Struggling with breastfeeding

[TiRo]

Hi
I'm having a bit of a rough time with breast feeding my 8 week old. He had a posterior tongue tie which was cut at 3 weeks and his latch was better for a couple of weeks but for the last 2 I've been getting lots of pain feeding and he's sucking his cheeks in when he feeds. I've tried everything I can think of to get a better latch but he doesn't open his mouth very wide and ends up with a shallow latch. Im in lots of pain today, Please let me know any tips you have for getting a deep latch! Thank you

Have you had support from a lactation consultant?

I follow Kathryn Stagg on Instagram - she's a IBCLC lactation consultant. I remember her posting about a deep latch so see if you can find her posts.
Otherwise can you afford to see a local lactation consultant in person? Or get to a breastfeeding support group? It sounds as if you need to have your latched properly looked at by an expert.

Best advice I have is to get in person support from a lactation consultant or breastfeeding counsellor, or via your midwife or maternity hospital. There's nothing like having someone watch and give pointers. It's also possible for tongue tie to reattach so may be worth reaching out to whoever did the division?

In the meantime however I found this page really useful for troubleshooting the various things to consider when latching www.motheringfromtheheart.com/whenlatching.htm. it's a pretty basic site but has loads of useful pointers including what not to do . I think I reached this via either the la leche league or kellymom website, both also great resources.

Make sure the baby's chin touches the breast first as this should trigger them to open wide - this made all the difference for me as my baby has a small mouth and so I really need to encourage her to open wide. And try reclined positions (look up Nancy Morbacher videos on natural breastfeeding) which help baby to latch deeply using their natural feeding reflexes. Bonus of these positions is that you lie back and just sort of flop the baby across you so I find it much easier on the back and arms (less tension) compared to holding them in cross cradle or rugby ball hold.
Good luck!

This happened to me. It’s hard and it takes a while to get it established. If baby seems to be getting enough milk and you can bare with the pain please don’t give up it gets easier. I had this when my baby was newborn to around 9 weeks. My son is now 15 months old and still breast feeding. He was tongue tied. Please call health visitor they will assist you

Breast compressions might help. Filliple technique. Get tt checked incase it has grown back? I’m sure my sons has but it was never painful to feed him just a lot of hard work expressing and top ups. At 3months things improved and we stopped expressing. Hold in there!