Still bad latch, 3 weeks after TT snipped

[Mumsyto2boys]

Can anyone offer any help, words of wisdom or anything at all!?
My son was born at 39 weeks, we identified pretty quickly that there was something wrong with his latch, when my nipples had a cut straight across them, I contacted a lactation consultant and she confirmed it was a TT and snipped it for us.

He’s going to be 4 weeks on Friday and it will be 3 weeks post snip tomorrow and every-time I think we’re progressing, we regress 😢
My nipples still look like a lipstick when he comes off most feeds, feeding still takes a long time, he’s been cluster feeding the past 4 evenings for 2/3 hours and I’m left in tears.
Will it get better as he gets older?

Thanks in advance for any advice

Hi OP, hope you're okay. This sounds tough. Lipstick latch is very painful. I've been there with the tongue tie, things did get better. I found support in a breastfeeding support group local to me, appears they have these all over the UK. The support volunteers are great at helping baby get latched properly and giving you lots of advice.

If I've copied this link right then it should bring up the ABM (Association of Breastfeeding Mothers) and you can search your area. I've found the groups to be so valuable, both for helping with our breastfeeding journey and also some company for me during maternity leave, and of course baby gets to socialise too.

The National Breastfeeding Helpline is also really good. I've had reason to call them and they were very helpful. That was regarding thrush though. Also really bloody painful!

You're doing amazing, and the fact that you're wanting to work through this and not give up in spite of the pain is even more amazing. I really hope you can get some help for both of you and I'm sure that you can.

abm.me.uk/find-a-local-breastfeeding-support-group/

National Breastfeeding Support - 0300 100 0212

Good luck. Wish I could give you a big hug!

Try a deeper latch if you can. Look up the flipple latch or exaggerated latch on YouTube and watch a couple of videos. Once you find one you like watch it each time yoi latch for a few days and unlatch if it doesn't work. I found this really helped get them a deeper latch. That may help whilst you wait to speak to somebody.

Good luck- you are doing well. Be kind.to yourself. Eat cake.

I would recommend getting his tongue checked again, I have three dc and all of them were tongue tied and my last dc had to have her tongue tie snipped twice - it was quite severe but when she was tiny it didn't look that bad so it was only when she was a few weeks old that it fully presented so needed a 2nd snip.

We persevered and it was totally comfortable to feed her after the second snip. Good luck - there is no pain in the world quite like it xx

Hi OP, cluster feeding at this age is normal albeit very intense. It does get easier and better with age as baby gets stronger. For me, I think it was around the 8 week mark. I found the side lying position helped during the cluster feeding or just settling on the couch to watch a TV series with snacks helped.

Are you in any pain? Are you doing tongue exercises each day following the TT snip?

I agree with @diggermama about finding Facebook and in-person breastfeeding groups and with @RNBrie about looking up the flipple technique. Try looking up your local La Leche League group. Some local authorities have free infant feeding drop in clinics too so worth checking.

If you’re on Instagram, I would recommend following some lactation consultant pages - they often have a lot of content:

Kathrynstaggibclc
Cordeliauys
Breastfeedingdoctor.uk

You’re doing a wonderful job! It does get easier with time, I promise you x

All the above….
But also try changing position, have you tried holding him under your armpit like a rugby ball?

It definitely will get better as he gets bigger and stronger.

For now you could try and express some milk off so your breast is more sort of pliable?
Squish your breast like you're about to bite a hamburger and then touch his nose with your nipple, when he opens his mouth, get your squished breast in there.

Just wanted to thank you all for your advice and kind words! I breastfed our first son for a year, but he was 6 weeks prem, so our journey was completely different. I stupidly thought having this son full term would make the journey easier, but boy was I wrong lol booked in for breast feeding support group on Tuesday now 🙏🏼

I don't think there's any rhyme or reason to it. First some was a rollercoaster to get him to BF and it wasn't sorted properly until he was 3m+.
Second baby born and latched within a minute.

You're doing so well x

Both of my kids left me with lipstick nipples, even my 2nd baby who was checked by for tongue tie by someone qualified (breastfeedingdoctor from instagram mentioned above) and despite help from IBCLC. It got better as she got older. They get stronger and figure out how to empty you despite any issues with their latch. Flipple helped a bit but there was still a lipstick a lot of the time. I suspect it's more common than people let on because whenever you mention lipstick you sometimes are made to feel like you are doing something wrong. I honestly spent so much time stressing over it and doing everything I could to fix it but the damn nipple still looked like a lipstick pretty much no matter what I did.

Agree with getting checked again - especially if it was anterior tt as may have been hiding a posterior tt.

Get the TT checked again. Both my ds's needed to be done twice. Ask BF counsellor for specific advice.

I'm guessing it's painful while he feeds?
If so, are you stopping him and starting again each time to get a better latch?

I know it's tedious and painful, I've been going through exactly the same thing (although my nipples blanch completely too).

Have you been getting face to face support with feeding since having the tt divided?

If the feeds have been this way the whole time, it's going to take a fair amount of time and effort to break the habits he's developed. My ds had his snipped at 5 days and I think his latch has only just gotten much better at over 3 weeks old. It still slips into old habits when he/we are very tired though.

I hope you get some support at the session you've booked.

Hi OP,

I'm in the same boat - no solution, just empathy! We're at 14 weeks, had an anterior tie divided at 4 weeks then a posterior tie that was missed done at 10 weeks. Some improvement each time but we still have the pain/damage (lipstick shape as well as friction blisters and blanching/vasospasms). Long long feeds and cluster feeding. Suggestions to relatch don't help as the latch either seems fine at the time, starts fine and she slips back repeatedly, or she's fussing and pulling on/off anyway.

I've been to multiple groups, seen an IBCLC, and currently seeing an osteopath/doing exercises that she struggles with as no longer has newborn suck reflex. Her weight gain slowed although now tracking on her new centile. I'm trying to start triple feeding to regain on the chart but haven't yet managed to get her to take a bottle. One thing I'm trying is 'switch nursing' rather than letting her snooze/hang out on the boob for ages when she's stopped actively feeding and I'm currently pumping every daytime feed to try and boost my supply which I think has been affected by the inefficient feeding.

Let us know if you find anything that works!!

It amazes me how many people have these same issues and yet the support available from the NHS is just so poor!

I’m not surprised so many new mums give up bfing so early!!

Thanks for the empathy mummas, it’s weirdly comforting knowing I’m not alone!

The switch feeding is definitely something I’ve been doing more and taking him off to settles him to sleep as it’s definitely worse when he’s just comfort suckling.

Anyway, we will keep on trucking and see how we get on! Next thing to tackle is him sleeping on me and not in his bed LOL

What a ride!!!!

That's the impossible thing - you're still struggling with the feeding and then you have to tackle sleep and when one is bad it affects the other! Mine still rarely goes down for a nap at 14 weeks although she's much better at night and we achieved one crib nap on Saturday! Good luck with it.

There are some exercises you can do with their tongue after the tt is cut. It helps to ensure it doesn't reattach. I also found trying ALL different holds worthwhile, it's so hard.

Thanks again everyone, I just thought I’d come on to provide an update in case there’s any desperate mums scrolling in the middle of the night!

So we’re 4 weeks post snip, 5 weeks old yesterday and the last 2 days I’ve noticed a huge difference!! Even to the point of not needing to use Vaseline all day now and pain during/after feeding has subsided!! I’ve been mainly feeding via the rugby hold, but I’ve even been able to reintroduce the cradle hold this week!

Sleep is still almost always on me, but it won’t be forever and at least I’m getting some sleep.

Thanks everyone, the empathy and advice were just what I needed 🙌🏼🫶🏼

Glad the rugby hold helped!
Why don’t the midwives/ nurses dish out this info???

Awww this is fantastic news OP! So glad to hear it's worked out and that you're both happy and comfortable now 😊

Thanks for the update, OP! Wonderful news!! Babies certainly keep us on our toes. You are doing such a fab job x

Google infant sucking exercises - we had the same thing and he just needed some help stimulating the right muscles and movement. Made such a difference!