Do I have flat nipples?? Wild ignorance

[Frogglingalong]

Basically, long story short, had a baby, no-one in hospital could get baby to latch, managed a couple of weeks later to get latch with nipple shield but have had problems ever since with pain, supply etc etc.

This is going to sound demented but...I,ve always read that flat nipples create feeding problems but I thought flat nipples meant they were flat all the time. My nipples are completely flat unless they are stimulated, in which cases they poke up about 0.5 to 1cm, but only as long as they are being stimulated.

Is this actually what people mean by flat nipples??? I always thought this was normal. Are more women walking around with erect nipples??

Man, I need more female friends if I'm asking this in my 30s...

I don't actually know what flat nipples look like and I'm a bit older than you could probably be your DM.

Other things can cause poor latch though like Tongue Tie.

This article from LLL might help although there aren't any pictures

Mine wouldn't hold their shape. So in-between sucks they would go flat again. This even happened when pumping. I used nipple shields all the time with both of my babies.

Yes, I'm the same and I would describe this as flat nipples.

Hi OP 👋🏻
not sure where in the country you are based, but this organisation www.familiesandbabies.org.uk are an amazing support for breastfeeding, they have a helpline you can ring and also organise home visits to come and assist with latch issues etc

Yes this sounds like flat nipples. I have the same and they didn't protrude enough even in shields, though the electric pumps had no problem so I exclusively pumped instead.
Through my work I see a fair few ladies breasts and yes in answer to your question, most of the nipples are protruding 0.5-1.5cm all the time.
Can you go to a local breastfeeding support group for help ?

You can google “flat nipples” and there are lots of diagrams.

You know how many bras are kind of ‘formed’, they don’t collapse, well that’s to hide the shape of nipples, which many women have all the time. They aren’t all padded to make your boobs bigger.

I don't know but I really struggled breast feeding. DD had tongue tie which wasn't diagnosed til really late. Nipple shields and expressing are the way to go. It wasn't fun but I expressed as I bottle fed so the milk was produced as if I was feeding.

I was told by a midwife that my nipples are flat like 3mm all the time, couldn't get baby to latch on, nipple sheilds didn't work, using a breast pump was painful as it squeezed or was trying to squeeze the nipple into shape. Ended up formula feeding.

Also second getting a tongue tie checked, that caused pain and difficulty latching for me. Not sure where abouts you are but there tend to be breastfeeding support groups and feeding specialists you can ask to be referred to. HomeStart is an example.

Hmm I never thought about this, I just looked at mine and even totally unstimulated they sit about 1cm off the boob so I can't imagine them being flat. Interestingly breastfeeding also came easy so yes I think you're right!

Hi OP, I really struggled with breast feeding and kept going probably longer than I should have done (mental well-being wise) and following advice from one of the other posters in the thread I have Googled flat nipples and at the age of 35 have discovered that I have flat nipples 😳I only ever managed to breast feed with shields and even then it was a faff. Things got better for us when I moved exclusively to bottles. But I wish I could have breast fed for longer.

I just wanted to post in case anyone had the same and is worried about breastfeeding. Before I had my first DC I had one flat and one slightly inverted nipple, and had been told I would struggle to breastfeed. For sure latching was tricky at first but once we got the hang of it we were fine.

I know that won't be true for everyone but I just wanted to reassure that flat nipples doesn't automatically mean you won't be able to feed. Also, breastfeeding seems to have permanently everted mine now, even though I stopped more than a year ago 😅

Ladies, this has been absolutely eye opening, thank you. (And sorry @Newmumtoo1 that you are also having this revelation now!)

It would have been helpful if the midwives would have said this at some point, it would have saved me a lot of misery and self loathing during those first few days in the hospital. Oh well! I guess I continue to soldier on with the nipple shields and the pump!

I have properly inverted nipples and I couldn't breastfeed. Everyone I saw with my first that it was absolutely possible but the truth is that I can't and never will.

If it's too stressful just remember that fed is best

@Frogglingalong .I have flat nipples and could only ever feed with nipple shields . I spent years feeling guilty I couldn’t feed my babies “properly “ and had ended up switching to formula. A poster on here told me about flat nipples and it all made sense. It had never been explained by the midwives. Please enjoy your baby and don’t stress like I did x

@Frogglingalong with you on the self-loathing even though I know it's totally ridiculous seeing as nobody can help the way their body is made. I feel a stab of jealousy every time I see perfect nipples, which is frequently as I said through my job unfortunately. It always makes me briefly think, why couldn't I have that?!
If you decide to stop trying with shields and express only, there are great support groups on Facebook for exclusive pumping, search that term and you'll find them. For me when I made that decision it was a weight off and so nice to stop dealing with mine and babies tears every feed.