Help! How to make my newborn openwide his mouth

[jahreg002]

Guys really need your help, my newborn is not opening wide his mouth for proper latching. Really need your advise and help ☹️

 

[noon_child]

It's really hard isn't it?!? Some newborns have very strong instincts and open wide straight away, others are sleepy, in pain or confused. Sometimes they do open wide but we miss it because we are still trying to organise our arms and their arms etc. Other times we are so desperate to get them on that we push them to the nipple even when they have only opened a little bit - but it can be useful to remember that babies use their mouths to explore the breast and nipple so sometimes they are just tasting, licking, exploring and not quite ready to latch. It can be frustrating to try to wait for a big gape we aren't sure will ever come.

A baby will have the best wide gape if they tilt their head back to latch. If baby is too far away from your body they will not be able to reach your breast with a tilted back head - they will instead have to lean forward to latch. This will close their mouth again. Keeping the baby as close to your body as possible (really smushed in close tummy touching mummy) will mean when baby bobs its head and tilts back it will still be close enough to reach your nipple when it is at its widest gape. As new mums we often fear holding them too close incase their nose and mouth are smothered by our breasts, but babies have instincts to deal with this (as long as no-one is holding their head) by head bobbing and tilting its head back.

If you are struggling to hold baby close and organise your arms etc, laid back or reclined feeding can be a big help. Baby will be lying on your chest so there will be no gap between you and baby and you wont have to find the perfect time to move baby in to the breast when it's mouth is wide as baby will already be close and ready to take the breast. It can be tricky to get the technique at first so contacting breastfeeding helplines/support groups/counsellors can be really helpful.

Remember if baby doesn't latch and eat, or gets too distressed, you can hand express and feed off a spoon or from a syringe to keep your milk flowing and baby fed. When baby is calm you can try feeding from the breast again.

 

[noon_child]

How is feeding going today?

 

[Pea123]

How old is baby? have you had him checked for tongue tie? very common and it can stop proper latching. if you are also experiencing pain this can be caused by a tie too.

When baby is attempting to latch, try stroking from under his lip down to his chin. This can help encourage them to open their mouth wider.

 

[Bevziibubble]

I agree, definitely check for tongue tie. It's very common and often misdiagnosed