Shallow latch

[justamum98]

hi all,

I have a 5 week old little girl. Shes EBF, it’s been quite the journey breastfeeding wise so far. The pain was out of this world in the beginning. I got over it using nipple shields but now struggling to feed without them.

she has a very shallow latch. My nipples either look like top of lipstick or just dead flat.
she had her tongue tie cut a week ago, hadn’t made any difference.

I try to only use the nipple shield at the start of the feed to help her latch as she struggles otherwise then I take it off. She feeds with or without it fine. I can hear her gulping away but only for about 3mins at a time. She keeps coming off the boob as if my nipple isn’t big enough for her.

my first born was formula fed from the start so never went through this before. I’ve been to support groups and had many midwives over too. All of them say to keep trying but it’s making me hate breastfeeding. Something that I was looking forward to so much has turned into such a dreaded experience.

her weight gain is slow. She was 3,6kg when born now at 5 weeks she’s 3,9kg (on average 8 wet/dirty nappies a day)

I’ve tried different positions etc but ultimately without nipple shield I cannot feed her properly

Ok so first, use the shields if they are helping. You can try removing once you are better established and things have calmed down. I'd say 10 weeks might be a better time to try. She wills till be cluster feeding right now.

Second, how is your letdown? Mine was ferocious so my baby actually was having to gulp back about 4oz in 2 mins and so was fully fed on very short feeds.

Third, look up (you tube has examples) the 'flipple' technique and also the taco or sandwich boob squish approach to get a deeper latch.

Don't be afraid to go back and check again for tongue tie. My ds had to have it cut 3 times and person who did the third said he was still pretty tied!

If weight gain is slow consider allergies too.

I'll also add that you're doing really well here. It all seems so shit at this time but keep going and by 6 weeks it'll seem a lot more normal. 10 weeks and it'll be far far easier. Just take it an hour at a time.

From the first week to about 3rd my nipple shields would be full of milk and leaking before I even started feeding. Since week 3, I have not been engorged once and my nipples have not been leaking (they do once every 2-3 days) and it isn’t much. My boobs feel very soft all day long and I feed on demand. Usually about every hour. During the night she goes 4 hours without a feed at most.
I don’t know maybe my milk supply has established early? No clue. I dont think I have fast Letdown and to be honest, if not the consistent wet nappies I’d think I’m not making any milk at all. Even when she pulls off whilst I’m wearing my nipple shield it looks dry as if it’s not been used. Trying to trust the process. When I said she gulps I meant more like suck, suck, swallow not gulp gulp gulp.

I will have a look at all these techniques you’ve mentioned. Thank you ☺️

I think if you're worried about milk transfer try breast compressions (i.e. while she is latched squirt it in a bit)

I'd say 4 hours is on the long side at night for 3 weeks old. But then my dc never slept until they were 4 years old so perhaps wait for other posters to discuss that one!

Suck suck swallow sounds right. I got a lactation consultant at 3 weeks because I was getting lipstick nipples but she thought he was fine and some babies just do that. Mine's 5 weeks and sleeps in 4h blocks.

I found really useful. I still need to go back to basics at least once a week and correct him because he grows and forgets. If he starts pulling my nipples I take him off and make him start again. Do you feed lying back? You might still have a fast let down but they don't choke if you're lying back so you don't notice so much.

my midwife told me to just follow the baby’s lead and if she goes 5-6hrs to wake her.

shes going backwards I think somehow. When she was under 3 weeks she wanted to go 7 hours at night so I was feeding her in her sleep and now she’s 5 weeks and won’t go longer than 3-4hrs at night. Strange

Yeah mines 5 weeks too and she’s going about 3-4 hrs at night then 1-2hrs through the day.

I will definitely watch this. The pain is easing off a bit the more I feed without nipple shield so maybe she’s adjusting. Or my nipples have become less sensitive 😂

The nipples definitely harden up. It's a bit like wearing in a new pair of shoes. They can rub for a bit but then it eases up.