Tips please! 'Lipstick nipple'!

[flymo79]

I know this is to do with a shallow latch. Dd used to have an excellent deep latch but in recent days/week has become increasingly prone to slip down. We have had to give her formula due to slow weight gain, now I think she has started trying to drink from me like she does from the bottle. Very painful and leaves me with compressed nipples... Have looked at the dr jack Newman videos but feel I am doing everything right, she just won't play ball.... Frustrated and sore. I spent all day Saturday feeding and trying to get this right only to end up in tears and in agony from the re-latching. Anyone who has got over this please let me know how !!

Have you tried the exaggerated latch?

flymo, find real life help from someone who can observe you feed.

Exaggerated latch is worth trying.

It might also be worth trying baby-led attachment - you can find info on this by searching biological nurturing, or motherbaby dance, or indeed baby-led attachment.

Or you can try different ways to hold your baby.

But personal help is invaluable.

If your baby is still young you could get midwifery help. Or ask for an appointment with a local breastfeeding specialist. Or call any of the bf helplines - see if there is a bf counsellor who can see you.

Hope this helps and you get good help soon.

Thanks both, biological nurturing gives some relief to the traumatised part, but doesn't improve depth of latch... Am trying to find real life support, it is mostly peer support around here but have left a message with the infant feeding specialist at hospital

Hello. Make sure you get your LO checked for tongue tie if you haven't already as lipstick nipples is a classic sign, or at least was for us! We had DS's cut at 6 weeks which made a massive difference and have never had the lipstick nipples again!

Thanks fionn, who checked? I have had two midwives and a dr check, all say none there

www.drghaheri.com/blog/2014/3/22/rethinking-tongue-tie-anatomy-anterior-vs-posterior-is-irrelevant

Thanks star girl, who should I be getting to check for TT??

I was told he was tongue tied in hospital immediately after birth but I had to pay for an independent midwife to come and divide it. I'm in the Essex area so can provide her details if you're in the same sort of area.

I was told by a hospital midwife that DS's TT wasn't bad enough to interfere with his feeding, and a pediatrician that he didn't have one at all. I got one of the nicer community midwives to refer me anyway and the specialist recognized that he had one immediately, it was divided and DS's latch improved straight away. He started opening his mouth wide and sticking his tongue out in ways he had never done before.

Thanks both, not near Essex Fionn, I'm in sussex, but this is helpful