help - running out of ideas with poor latch

[janx]

My 10 week old big boy (14lb) is still not latching on properly - he won't open his mouth wide enough and I am in a lot of discomfort. I have spoken to so many midwifes bf councellors etc and had a lot of help - but he just won't open wide. Have tried many different positions - he is not tongue tied. I feel so furstrated as I know how pleasurable bf can be. Fed my daughter for a year with no problems. He is gaining wieght - it is me that is suffering.
Have tried expressing, but he hates bottles. Have tried breast shields but he gets really peed off and cries and cries so that I end up taking them off. Any bright ideas - will pay vast amounts of money to solve it
Apolgies if you read all this before from me - I just need to know I am not alone and that there is hope for a comfortable feed

ok this is one that isn't in the books...by chance I stood up to feed DS2 and my breast happened to hang differently!! and I happened to hold him a bit differently. That's when he started to latch on properly on that side, as it happened.

Other ideas:

Does he open his mouth wide to yawn/cry?

Doing games which involve you and him opening your mouth really wide and wiggling your tongue.

Have you tried a cranial osteopath? Some babies won't open their mouths because they jaws won't let them - whether it's due to discomfort or the jaw being out of line.

It may be worth getting it checked out, and either way cranial osteopathy is recommended by some as a must-have for any new baby to sort out any niggles left over from pregnancy and birth.

Took DS to one two weeks ago as he was having terrible trapped wind. Although the change didn't happen overnight, he's much much better now - I felt that £25 was worth it!

Hi
Will try standing up - forgot to say that he possibly has a high arch palatte according to one bf specialist.
He can open his mouth wide as he does it to yawn and cry. Am going to see a cranial osteopath in two weeks time. I took him when he was a few weeks old, but for wind problems - at that time I just thought I had sore nipples.
Please keep your ideas coming - will try anything

DW had this problem. There's a way of slightly manipulating your nipple to compensate for the palatte - instead of offering it straight, you squeeze down with the thumb behind it, to direct it upwards slightly. Not sure that makes sense, but perhaps your BF clinic can help.

hi janx, think i might have seen your earlier posts, sorry you're still having trouble. i'd second the cranial osteopath advice - my ds also wouldn't open his mouth to feed though he was able to for yawning and yelling , but the CO did get it sorted. any chance you can go any sooner than 2 weeks?

Thanks - have tried nipple direction - am off tho a bf group this morning.
Chasingbutterflies - have taken your advice and got an another appt this afternnon - different osteopath, but that doesn't matter - wish me luck

don't know if this will help but it's another suggestion for an 'odd' position dd and i stumbled across. i sit on an upright chair [mumsnetting!]. dd sits upright straddling one of my legs, facing me and latches that breast. It's a modinfication of one i was shown at bf group and dd loves it.

Went to the osteopath this afternoon and she thinks he has tightness around his neck which might explain his reluctance to open wide
Susiemj - you must be a tall lady - that position would not work for me

I have a little baby

ah - I have a porker

janx - really good luck with it, and well done for sticking with it so far.

I had a similar experience with ds, unfortuntely even after osteo treatment (ds got his head wedged during birth and didn't open wide because of that apparently). What finally helped me was finding nipple shields that were a really good fit, so that he was getting milk quickly. Don't know if this is true for your ds, but with mine, he got frustrated because he wasn't getting milk really quickly. So, the right fit of shield + squeezing my boob to fill the shield with milk before I let ds loose on it cut down his frustration.
Then I just had to wait (huh, THAT sounds easy in retrospect) until he learned to open wide. (One bf specialist I spoke to thought it could just be the size of his mounth/head, and that he needed to 'grow into' my nipple.) Whichever, at about 16 weeks, it all just clicked and got better.

I realise that this was a very particular set of circumstances so might not be relevant for you.. but I hope it helps in some way.

Hi Janx, hope the osteopathy starts to help - really did make a big difference with our ds (who is a porker too )

Hi Spink - what nipple shields did you use? I have avent ones, but spoke to someone who said the mothercare ones were better. I will keep going as sure to god his little mouth must get bigger one day. Caught my three year old saying to him - open wide like this (as she opened her mouth)
Chaisng butterflies - I hope so too - am going back next monday -

I told myself that about DS2's mouth growing, it just must grow, what else can it do?? And it did What a lovely helpful 3yo you have.

yep, they were the mothercare ones. Do you know that the avent ones come in two sizes too? You might need to try different types to get the right fit?