Latch help

[ellie27]

After reading several books/watching videos I am sure my LO's latch is not as good as it could be.

Bottom lip doesnt tend to curl out/down

I have tried several times to stop, and start again but most feeds the bottom lip is curled in.

How is best to correct this??

 

[moomin_troll]

coreys terrible at latching and hes got better with age and now i dont have to try nd he just grabs me and gets on lol

the best way i could get him to latch was if i was feeding from my left boob id hold coreys head with my right hand and use my left hand to hold my boob. then id put corey close to me and wait for him to really open his mouth and then bascialy push him on as fast as i could.
hope that makes sence lol

 

[lisaf]

And, if he gets on without his bottom lip flared out, try to adjust it while he's latched. Slip your thumb up between his chin and your breast, and gently tug the chin/skin downwards. It usually pops the lip out quite easily!

Popping on and off the latch can do damage so if you can adjust while he's on, its better for you and less frustrating for him.

Also, make sure you are aiming nipple to nose prior to latching... he needs to be tilting his chin upwards as he latches and taking in more of the breast/areola in on the bottom of his mouth. If you find it too hard to latch him on in that position, again, adjusting while he's latched is easier.. in this case, just tug his body off to the side.

Make sure he is tucked in really close to you too... This also helps tilt his head backwards.

 

[ellie27]

Thanks!

Last few feeds I latched him on as normal then used thumb to pull out bottom lip and it worked......now thinking his mouth is not that wide open, he has a small mouth too as he is little, does it matter too much??

 

[DarlingMe]

Thanks!

Last few feeds I latched him on as normal then used thumb to pull out bottom lip and it worked......now thinking his mouth is not that wide open, he has a small mouth too as he is little, does it matter too much??

My LO never seemed to open wide either. As he got a little more alert he started opening it better. Do you do the hamburger hold thing too? I still have to do that, especially when I am a little fuller. You can try stimulating him by squeezing a little milk out too, and latching him before he gets too hungry and isn't paying attention to how to latch on. I feel like I had tried everything though, and it just worked itself out after a couple weeks. As long as he is swallowing and getting milk and not causing you any pain I wouldn't be too concerned!

 

[BabyJane123]

My LO had trouble latching and I felt that she wasn't opening her mouth wide enough (or couldn't). After 4 weeks and on the verge of giving up I took her to a cranial osteopath. It worked wonders! She is now able to tip her head back properly and latch properly. It is a huge relief and I finally feel I'm getting the hang of feeding.

 

[DarlingMe]

My LO had trouble latching and I felt that she wasn't opening her mouth wide enough (or couldn't). After 4 weeks and on the verge of giving up I took her to a cranial osteopath. It worked wonders! She is now able to tip her head back properly and latch properly. It is a huge relief and I finally feel I'm getting the hang of feeding.

Jane what the heck is that and what did he do!? glad it worked for you whatever it is. Is he like a chiropractor but different techniques? Maybe I have heard of one.

 

[chichestermum]

My LO does the same, the only way i can make her get a good latch is waiting for her to scream the house down, then when she is in mid scream whack it in haha! but obviously for night feeds and when out this isnt the best! so i tend to let her have her own way when screaming isnt an option. im hoping as she grows she will learn, it doesnt hurt when she does it her way and she still gets her milk so im not worried.

how the hell do you manage to pull out their bottom lip? how many hands do you women have? lol! i have 1 holding LO, 1 holding boob which takes it in turn to hols back hands which like to push my boob away but it has to be quick otherwise Lo will end up smothering under the excess boobage lol! xx

 

[lisaf]

Pulling out the lip is a great step! If you can do that, don't worry so much about getting the latch right from the start, just fix it and you're helping to train them to do it right. They really do get better at it and as their mouths get bigger its easier for them. The important thing right now is to not have it hurt. I remember how hard it was with flailing arms, baby falling asleep after only a few sucks etc... get through that phase first and then worry about the rest

My LO does the same, the only way i can make her get a good latch is waiting for her to scream the house down, then when she is in mid scream whack it in haha! but obviously for night feeds and when out this isnt the best! so i tend to let her have her own way when screaming isnt an option. im hoping as she grows she will learn, it doesnt hurt when she does it her way and she still gets her milk so im not worried.

how the hell do you manage to pull out their bottom lip? how many hands do you women have? lol! i have 1 holding LO, 1 holding boob which takes it in turn to hols back hands which like to push my boob away but it has to be quick otherwise Lo will end up smothering under the excess boobage lol! xx

Lol... well you have to hold them with one hand, hold your breast with the other, then when you have them latched, support their bodies with a pillow... I think I used my thumb that was holding the baby to pop the lip out. When you hold the baby in cradle hold, tuck their butt into the crook of your arm, support the base of their neck with the webbing between your thumb and forefinger.
I did find the football/rugby hold to help since his body didn't have to be held so much in that position and I could just worry about holding my giant breast in position. That came with its own problems though as he liked to kick off the back of the chair I was sitting on without letting go of my nipple..

 

[ellie27]

I hear a few ladies here saying they use one hand to hold/support their breast.

I dont.....should I??

I have small breasts - is there any advantage to holding it?? Or are you holding it so that you can guide baby straight onto it?? Do you hold the breast throughout the feed?

 

[DarlingMe]

I hear a few ladies here saying they use one hand to hold/support their breast.

I dont.....should I??

I have small breasts - is there any advantage to holding it?? Or are you holding it so that you can guide baby straight onto it?? Do you hold the breast throughout the feed?

I hold the breast about 2 inches back from the nipple and pull towards my body. This flattens out the breast so LO can get more into his mouth and it helps make sure his lips can flare out instead of in. I would think no matter what size breast you have have flattening will help. It also helps guide him on too when he was smaller. And I do not hold my hand there, just the first minute or so.

 

[lisaf]

I only have to hold my breast because it is huge and the weight of it will pull the nipple out of my son's mouth. Now that he's bigger its easier to latch him on in a way that I don't have to support my breast so much.

 

[moomin_troll]

i only hold my boob to get it in coreys mouth fast lol and then i dont bother and i have a fair sized chest and i dont feel the need.

coreys got a small mouth too but with age hes got better at feeding, just takes time

 

[ellie27]

Right ladies........something else is not right here......reading my bf books and looking at picks and we are supposed to have bottom lip curled down and top lip curled up - like fish lips

Well, both top and bottom lips are not doing this. It looks like LO is biting rather than sucking.

I am managing to get LO latched then use my finger to pull out the bottom lip.....do I just have to do the same with the top lip or is there any tips for solving this problem???

Just to add.... LO is 2 wks old, under 6 lbs and not gaining weight yet. I am not feeling any pain at all feeding, my breasts no longer get full and then feel less full after feeding.....could it be that my milk has dried up?? I did pump 1 oz milk out my left breast in 5 mins this morning - got nothing from the right one though!!

 

[moomin_troll]

coreys feeding now and looking at him and his lips dont curl either. if moving los lips makes it feel better for u then do it, if not i wouldnt worry

 

[lisaf]

It's harder to pop the upper lip out. My son actually had lip-tie which is why he wasn't popping his upper lip out. That doesn't affect everyone but I already had flat nipples so it was contributing to my problem. We had tongue tie also. Has your LO been checked for it?

Eta- if it feels fine, don't stress but if it still hurts or is very hard to get a good latch or if he latch looks right but hurts still, then get checked

 

[summer rain]

I agree it may be tongue tie or lip tie; your supply won't have dried up but if it is TT/LT it can lower your supply because the milk isn't transfered as effectively but this can soon be fixed by feeding very frequently once the tongue tie has been snipped, lip tie they don't tend to snip in the UK but there are more ways of working around it, if you know its there xx

 

[ashley2pink]

My dd's bottom lip doesnt always flare out either. She is latched right though. She actually refuses to open her mouth wide now when I go to latch her. But I have found it makes no difference, because once she starts sucking my nipple and areola around get sucked in enough and when my milk lets down she takes long sucks and her mouth widens.

 

[chichestermum]

Pulling out the lip is a great step! If you can do that, don't worry so much about getting the latch right from the start, just fix it and you're helping to train them to do it right. They really do get better at it and as their mouths get bigger its easier for them. The important thing right now is to not have it hurt. I remember how hard it was with flailing arms, baby falling asleep after only a few sucks etc... get through that phase first and then worry about the rest

My LO does the same, the only way i can make her get a good latch is waiting for her to scream the house down, then when she is in mid scream whack it in haha! but obviously for night feeds and when out this isnt the best! so i tend to let her have her own way when screaming isnt an option. im hoping as she grows she will learn, it doesnt hurt when she does it her way and she still gets her milk so im not worried.

how the hell do you manage to pull out their bottom lip? how many hands do you women have? lol! i have 1 holding LO, 1 holding boob which takes it in turn to hols back hands which like to push my boob away but it has to be quick otherwise Lo will end up smothering under the excess boobage lol! xx

Lol... well you have to hold them with one hand, hold your breast with the other, then when you have them latched, support their bodies with a pillow... I think I used my thumb that was holding the baby to pop the lip out. When you hold the baby in cradle hold, tuck their butt into the crook of your arm, support the base of their neck with the webbing between your thumb and forefinger.
I did find the football/rugby hold to help since his body didn't have to be held so much in that position and I could just worry about holding my giant breast in position. That came with its own problems though as he liked to kick off the back of the chair I was sitting on without letting go of my nipple..

cradle hold is still something were both trying to get used to, not going too well but at least she latches for a few mins. Its rugby all the way for us and if i dont hold LO in to me tight enough she thinks she has free reign to wiggle and look around, taking my nipple with her! il have to ask OH to help either pull her lip down, support her or hold up my boob lol tho last time i asked him to hold my boob away from LOs airways whilst i itched my nose quickly and afterwards he ended up fashioning a boob sling from a support bandage from the first aid kit! it went under boob and around my neck and made me look like an idiot with a very sore neck haha! xx

 

[lisaf]

Lol! I tried boob slings or props too.. it didn't go too well. I can't even ewar halter tops because it hurts my neck too bad