 oz tiny DS using nipple shields - they made it so much easier - might be worth a try? You can get them in Boots / asda etc

I breastfed both of mine when they were about four pounds. It definitely wasn't as comfortable when they were little, but being small shouldn't necessarily mean a latch so poor that you are in agony. Can you get to see a BF counsellor in person?
Things will get better, she is growing every day! Well done for persevering so far!

That's not exactly supportive from your mw is it? So sorry you've been told that.

Are there any Bfing Support Groups you can get too? They should be able to observe a complete feed, check Lo for tongue tie and help you with your latch.

Have you seen these videos and try googling biological nuturing too

God bless nipple shields! X

DS also won't open his mouth very wide which is a sign of tongue tie I discovered. Have you had this ruled out?

I had this prob when lo was newborn. Shallow latch, wouldn't open mouth wide, nibbled rather than those deep motions of jaw that indicate deep sucking. Nipple carnage for me + 2 bouts of mastitis. Turns out she has tongue tie - was missed by mw, hv and a couple of breastfeeding supporters and when I still suspected it and went to GP he refused to give a referral cos she was gaining weight ok and producing requisite wet/dirty nappies. So, I took her to an excellent private bf drop-in and tt clinic in NW London where she was immediately diagnosed with a thick and tight 80% tt. Once we got that sorted out (needed snipping twice - at 5, then 7 wks) things improved dramatically.

So, short answer is don't rule out tt until you've had it checked by a tt expert, and it pays to go private if you can (snip cost us £100 - best £100 I've ever spent!)

Ill get them to check for tt, sounds like it might be! X

My DS was 5lbs and it was a struggle at first! His mouth was tiny and it took me a while and quite a bit of help to get enough boob in his mouth for it not to hurt. Got there after a couple of weeks though. It has taken us a lot longer than bigger babies to become efficient and he fed quite literally for hours each day until around 12 weeks when it suddenly got very easy : )

Get someone to help with your latch -I found if i really pushed as much as i could from under my nipple then kind of flicked the nipple in last that it really helped! Goood luck.