Is it possible to have poor latch at 8 week even though it seems to have been fine since birth?

[PeckaRolloverAgain]

not sure what might be happening but dd doesnt seem to be able to latch as well as she did - seems like she isnt emptying the breast very efficiently, struggles to feed at all on the right side and keeps slipping off.

Could this be nipple confusion? she has the odd bottle of ebm (but has done since early on with no problems)

any ideas?

Ds1 was like this, it was tongue tie at first then after a few more weeks his latch would get worse. I just kept going back to the b/f counsellor. Last went when he was 4 months (15m now) Also I find that even now he chnges sightly with his latch from time to time and I revert back to basics like when he was tiny

Not much help though really

Wheres tiktok or hunker

I keep wondering about tongue tie, i keep seeing a line down the tip of her tongue that makes it look heart shaped iyswim? could this be tongue tie?

but like i say, she was fine at first!

its making breastfeeding a bit of a mare

I remember this pecka - think they get lazy (also my breasts were heryuge) A nice la leche lady came and checked for tongue tie etc and showed me how to get a better latch, how to ope n mouth etc. They were great.

that sounds like a description of a tongue tie re. heart shaped. My ds had tt and apparently their latch does get worse. ds started off fine and slowly found it harder and harder. He had the tt snipped at approx 6/8 weeks (forgetting already! )

Ds1's tongue tie was not found till he was 5 weeks old and he got worse at feeding over time, although the sniping of the tie didn't solve everything it helped alot.

Have you got a b/f counsellor near by? If not maybe contact one of the good ones like la leche and arrange a visit. A good gp with pediatric interest maybe able to advise?

really?? oh right.....hmmmmmm it hadnt occurred to me that it got worse over time.

my gp is rubbish and hv just suggests formula - are bf counsellors happy to come out or is it just for emergencies?

would that make sense why she seems to struggle less on a bottle?

I am not an expert at all and ds1 wouldn't take a bottle but it makes sense that they struggle less with a bottle as they don't use their tongue in the same way as b/f.

Where abouts are you pecka?

I'm in newcastle

Oh, down here in london/surrey there is st georges hosp and a fab doctor there who snips tongue ties, he does it on babies all over the area.

Also our local b/f counsellor drop in centre has a trained b/f councellor who snips them. Is there a drop in near you? If not I would say ring one of the b/f organisations and they should be able to help

ill look into whats available round here

do you know the reason why its ok at the start but gets progressively worse if it is tongue tie?

I don't know if that is actually the case but it seemed that way with ds1. Not sure why though.

Tiktok is floating around hopefully she will come and post

have a look through the info here it might help

Hi pecka, this may be tongue tie, but as an aside if it is not, you may find you just need to adjust your positioning. As dd gets bigger you may need to move her round a bit to allow for her growing size.

Im more and more convinced it is tongue tie - observing her tongue it definitely goes heartshaped when she attempts to poke it out an d the frenulum is right at the tip.

have the number of the hospital that clips tongue tie and have contacted a breastfeeding counsellor.

hope this is resolved soon as the bottles are increasing as dd is just completely refusing to breastfeed during the day now (bizarely will feed happily overnight)

Oh pecka, I hope this is sorted quickly for you. I saw a very quick improvement when ds1 had his snipped.

If you explain how difficult it is and dd is refusing to feed I am sure they can sort something asap.

Even with tongue tie babies can still breastfeed, it just takes a little more effort. A good councellor will get you breastfeeding no problem.

I found a group, I'm not sure how close it is to you, I know if it was Birmingham it could miles away from me. I'm assuming you don't mean the Newcastle in the Midlands, if you do tell me and I'll get you a different group lol

"Milky Way"
Breastfeeding Support Group
Creche Room at East End Pool,
Corbridge Road,
Byker,
Newcastle Upon Tyne
Tuesday, fortnightly
1.45 - 3.15
Tel: 07763 175878

Hopefully if they aren't that close to you they can help you out between time.