Newborn latching on

[MrsOptimism]

How long did it typically take until your newborn consistently latched on properly. It’s only been 3 days so I’m not expecting overnight magic but sometimes I have a some really good feeds and think I’m finally getting the hang of it and the other times I’m just not getting it right and she just won’t latch on properly no matter how much I keep trying again

Assuming it's your first then it could take weeks for you both to learn. After that there'll be different feeding positions which may also mean changes in technique.

The "flipple" technique is pretty good on the early days (YouTube have videos).

Also babies will "root" to bring your milk in. So when they're banging your boob, latching and unlatching repeatedly, screaming blue murder to be fed 30 seconds after a feed - all of that is normal. It goes through patches and usually settles down around 4 months but that isn't guaranteed.

It’s a dance in the early days. Sometimes you partner up better. Make sure that your baby is as close as possible and that their chin is snuggled against the breast and their body fully against yours. Pressure on the chin helps the rooting reflex and the more the head bobs and the bigger the gap gets between chest and chin then the easier the latch.

@User0nethanks a lot, that’s really helpful, I’ll look up the flipple technique on YouTube (I’m sure I’ll find the time tonight!) she’s my first so just learning and trying to get the hang of things with each changing day. It’s nice to know it’s normal and not just me though

@BelgianBeersthanks for the reply. I think I really need to work on my positioning consistently as it makes a huge difference

It took me so long with my first, my best friend from NCT were moaning together at the beginning and then at about 6 weeks I realised she'd absolutely cracked it and I was still in pain and found it nearly unbearable.
My DD ended up getting a tongue tie snipped and literally that day it was much better.

I also saw a breastfeeding consultant at a local drop in centre, do you have any near you? Or a La Leche League?

Try lots of different holds, sometimes the rugby ball pose helped me more, other times it was sitting up properly and having her just across me.

Good luck it can be so wearing but once you've cracked it it becomes effortless.

Also look into side lying (sleeping at night as I co slept with both mine feeding throughout the night, on and off, there are pros and cons etc... but if you're co sleeping side lying is a great position. Get some comfy pillows for your shoulders)

Congratulations on your new arrival, OP. It just takes a bit of time to find your groove 😅
DD1 took to breastfeeding really easily, but I really struggled with DD2 and she wasn’t gaining weight.
My health visitor arranged for a breastfeeding specialist to ‘observe’ what I was doing. Here are some of the videos she sent me that I found helpful -

How to recognise when a baby is swallowing milk:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?si=zQUZuRiuB0YqqjVY&embeds_referring_euri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F&source_ve_path=MTY0OTksMjg2NjQsMTY0NTA2&feature=emb_share&v=zI-O2Sm7p24

Breast compressions:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?si=Se6jO34LBYTf2o2z&embeds_referring_euri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F&source_ve_path=MTY0OTksMjg2NjQsMTY0NTA2&feature=emb_share&v=tov102S_LZA

Deep latch:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0iZohdhAA1M

Try laid back feeding:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?si=FUOAJkO4LADRWREX&embeds_referring_euri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F&source_ve_path=MTY0OTksMjg2NjQsMTY0NTA2&feature=emb_share&v=KYRg8DTbZCc

https://m.youtube.com/watch?si=rW46tMFf0k1WGdSd&embeds_referring_euri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cordeliauys.co.uk%2F&source_ve_path=MTY0OTksMjg2NjQsMTY0NTA2&feature=emb_share&v=Yw6GDM1wYUI

https://www.cordeliauys.co.uk/in-praise-of-the-babyled-breastfeeding-position

Paced bottle feeding:

@DontBuyANewMumCashmereone of the midwives at the hospital mentioned the possibility of a tongue tie but nobody else brought it up again after that so I’ll bring it up at my next visit just in case.

funny thing is, when I was at hospital, there was a volunteer on the ward who specialised solely in advice for breastfeeding and she was so helpful and said she’d be happy to help anytime - only thing is, in the middle of holding my boob in place we realised she’s my bosses partner (we only met once a couple of years ago so it wasn’t easy to recognise wash other!). I’ll consider reaching out if it’s not too close for comfort but I also have my next health check in Friday and apparently the person I’ll be seeing is supposed to be really knowledgeable about breastfeeding so hopefully she can help as well

@ARO0607thank you so much, I’m still getting used to this new mum life!
thanks a lot for all of the helpful links, I’ll check all of those links - as much help the better!

Make sure the baby’s lower bottom lip is in a downwards position if that makes sense, mine had his lips sort of clamped and once the midwife tucked his bottom lip out it was easy and pain free!

Ok thanks ☺️ @Ubugly