Baby forgets how to latch at night

[Tecalina]

I know there's been a few posts on this in the past but I thought I'd see if anyone has any new tips or advice.

My DD is 4 weeks old and only gets a great latch between the hours of 10am and 2pm. Outside of this window, she doesn't seem to open her mouth as wide (if she does, it's too quick for me to plonk her on) or she latches but then her bottom lip closes in towards the nipple, into a 'default' position. It seems to be worse at night and I can spend up to two hours just on one breast. I am sitting on the same sofa for the daytime and nighttime feeds, using the cradle hold.

Has anyone experienced this before and is willing to pass on any tips and/or advice on how to overcome this issue? As you can imagine, I'm getting incredibly frustrated but I don't want to give up on breastfeeding just yet!

That does sound very difficult fir you both. I can offer much help, but this video might assist.

Have you tried calling one of the BFing Helplines as well? I always found them to be really kind and helpful if I ever needed them.

If you take her off again when she's done the 'bad' latch you can encourage her to open her mouth wide and keep it wide by stroking both sides of her mouth on the cheeks.
You can get her off your nipple by putting your little finger in to the side of her mouth breaking the suction.

You've done the hardest few weeks. It does get easier from now on in.

I second ringing one of the breastfeeding helplines.

Tickle her nose with your nipple to make her reach up for it.
I used to get hold of my nipple between two fingers, like holding a cigarette, to make a ‘mouth friendly’ shape.

When my baby was tiny I could only get a good latch by using the ‘flipple’ technique - if you google it there are helpful videos to show you what to do.

Have a go with biological nurturung/laid back breastfeeding. Google it... It's a fabulous way to get babies to use their newborn reflexes to find the nipple themselves and this, together with the help of gravity, encourages a really deep and effective latch. It has worked with all my babies whenever there have been latch issues.

How are things today @Tecalina?

Hello all! I'm so sorry for the late reply, I didn't get any notification of your messages and with having a newborn, I completely forgot I even posted anything 🤦🏼‍♀️
Thank you so much for all the wonderful advice. I've attended an nhs breastfeeding clinic and even hired a lactation consultant, but my LO is still forgetting what to do at night - she's like a different baby!
That said, I will try all of your tips this evening and will keep you posted!!x

@Somethingsnappy I've tried the laid back position but my LO only attaches on to the nipple, no matter how many times I take her off and try to re-latch 😩 she never opens her mouth wide enough when she's on her front, I wonder if it will get better as she gets older??

When she latches onto the nippe do you take her off immediately or give her a few moments first, to rectify it herself? The reason I ask is because lots of babies, particularly when in the laid back position, will latch onto the nipple but then quickly draw it further back into their mouths. Kind of like sucking in spaghetti! So they don't appear to be doing the classic 'yawn' as they attach, but they do quickly adjust the nipple latch into a good latch.

@Somethingsnappy Ooh interesting! Yes, I do take her off straight away, I'll try to leave her on there for a little longer!

Hello all, so sorry for the late reply! Thank you again for all of your advice. I've now adopted the flipper technique and I sandwich my nipple, to help her out a bit. She has had a few more successful feeds since, but sometimes I'm forever taking her off and reattaching her.

Has anyone ever found their baby doesn't latch properly when they're not actually hungry? She cues, but I wonder if she's actually hungry because she's lazy with her latch. She'll feed a tiny bit but then is happy 🤷🏼‍♀️

Also, any tips on keeping a baby's mouth open would be welcome! My LO is very quick with her mouth, like a fish 😂

How long are her tiny feeds? My second baby is a much more efficient feeder, and from early on, than my first and it surprised me how quickly she could be finished. Plenty of wet and dirty nappies indicated she really was feeding well.

Two things that helped me with latch: one is when latching nose-to-nipple, angling the baby at first where it looks like the milk would go up her nose. Then, making sure her chin makes contact first. Most babies will reflexively open their mouth when the chin makes contact. I spent time pressing her chin with my finger (without trying to latch her) to check she could and also did during feeds. This may have helped the baby keep her mouth open.

Have you tried feeding lying down? Maybe a shift in position would help reset for both of you and be a bit more restful.

You are doing amazingly. It is such hard work taking the baby off and relatching constantly. If you are able to get through this, it does get much easier.

@ButterfliesFlyingBy Her tiny feeds are only a few minutes' long, which is why I think she's not actually hungry. If I unlatch her (due to a bad latch) she doesn't try to get back on. I assume if she wanted it, she's whinge!

I will give your technique a go. I thought I was angling enough, but maybe I should check it! I've tried the lying down position but she only takes the nipple. I will try @Somethingsnappy'S advice re. not taking her off the latch too quickly!

Thank you so much for the confidence boost, I really need it right now ☺️ xx

@Somethingsnappy I kept her on in the rugby hold, even though she started close to the nipple and she readjusted herself after a minute or so! I haven't tried it in any other position, but fingers crossed! Thank you!xx

@Tecalina my second baby was content with mostly 5 minute feeds from 2 weeks old. Perhaps you’re right and she isn’t hungry - so long as she is producing plenty of wet and dirty nappies and gaining weight, she is getting enough milk. Goodluck!!

@Tecalina my boy went through a phase of doing the same.... I think he got lazy and I compensated by trying to shove my nipple in quickly. So my lactation consultant told me to go back to basics and line his mouth up with my nipple, then use my thumb and forefinger to tip my nipple up towards his nose and wait for him to open... it took a couple of days of him getting a bit frustrated and i thought he'd never get it but he soon re-learnt how to latch correctly.

We didn’t have trouble with latch so much but sometimes DS wouldn’t open his blinking mouth long enough to get my nipple in so I took to tapping on his top lip like I was knocking on a door with my nipple and he’d open and I’d Chuck it in his mouth 🙊 worked until he was a bit stronger and could keep his mouth open a bit longer.