3months in and STILL struggling! Please help.

[IHaveADream14]

Hi! Pic of latch included...
I'm a ftn and dd is exactly 3 months. We had a tough start to bf and I exclusively pumped for the first 5 weeks of her life. One day she latched and I've been ebf since then. The problem is, I am SO sore. My nipples are flat when they come out and they're very pink, sore and bruised. I've been to the bf support group so many times that they know us both by our first names by now, I've used shields, hired a lactation consultant, changed positions, the flipple technique, studied YouTube videos - everything - but the latch still isn't right. It's not deep enough.
Feeding isn't painful but perhaps a little uncomfortable and dd is gaining weight and thriving. I can hear her drinking the milk and she seemed very satisfied after each feed. The thing is, as much as i love feeding her, I don't know how long I can go on for. I'm in agony and it's making me so miserable.
Having observed her feeding really carefully, I don't think her bottom lip/jaw is open wide enough. I wait until her mouth is wide like a yawn but I think she must clamp down as soon as the nipple is close rather than taking in some of the Areola. Any tips to improve this? I'm on the verge of desperation!
Thanks x

Didn't want to read and run

It does look like her bottom lip isn't turned out or far down enough

Did it work better with nipple shields? They were a life saver for me, used them for over 2 years!

Are your nipples flat before or just after? I sometimes pumped for a few seconds to enlarge my nipple before feeding

I can’t offer any advice because I’m at exactly the same stage of breastfeeding as you but wanted to say you’re doing amazingly and hopefully this will bump the post for others who are more knowledgable to see and help.
Depending on where you live and how easy it is for your to get further afield is there another breastfeeding group you could go to for a change? Might be a long shot but I got advice from quite a few different midwives and BF support workers in the early days and although the advice was more or less the same they may have other tips/techniques or advice for you to try.
Good luck xxx

@jackstini thanks so much for your reply. I'm going to try the nipple shields again on the next feed I think because the last feed was very sore.

@Browniee thank you. I'm so proud of how far we've come. Just desperately want to sort it so that we can start to enjoy breastfeeding now! It really has been the most difficult thing I've ever done!! I'll look into other support groups. I feel like the one I've been going to are getting a bit fed up and frustrated with me. Their last advice was to buy a sparkly necklace to keep dd focused on feeding because they seem to think that now she's older she's more distracted with things around her. Latch is fine apparently...?!

@IHaveADream14 you should be proud and you’re an amazing mum for persevering!
I really hope you manage to get to a stage where you can enjoy it. Even though you might feel like you’ve exhausted all avenues, keep asking for support until you’re happy xxx

Yeah her bottom lip isn't flared like the top one. I'm guessing you've tried all sorts of different feeding positions?

Has she been checked for tongue tie? There is an Australian lady called the milk meg who is a breastfeeding guru. You can get online consultations with her. Might be worth a try. Her mantra (among others) is that if a latch doesn’t feel right, it doesn’t matter what it looks like - something’s not right!
I’d also say that as they get older they do get more efficient at feeding and better at latching.
Well done for getting so far!