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Infant feeding

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

Nipple agony, poor suck and awkward latch! HELP

3 replies

aetw · 10/11/2018 15:11

My daughter is 3 weeks old and I have been exclusively bf her. Because of the way my friends have discussed breastfeeding in the past and there move up the bottle I thought it was completely normal for it to be painful.
I can only describe what I’m experiencing as passing glass through my nipples. She has an almost nonexistent bottom lip and bites hard on my nipple during some feeds. My nipples go white a wedge shaped😩!!!
I went to the feeding consultant on Friday who said it was the latch and a poor suck from the baby. She’s bitting to compensate. She put on loads of weight but is feeding every hour on the hour for 20 mins a time. She just gets exhausted. She doesn’t have tongue tie.
To make matters worse I went down with Mastitis on Monday and have been on antibiotics since Wednesday. I have been pumping but not clearing it. I’m at my wits end because she gets so angry when feeding. Punching and crying.
Any advice appreciated!!! Help!!!
Anxious first time mother.

OP posts:
PaulHollywoodsSexGut · 10/11/2018 15:17

Get her checked throughly for tongue tie. Thoroughly, not just a finger in the mouth and a peek from the HV.

My DDs went undiagnosed for a week, they trimmed it, it grew back, stayed undiagnosed for 4 weeks, clipped again but by then it was too late and I’d moved onto bottles and formula.

AssassinatedBeauty · 10/11/2018 15:21

If you haven't seen it already, there is a technique called the exaggerated latch or flipple. It's to get a deeper latch. Also, it could be worth trying nipple shields as well, if she will accept them.

If you need to, let your nipples heal and express then bottle feed for a little while. You can get teats like the Medela Calma ones which can help to encourage her breastfeeding suck.

aetw · 10/11/2018 20:45

Thanks all. I will check the exaggerated latch or flipple technique out. I tried the Medea Calma bottle and her suck was so poor she just couldn’t get anything out. Poor thing, she was so confused.
I have had her throughly checked for tongue tie, which she didn’t have, by the breastfeeding specialist and a fair few midwives. I really believe it’s to do her lower lip/jaw. My Mil says that my husband was the same.
I do feel so guilty about it all tho, like I’m failing her and we are only three weeks in! Arghhh!

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