Any tips for feeding lying down - baby is struggling to latch?

[wickerc]

Baby is two weeks old; we started co-sleeping about a week ago. At first he was able to latch while I was lying down, but for the last couple of nights he’s just been unable to hold onto the nipple.

He sort of messes with it, tries to latch but then lets go, sometimes shakes his head at the breast etc. Does anyone have any tips for feeding lying down please?

One thing I did wonder is he does have a bit of a recessed bottom lip, maybe that’s part of it? Not sure as he has been able to latch lying down before and is fine feeding in a upright/normal position. Just not sure what the issue might be. Grateful for all thoughts and advice, thank you!

Something that worked for us was having baby lying beside me but in the opposite direction so with his feet pointing in the same direction as my head. Good luck!

Ooh that sounds interesting!

Have you tried holding your breast? I have to for my wee one otherwise he just looses it

Not sure how you're lying but I found that bending my arm back under my head rathe than under baby and using the other arm to hold the baby close to me worked best.

Has he been checked for a tongue tie? Could be why he's struggling with latch

I was going to say this, my eldest DD fed lying down a lot but with my second we just couldn't get the hang of it, and I think she had a very slight tongue tie that didn't affect her apart from in that lying down position

Is baby lying on his side with his whole body pressed close to you?

Are you lined up so chin on breast ?

I still cannot get my head around the logistics around feeding laying on my side. I found it insanely uncomfortable trying to balance, and could never get DS and my breast in the right position. I think as with any position, what might work well for one won't work for another. I went for a more laid back position instead, so DS was laying down me rather than next to me.

Is it side lying position? A common problem is having baby too far up your body so their mouth is level with the nipple. They need to be further down so they put their head back and come up to it with a wide open mouth. If they are higher they will not get a big enough mouthful, and also have chin down means chin won't be tucked into breast where it should be, especially with a small chin.

Yes he’s been checked a couple of times, but I can also see when he is crying mouth wide open that there isn’t one. He latches fine on both sides when I’m sitting up but it’s just this lying down that’s that’s the problem.

Yes, it’s a side lying position. I confess I’m not entirely sure about where he is positioned in relation to chins and nipples so I will work on that tonight!

If you look up "flipple" latch technique on YouTube it helps you to get a good deep latch. You want a lot more boob in their mouth than you think. It's really, really common for them to get lazy with their latch after a while. It could be his mouth is a slightly different shape/size as he grows and he needs help getting the position right again.

If you run your own tongue back along the roof of your mouth, you know where it goes soft? Right at the back? On your baby, that's where your nipple should reach. It's a long way. On an adult wedding choke but babies have a different throat shape.

(Ran bf groups for a few years)

I think the recessed chin is normal, it helps the baby's palatte get closer to the nipple and supports a deeper latch. I really struggled to feed side lying initially, as baby needed so much support younger and stay in the rright position. I found chest lying was better, but not safe if you fall asleep.

The head shaking can actually be because baby is trying to stimulate milk production, rather than because they do it want something. It's odd because we've got connotations with a head shake as adujts that they've not learned yet!

If you're concerned, yet checked though, local breast feeding support groups can be amazing.