Anyone got any tips for a better latch? Close to throwing in the towel

[ExcitingTimes2021]

Baby is now 6 weeks old and still struggling with latch. Issue is she doesn’t really open her mouth wide like it shows in the pictures/videos of breastfeeding. When she does it’s so brief I miss it. On the odd occasion I get a feeling latch she sort of unlatches and relstches herself in a shallower position. Iv seen the infant feeding team but didn’t really help. Iv contacted a lactation consultant but they just want to do online over video chat when I want face to face.

Has anyone got any tried and tested tips? The stress is making me want to stop now x

Get your nipple in between you 1st and 2nd fingers, to make it into a big kind of target, like the teat of a baby bottle. Tickle their lips with it, once they start to open their mouth, shove in! It gets the nipple far enough in to get a decent latch!

maybe try laid back breastfeeding?

When she is on, can you put your finger on her chin and just gently pull her chin down and then try and push her on firmly? If you have someones else there who can do that if would probably be easier. I'll see if I can find a picture or a link

Totally agree. There is nothing delicate about this kind of baby. With my first I watched all the videos about grazing their nose and waiting for them to languidly open their mouth wide. Meanwhile my baby was starving and couldn’t manage to latch.

I developed a technique where I almost folded the nipple over on itself then shoved it in his mouth where it would open up. God knows how it worked but somehow it did.

It got IMMEASURABLY better quite quickly and I ended up feeding him until 19 months.

You have my extreme sympathies, it’s so stressful isn’t it? If any consolation my second had such an amazingly strong latch that he left bruises. You’re not doing anything wrong. Your baby is just being a bit challenging!

(Agree with @SweepTheHalls, I should have said!)

Agree with @SweepTheHalls
Google flipple technique. That really helped me get a good chunk of breast in.

Place thumb print area on dimple of baby’s chin, and when they open their mouth use your thumb to gently guide their jaw down (make sure your thumb nail is short) at the same time as bring their head towards your breast. Encourages them to open their mouth more widely, and to cover the nipple area fully, sorted it for me overnight - especially once everything had healed up from having a poor latch for months. Also make sure their nose is clear of breast tissue by adjusting the angle of their head by moving their body more across your body and not so high up in the arm cradling their head. I got these tips from attending a breast feeding support group - best use of 30 mins, and also whilst I didn’t speak to many of the other people there, just the leader, it was comforting to see that I was not alone and other women were all experiencing challenges with getting breast feeding established. Don’t give up trying to get the support you need. I put up with horrific pain from a poor latch for 4 months, and just these two tips alone to get the babies mouth opening more widely and into a more comfortable position meant that once everything healed it was entirely pain free, breast fed for 2 years, and wished I had gone and spoken to someone much sooner.

I contacted the breast feeding forum Le leche, and they were so helpful supporting with some slightly different challenges relating to pumping enough milk ongoing when returning to work, that was by phone pre pandemic - hence I wouldn’t dismiss it. The person genuinely cared and stayed in touch till I had worked through my issues, and had some tips that really helped.

I had this problem too, my baby would never open wide. In the end I got her on as best I could then used my finger to flip her lips out (into the fish lip pose). She would then slowly slide further on to the breast while feeding. Worked for us! Also it all gets loads easier as they get bigger with better head control and larger mouths

Hello! I'm not a lactation expert, but have you had any comments re: possible tongue tie?
I had a lot of problems b-feeding with my daughter - she couldn't latch well, and then became averse to the breast. (and couldn't bottle feed well either - she took hours to feed).
A few people (midwife/health visitor) commented my daughter had a mild tongue tie but didn't think it was causing our problems.
We had it cut by a private tongue tie specialist though anyway, and our feeding got better immediately.
In the interim - nipple shields helped me enormously (Medela) in terms of maintaining my supply and enabling my daughter to feed at all. I continued the shields until around 5 months when we shifted off them gradually.

My baby was like this and it turned out she couldn't open wide enough for long because of tongue tie. Had it identified and fixed at 8 weeks and has made all the difference. Feeding then became pain free after weeks of agony with vasospasm caused by TT and thrush.

It does get easier & some great advice above. Definitely agree with possible tongue tie - can you get an urgent appointment with someone who could sort it out?

I have been astounded by how many babies have tongue ties these days. Could that be an issue? With my 3rd baby I used to have to express a little milk by hand as I was too full of milk for her to latch properly. Could that be an issue?
I sincerely hope you find the support you need. My experiences with La leche league have been amazing and I would go for the video call if its all you can get xx

The best but if advice I got was hold your breast line a hamburger (thumb on top, fingers underneath) and put it into the baby’s mouth. Worked for me

Form your free hand into a letter C shape, with thumb on top.

Grip your feeding boob firmly about two inches behind the nipple with the C shape hand, thumb on top, squeezing tightly.

When baby opens her mouth, stick the nipple in as far as you can. Baby's gums should be around the areola.

Thanks everyone. Iv been trying all day to get a better latch but it’s just led to a very frustrated mum and baby. And very painful nipples. So far she is gaining weight and having plenty of wet and dirty nappies. I’m still hurting quite a bit though and worried about the future. It’s ruining this newborn stage for me.
So far Iv been in touch with the local infant feeding team and had two face to face appointments and a video one aswell. They where lovely but didn’t help with the latch really. Iv contacted the on call health visitor as mine is on annual leave and she said she was too busy to get to me this week and just to see infant feeding team again. My health visitor is coming next week and she is aware of my latch difficulties.
Iv contact a lactation consultant (the only one in my area, or even close to my area) again and she said she can’t offer me a private face to face as she has an NHS contract in my area which prevents her seeing private clients here. She said I would need a referral but might not meet the criteria as baby has gained weight. She said she will see what she can do.
I’m hoping there idle no tongue tie has I have asked at every midwife, HV and feeding appointment!
Contacted LLL this morning so awaiting them to get back to me.
I’ll keep trying all your hints and tips (which I really appreciate you all sharing) but guess I’m just going to have to hope it all clicks soon or wait for HV visit.
There are very poor breastfeeding rates in my area and I can understand why now. The support just isn’t there! X

"Iv been trying all day to get a better latch but it’s just led to a very frustrated mum and baby. And very painful nipples. So far she is gaining weight and having plenty of wet and dirty nappies. I’m still hurting quite a bit though and worried about the future. It’s ruining this newborn stage for me."

So why carry on? So much pressure

@AlvinSimonTheo I don’t know. When she is upset it’s just so easy to calm and sooth her by putting her on the boob. Also we did try a couple of bottles of formula but she doesn’t seam to accept them. I tried expressed milk aswell but she wasn’t for having it. If she would of happily taken the bottles we would have probably swapped. Like I said though I guess I have to wait for health visitor abs discuss options x

Do you have a strong and fast let down op? I was interested in the but where you said she sometimes latches well but then comes off again. Babies do this sometimes when reacting to a very strong let down. They deliberately go on with a shallow latch to try to control the flow. Is light be worth breaking the latch after the first few minutes and getting her to relatch once the flow slows down a bit.

As other have said though, tongue tie is worth investigating too, if only to rule it out. It is quite common and often gets missed, particularly a posterior tie. When your baby cries, is her tongue lat and raised or does it make a U shape?

Sorry about the typos above.

My baby was like this and the flipple technique was what got is going in the end.

Sounds like you’ve been doing everything you can - hopefully one way or another you have a good solution for you all soon

@Somethingsnappy I have no idea about the let down. How would I check? When she cries the tongue looks normal and when she sticks it out it’s not heart shaped. I don’t think so anyway.

@Gorl Iv been practice the flipple but not got it so far.

It’s hard work!! X

A strong let down means that once the milk starts flowing, usually a few seconds after the baby has started working the breast, it comes out very quickly and forcibly. So sometimes the baby will come off spluttering and then milk will be spraying everywhere. Or perhaps they will stay on but be gulping or swallowing very fast to keep up. Do you feel your let down with a tingling sensation? Lots of babies will deliberately do a more shallow latch to try to control the flow of milk if it is very fast and strong. They usually get better at managing the flow as they grow and also your supply settles down a bit so it all gets much easier.

P. A. Have you tried biological nurturing/laid back breastfeeding?

Flipple technique is worth a look.

Just lay her back so her head is slightly tilted back and open her mouth. Using the torch on your phone shine it down her nostril. If you clearly see the light through the roof of her mouth contact your gp.

I won't explain too much more cause I don't want to upset you but your story is startlingly similar.

Feel free to pm me x