how to bf without a proper latch on

[karlu]

I know it's a daft question but I am at the end of my tether here.

My son was born via emergency c-section and was admitted to SCBU as his blood sugar was crashing and he was not feeding at all. He also turned out small for gestational age, under 2500g for 37 and a half weeks. I desperately wanted to breastfeed him and started expressing straightaway but it was not enough to sustain him so he was getting formula via NGT and later in bottles. I contacted a lactation consultant while still with him in the hospital but she was busy and couldn't come. NCT counsellor, I think, was unreasonable with starving baby until he latches on so I did not call her again.

At home I expressed milk until he was on 100% EBM and he soon latche on but it was and still is very painful. My nipples did come out a bit but otherwise quite slippery. I started using nipple shields and thought that if I can maintain milk supply and just wait a little bit until his mouth is big enough for my boobs (huge) we can pull through. But I am loosing faith. He poos and pees alright and gains weight slowly but is still on 0.4 centile so we don't have much to fall on. The lactation consultant left me with information on positioning and another NCT counsellor suggested not to leave him on the breast if it hurts.

I just don't see how we go from where he is now to proper latch on. I read that breastfeeding can happen with not ideal latch on but the mother will pay with her nipples and hours on the breast. I am willing to pay the price but I started having problems with milk supply whether due to stress or lack of stimulation. I pump with Medela after each feeding. He is 6 and a half weeks old and I had enough encouragement but I am drowning here and what I need is help.

We moved from London and there is a very limited provision for breastfeeding support. There is not even LLL nearby. I might be going back to London from time to time so if there is somebody there with a magic touch can you recommend anyone? I am taking fenugreek, lactation teas, considering domeperidone. I really don't want formula but don't want to starve my baby. He seems to be permanently hungry now and sleeps well only if I top up him with an eyedropper.

Please, please help me.

Just wanted to offer you my support. I've been going through a very similar thing just a bit further down the line, my dd is 8 weeks. I'm not going to offer you actual advise coz i know it gets to a point where your head is spinning and it's all you can think about. I just wanted to encourage you to keep ringing bf advisor to come out and help you. I spoke to council advisor and 2 LLL ones before I felt like I'd made progress. I felt stupid always asking for help but even rang almost in tears in the middle of Tesco's once - and she assures me she really didn't mind!
My dd still isn't perfect but we are off top ups and just trying to relax and go with the flow for a while to see how weight gain is in a couple of weeks. What I really noticed was that once I felt like I'd gone a long way (not all the way) to correcting the latch I relaxed and stop stressing about it and that really made a massive difference to my supply - much more than fenugreek, domperidone etc (although I still take them!).
I just really hope that you persevere with getting help and that something clicks, I eventually found biological nurturing was the best but it took a few goes and being holed up in my bedroom naked a few times before we made any head way (we don't need to do that anymore!!!)
I'm not saying we have perfect latch and I will probably be posting myself tomorrow with some trauma but all I'm trying to say is when I stop stressing my milk flows and although her latch isn't great she seems fairly happy. Hope this helps, will keep an eye on your post and my fingers crossed for you x

try and ring lll gb you can google for the number im sure they will be willing to help you x

hi
wrt the lower jaw thing - DS did this, he wasn't tongue tied but when he latched he used to roll his tongue back and just "bite" my nipple with his gums.

One thing that helped was putting a finger in his mouth (nail facing roof of mouth) then gently pulling it out to encourage his tongue forwards, I used to do this 3-4 times before latching him on and it seemed to help.

TBH though it didn't really settle until he was about 10-12 weeks old when he just seemed to grow out of it.

Hope things improve for you soon

Karlu, things any better now?

I've sent an email to Jack Newman who surprisingly replied almost straightaway. He is very against nipple shields so I've gone cold turkey with mine and it hurts like hell on my "untrained" nipple. NCT councellor was very good and DS has latched on once properly though without cushioning with his tongue. I've been told that our positioning is good, latch is good but his mouth is not open wide enough and his tongue is not sticking out far enough (go, figure). I feel really mean towards DS with taking him off the breast and pulling his jaw down. I give up though otherwise there will be no bf. He started sleeping for over 4 hours between feedings so I am concerned he is getting stressed and letargic.