Hi all, my little girl is almost 5 weeks old and we’ve made progress with breastfeeding (yay), but I’m worried that her latch is not as good as it could be as according to things I’ve read there are signs of both a good and bad latch when she feeds.
On the plus side, baby has gained roughly the equivalent of an ounce a day since she was born and she has plenty of wet and dirty nappies. When she feeds her cheeks are rounded, bottom lip splayed out like a fish with just a small amount of areola visible above her top lip, I can see her whole jaw moving to her ear, she has a steady suck-swallow rhythm, her chin is touching my breast with nose clear, my breasts often feel noticeably softer after a feed and (apart from when she’s being fussy and cluster feeding) she usually seems satisfied.
BUT my concern is that when she’s latching she doesn’t really open her mouth that wide (defo not as wide as a yawn like I’ve seen on videos and stuff), then towards the end of the feed it can start to feel a bit ‘pinchy’ (though this doesn’t hurt or bother me) and my nipple can come out looking a bit pinched. Also, my nipples aren’t cracked or visibly damaged in any way but they are a tiny bit sensitive to the touch between feeds.
I think maybe because of the pain of the initial latch at the beginning I might have let her develop bad habits like sucking her way down rather than taking a big wide mouthful from the start, but as this no longer hurts does this matter in the sense of her getting enough milk? And if you think this is a problem, any ideas on ‘how to teach an old dog new tricks’ and get her to open her mouth wider?? It feels comfortable for me now so I guess my only concern is just that she’s getting the most possible benefit out of feeding.
Thanks in advance!