Breastfeeding - baby won’t latch

[scotscorner]

Hi all - 5 day old baby will not latch and I cannot breastfeed her at all. My milk has come in, supply is very good so far, and we are expressing for her and giving it on demand - but I’d planned to breastfeed and am feeling so upset we aren’t managing it.

I’ve had support from the midwife unit, watched lots of videos and am still trying every few hours - trying lots of skin to skin, good positioning (the midwives say mine is fine). Typically she either gets really frustrated and screams or licks the breast then goes to sleep.

Today for the first time I felt really upset because they asked if I wanted to keep trying with the BF - which made me feel like they were saying there might be no point.

Has anyone had similar issues and managed to resolve them in time?

This has been so helpful - thank you all.

@scotscorner how are you doing?

Thanks @StarsandStones We are getting there!

We got a referral to an infant feeding specialist who checked for tongue tie and said there wasn’t one.

But we started using the nipple shields and those have proved to be the only thing that works - I’m still not able to breast feed without them, and the latch isn’t great (a bit shallow/painful) but she’s clearly getting enough to eat and put on a good amount of weight at her last weighing 🙂

It’s such a learning curve and within our NCT group I can see everyone having their own struggles, so I know it’s all normal. We have survived her first 10 days of life and hopefully it continues to get a little easier each week!

thank you all for the moral support and advice again - much appreciated 🙏

Well done OP. Fantastic achievement

Thank you @FlorrieFosdyke All the moral support has really helped me over the last week 🙏

Well done OP! I happily fed my DC using nipple shields for 3 months (just out of habit really), then tried without and they latched happily.

You are doing an amazing job and do not give up! My babies don't latch for ages too. Now that I've breastfed I know it's because I have large nipples and it's hard for them to get on! It's always painful for me in the first 2 months but eventually their mouths get bigger and we have worked out the right manoeuvres together.

It may be painful too but persevere and get baby to latch first before worrying about whether it is a correct or good latch! It's a teaching exercise between you and baby and they need to learn that your boob is the source of milk.

One thing to be aware of is now your baby has learnt to use a cup they will become a bit lazy. Baby's are clever and know you will offer an alternative (as my first did). With my second I learnt I had to let them get hungry and fight for it otherwise they would just wait for the cup. I spent all day for weeks trying to teach them, it was hard when baby got frustrated but eventually we got there.

Just saw your update! Well done and keep up the great work. Things will work out in the end and you will look back and be so proud that you persevered.

Thanks @Neet429 ☺️ Really glad we persevered - that first week felt like a lifetime! She’s doing well now and I have to say apart from the latching issues seems to be a very good baby - will sleep by herself for up to 4 hours if I let her, which is as good as one can hope for with a newborn!