Any experience of BF with flat nipples?

[Zimm]

Hello,

I am 38 weeks and starting to worry about breastfeeding (among other things). Obviously I am really keen to be able to do it but I am worried my flat nipples will prove to be an obstacle. I have the device for drawing them out before feeds - has anyone had much success with one of these? Or any other experiences of BF with flat/inverted nipples?

Zimm

Mine were pretty flat with my first 2 babes- but with some perseverance managed to b'feed both, and by the time I had DC3 my nips protruded well probably from having fed the other 2 perviously.

I had probs with latching but that was complicated by both DC1 & 2 being premature. I found that wearing breast shells between feeds (there are special ones that help draw out the nipples, in addition to the device you refer to) definitely helped, but with both DC1 & 2 ended up using nipple shields as they really struggled to latch. But this really was a last resort- a full term healthy baby probably would have coped fine and been able to draw them out adequately to feed well. The main thing is to get lots of advice, preferably from breastfeeding counsellors, while in hospital and when at home to ensure the latch is as good as possible, and make sure baby opens mouth really wide to get a good amount of areola around the nipple.

Check out the kellymom website for more info- brilliant b'feeding resource. Breast shells etc. can be bought through the express yourself mums website.

Good luck- I'm sure if you persevere and get good support you'll be grand!

I have big quite flat nipples - I found that pumping abit first helped draw them out, but all 3 have just drawn them right into their mouths themselves. I do however hold my breast, kind of 'post' it into their mouths and hold - thumb on top, rest of fingers under breast but that's more because I have large, heavy boobs.

mine were large and flat like a football with DD - had to squish them to form a nipple small enough to get in her tiny newborn mouth....after a while i got sticky-out nipples from her suckling thouhg, so it does get easier.

i think getting support before you give birth from a breastfeeding support group (hospital/ clinic may run one?) or finding out who to contact if you need help at the hospital in advance may be helpful (wish i had - was totally clueless!)

yep agree, a pinch grip definitely helps alot when they're tiny to get them to take enough into their mouths- make sure the midwives / breastfeeding counsellors demonstrate this well to you. I also found in the early days a rugby ball hold sometimes helped them get a good latch

I have one that's quite flat, the other not so - it did cause a few probs initially because DS also had a tongue tie so had troubles - the fuller it got, the harder it was for him to latch on. But once the tongue tie was snipped and he got better at it, the problem seemed to go away.

I had flat nipples (not anymore after bfing for 2 years! ).

I didn't even realise that they might have caused a proiblem - I always pinched my breast to get the nipple in, but that was as much for comfort as for anything else.

Good luck, and don't forget there are helplines around if you need it.

I have inverted nipples when pregnant with DS but when he had finished a feed they were at least 2cm long. I had problems but not sure if that was to do with my nipples, latching position or that I had thrush which took a while to treat. By 8 weeks my nipples had healed from damage and feeding was no longer painful at all, plus my nipples have not been inverted since.

I never tried to pull them out but did have a horrible midwife come out the day after I got home who grabbed hold of nipples said they are a strange shape you'll have trouble feeding with those, tweeked them around and shoved DS on saying latch was fine. Very helpful to a first time mum who's been home 12 hours! No other healthcare professional ever commented that my nipples would be a problem and I breastfed until DS was 15 months. Hoping it will be easier this time around so am with you on the worrying front and am 36 weeks pregnant.

I have one flat nipple. Never had a problem bfing DD (did it for 14 months), never used a device to draw it out (other than DD!). Please don't worry in advance - loads of women with flat/inverted nipples have no probs at all.

Thank you very much everyone - hope I don't get a violent midwife!

I'm the same and had a few problems latching at first, although I think that was as much to do with ds as me. Luckily the hospital had one of those latch-assist pipette things which did help get him latched on initially, although using a pump for a few minutes beforehand was also just as effective, if not more so once the milk came in and my breasts got really full. This time I'm going to try using avent niplettes for a few weeks before the birth as these are supposed to 'correct' inverted/flat nipples (could be a load of rubbish but it's worth a shot, and I did see these recommended in a breast feeding book).
Hopefully you will have no problems whatsoever but I think it is worth planning anyway - I didn't even think I might have issues so it was a bit of a shock when I did.

I had one inverted one before DD1 was born, but she took care of it by bfing constantly for a few weeks. I never used a device, just rolled and pulled initially as shown by the lactation lady in the hosp, and DD1 did the rest.

latch assist did the trick for me!

I found this link particularly helpful on the kellymom site: www.kellymom.com/bf/concerns/mom/rev_pressure_soft_cotterman.html

It says this is good for 1st 14 days but actually I found it worked throughout bf, especially when I was engorged.

You may not have problems though. Good luck!