Evidence of a poor latch?

[wafflesmum]

I have had loads of problems establishing BF and at 8 weeks each day is still difficult. When my daughter is feeding there is always milk trickling out of her mouth and a pool of is left on the pillow afterwards. Just wondered if this meant her latch was poor?

Yes it does. IMO. Your dd needs a bigger mouthful of breast I think.

I suggest you contact a breastfeeding counsellor from one of the breastfeeding organisations. Google NCT, Breastfeeding Network, La Leche League to find one in your area that you can speak to on the phone. If you are lucky she might come round and help you face to face.

And where is Tiktok when you need her?

Tiktok!

TIKTOK!!

Yeah, this is a sign of poor latch. Whereabouts do you live? I can have a dig and find the BF drop ins or whatever, if getting out and about is possible for you right now. This website is a great place to find support groups.

I saw a breastfeeding advisor when the wee one got her tongue tie cut. I've also had a home visit from a breastfeeding support group volunteer. I've watched all the Jack Newman videos and read everything on Kellymom. She does a great wide open mouth and I do the 'hamburger hold' to latch her on. What else can I do, or can anyone else tell me to do differently?!

Persevere, Wafflesmum. Be careful to position baby as well as you can every feed. It took 10 weeks before I could bf my third baby comfortably, but it was worth it in the end.

Did the tongue tie cut help?

If you go see a BF advisor, then you will get support and encouragement. She may have some other holds that might work, or might be worth a go.

It sounds like you're very determined, and working very hard at this, which is great! But please take care of yourself, have a good chat with someone in person (or on the phone?) about this, because you sound very stressed and may need to rant about it.

Thanks NQC! I do have plenty of people I can moan to, I think I'm just a bit disheartened to be the only one from the NCT group still struggling at this stage to get things going and it puts me off trying to feed in public when I know she's going to cry and be fussy. The latch seems worse on the right side than the left but I've just seen this
www.sunderland.nhs.uk/admin/mopil/pdf/20060405104105.pdf

on another thread and page 9 describes an 'exaggerated attachment' which I'll try.

Wafflesmum, I came here looking for advice on latching as I'm having problems with 3 day old DS on my right side also, and that article has been extremely helpful, especially page 9 on exaggerated attachment. I've just tried it and we've had our first successful feed from the right side; you can't believe how grateful I am to you

Hope it's worked for you and good luck with persevering with the breastfeeding xx

Glad it worked for you Glastochick, although I can't take credit for posting the link - I found it on another thread. Unbelieveably it worked for me in the middle of the night using the night-light but no luck today.

Hopefully persevering will work for your wafflesmum. I keep thinking I'm getting positioning right, and vow to remember how he is during a successful feed, and then have the same old issues at the start of the next feed. We're getting there though. It's just the right side that's beating me, but I'm determined to get it, no matter how many times I have dark thoughts of how much easier it must be with formula and bottles in the middle of the night!

I have been told that milk dribbling out is not a sign of a poor latch - I had an oversupply issue and the bf counselors at my local Baby Cafe advised me to try positions where my DS could let the excess milk dribble out rather than choke.

Have you tried going to a Baby Cafe or LLL meeting (baby cafe here) - they have trained specialists and are fab at helping you with your latch. There are lots of other mums there, some of whom have had similar issues in the past but have come through them which I found really encouraging too.

Loads of people are still having issues with breastfeeding at 8 weeks, don't feel like you are the only one who hasn't got it sussed. Your baby has been learning from scratch since she had her tongue tie cut too, so you are actually doing really really well, don't get disheartened!

Hope it gets better for you

Thanks for posting that leaflet, Waffles, it's answered pretty much everything I could think of asking!

ds2 is tongue tied and was my third bf baby. The differances i noticed with him were:

lots of dribbled milk (this is more a tongue thing than a latch thing in our case)
panic and hysterics if the flow is too fast
i couldn't feel him sucking right through my boob like i could with the older two, the sucking sensation was weak and restricted to my nipples
looooong feeds
frequent mastitis as he can't empty my boobs properly
not many wet nappies relative to time spent feeding.