How successful will i be in any attempts to fix my babies bad latching on technique??

[CharlotteACavatica]

Dd is almost 22 weeks, and i know her latch isnt quite right, i have no pain, my supply is good, but she has never opened her REALLY wide to take in as much nipple/areola as possible, she has a little bit of tongue-tie but no-one has ever been interested in doing anything about it because she is feeding well, and gaining weight well (which i suppose is fair enough) but when she is really hungry and suckling quite quickly she makes a noise, a kind of not quite got a good 'seal' around the breast and makes a sucking noise, i cant think how to make her open her mouth wider? When she is at the breast she just starts 'licking' i suppose feeling for the nipple by licking her tongue in and out, and when she finds it she just kind of sucks! Someone said recently a good latch should begin with the baby starting like they're about to take a bite out of an apple, not like theyre about to suck spaghetti lol, my dd bless her is most definatley the latter (sigh) is it too late for me to change her little habits? how do i go about it do you think? Id really like to know what anyone thinks

opened her 'MOUTH' REALLY wide - was meant to say! sorry lol

I think it might be the tongue tie - but if there are no problems, I wouldn't worry - she is just doing it her own way

If it aint broke don't fix it and all that. If you were uncomfortable when she was feeding or you had supply problems (which is really unlikely if you've got this far) then fair enough, but it sounds as though it is all working well.

A 'perfect' latch is not always textbook. The fact that she is gaining weight well and enjoying feeding means that everything is going good
Dc never had this wide mouth before the nipple went in, ds1 fed for 16 months ds2 is gaining weight rapidly (he's a chunk) so it sounds to me like youre doing fine.

Thanks bertiebotts, i agree, its not broke, the reason i ask really is because, she does seem somehow a little uncomfortable at the breast, i feel because of her lack of 'good grip' from a good latch, she looses the nipple quite easily, especially when shes tired and falling asleep, and this tends to make her frustrated/cross we have had quite a few times when she has almost gone on a nursing strike, she angry and fighting and punching when she see's the breast coming, she will suck a couple of times, stop, yell, look at me, go back and suck a couple more times, stop, yell, look at me etc etc. Feels like shes trying to tell me something iyswim??

Thanks katkouta have to add, having said she gets angry at the breast, she does love most feeds, its just some of the feeds

She's maybe just impatient waiting for the milk to start flowing. Ds1 used to do that when he was really hungry.

Have you tried hand expressing a little bit to get the milk flowing? I found that helped sometimes.

Hmm thats an idea! she could well be.... hadnt thought of that!

Yes DS used to do that too and he had a "textbook" latch - I don't think it's related to the latching - don't worry

One of my twins opens her mouth like shes about to take a bite out of an apple, the other like she's about to suck spaghetti! I've always thought getting my boob in her mouth is like trying to post a parcel through a letter box.
That is no use to you, but you are not alone

My DD has never had a good latch as she only has the nipple in her mouth, never any of the arealo but still went from the 50th percentile at birth to the 91st by 6 wks so I stopped worrying. She's now 8mo, still being bf and still following the 91st line.

At 22 wks, it might be that she's too distracted by what's going on around her to want to focus on feeding. At around that age, I'd sometimes have to get DD into a dark room to feed her so that there was nothing that could distract her.