7 week old poor latch

[Nestofcrowes]

Hiya, looking for some advice/ sympathy please!

I'm having such issues with my 7 week old DS with his latching. He seems to be unable to latch deeply, or for any length of time and frequently pops on and off, ‘clicks’ constantly and rarely seems to really finish a feed. He has period of latching better - overnight when he is half asleep for example - but these past few days has been particularly bad and I’m starting to really get some aversion to him feeding. It’s also exhausting when he just doesn’t get any comfort from feeding and gets himself worked up.

He had a tongue tie snipped at 4 weeks, it doesn’t seem to have helped significantly. I know about the ‘flipple’ technique and about positioning, but haven’t made much progress.

Because of his latch he takes in a lot of air and I therefore spend the majority of nights sitting up with him because he is so gassy. I stop feeds throughout to burp him and have been using infacol too.

His weight gain isn’t an issue thankfully as I have quite a good supply (large boobs and second breastfed baby!).

I’n just finding it quite hard to cope with it and not sure how to go about trying to fix the issue anymore. Help!

Have you heard of the flipple technique? Game changer for me!
just read your post properly sorry ….

Yes I do try it frequently! He either doesn’t open his mouth wide enough (he almost seems to want to chew my nipple when he latches) or if I do get a deeper latch he’ll immediately pull off and return to a shallow one.

Keep asking for advice on latch and positioning from lactation consultants, la leche breastfeeding advisors etc. Hopefully it will improve.
Get checked for thrush by the doctor ( you and baby)

Yes, I am very fortunate I have a brilliant feeding support worker attached to my local family hub. I will be talking to her on Monday for sure.

What are the symptoms of thrush? I wouldn’t have thought we had any but I guess you never know.

Also just to say, I fed my DD until she was 4 so I thought I knew what I was doing… but apparently not 🫠

Young babies can get thrush and so can new mums. Sometimes you can see white in the baby’s mouth. Get the GP to check it and they prescribe treatment. It makes the babies mouth sore I think so affects the feeding.

@Nestofcrowes Hi, it’s been a while since you posted and wondering if you have any encouraging update?
I could write your post word to word about my 7 weeks old daughter.
I found out to have a fast let down to add on difficulty and I’ve seen multiple lactation consultants to no avail.
How did your bf journey unfold?

@MarlaSinger2017 I do indeed have encouragement! It was really rough as a newborn - he was always very fussy and miserable. We tried a lot of different positioning, even some nipple shields for a bit, but in the end we just persevered and it did get better as he got bigger. I never had any concerns about weight gain or about pain for me so we were able to get through it with a very supportive partner and not a lot of sleep all around.

DS is a few weeks off 2 and currently badgering me to nurse instead of eating breakfast. We’re still feeding quite successfully here 😅

@Nestofcrowes thanks a bunch for the reply and congrats on going on with bf so long!
My DD latch is shallow and while mostly not painful during the feed it does cause blanched/lipstick nipple afterwards (stingy as hell).
The nipple recovers between the feeds, but I can’t get her to latch deeply unless she’s super hungry (usually at night when she goes 3-5hrs between feeds).
She was checked for tongue tie and has some posterior one, but her tongue movement apparently is ok. My first born DS had tongue tie snipped at 8 weeks and it didn’t make much of a difference to his poor latch, so while I’m on waiting list with her - I don’t carry much hope snipping anything will solve her frantic feeds.

Comfort feeding just doesn’t work for us at all - she doesn’t open her mouth wide enough, she makes duck face and attempts to suck in the nipple like a noodle. I guess to keep it as shallow as possible to limit milk flow. When I can’t bear it - I would sneak in the dummy 🤷‍♀️

Initially, I would keep trying to feed her for naps, but now I just rock and carry her around until she’s asleep and dream feed her instead. It feels like double jobbing and defeats the purpose of bf 🤨

We’re managing, but I was hoping there’s some magic solution to make this whole bf a bit more stress-free and enjoyable 😅

@MarlaSinger2017
I understand the frustration of wanting to find something that will fix it! Unfortunately it was just waiting it out for us that worked. I would say by about 4 months it was improving if that gives you some hope ☺️