Anyone CLW a baby with a consistenly BAD Latch

[BakerALM]

Hi!

Well my babe is just 5mths old but it has been a long long 5mths. To make a long story short I was wondering if anyone here has CLWed a baby who's latch was much less than steller right from the beginning?

My babe has low suction(to deal with my crazy letdown and fast flow), short latches (latches right before the areola), does not always cover her bottom teeth with her tongue and slips and slides the latch much of the time. It may be hard to imagine but this is actually much better than it was!!!!! We are making progress but it is slow going and now that she is much older I can't imagine that it will ever be perfect and really comfortable nursing for me. (I have seen everyone in the book but it is just a REALLY tough case.)

But at the same time I don't want to wean anytime soon and am actually hoping that she chooses the time she feels ready to wean.

I was just wondering if anyone here has gone through nursing long term with a bad latch and not just weaned her. I just want to give her the best she deserves and for as long as she feels it is necessary emotionally and physically it is just a hard road.

THANKS!
Andrea

[mama24-7]

Couldn't read & not post a . Sounds like you must be very sore & likely tired too.

I am nursing my 3.5 year old, not much if at all during the day but at bedtime & 2-5 or more times at night. And, I'm pregnant so it hurts, mostly no matter what. Luckily I still have milk, or at least I think I do, so it's not dry nursing.

You said you've seen everyone. Has your daughter been to a chiropractor or a cranial sacral therapist? Do you go to LLL mtgs for local, IRL support?

What a lucky baby you have that you're sticking through this!

I will say though that I know a woman, a CLW kind of person, who had to wean her daughter at 2 because she was beginning to get nerve damage due to her daughter's clamping down. Not saying it will happen to you, but more to encourage you to continue to work w/ your dd to get her to fix what is going on.

Best wishes & :,
Sus

[KnitLady]

Sort of. My bad latch baby hasn't weaned yet, but he is nearly 3 years old. However, my situation isn't quite the same. DS had a bad latch (he kept his bottom lip sucked in) but after the first few weeks (maybe a month?) it didn't hurt too much, so it wasn't a huge struggle.

In your shoes, I wouldn't try to make any decisions about CLW or not. Take it a day at a time, and set some shorter term goals, like 6 months or 9 months, or a year. At each milestone you can decide if you want to keep going.

Eventually my DS fixed his latch on his own. I think he just figured out one day that he got more milk if he did his lip differently.

If you haven't seen a LC definitely see one. Get some recommendations from "Finding Your Tribe" because some LCs are more helpful than others.

[Amber Lion]

Andrea - my DD is only nearing 3 mo, but her latch has never been all that great either. I've seen everyone around here too (midwives, LC's, IBCLC's, LLL, etc.) and it looks great from the outside, but doesn't feel great to me. Some days are better than others, but she likes a shallow latch and also slides her latch pretty often. I think I've just gotten more used to the pain, but some days (like when she wants to comfort nurse for 2 hrs) I get really frustrated. I've also got plenty of milk and a fast/strong letdown/flow, so she gets her milk whether her latch is good or not so there isn't that motivation to correct it.

Anyways, just wanted to give you some commiseration - I too want to bf her for as long as she needs it. It's hard when it hurts though and I can understand why people wean or use formula. I just keep telling myself I'm not willing to let that be an option and I do love that I breastfeed my daughter... I just don't like the actual act of bfing (some days more than others).

[velcromom]

My ds2 was mildly tongue-tied, at birth it went undiagnosed and I had a really rough three months at first, then kept getting plugged ducts every few days. He would never turn out his bottom lip either, and I think his palate was higher than normal. If he'd been my first bf experience, I don't know what would have happened, but I was determined and I think it was a good thing that bfing my first baby had sorta softened my nipples so he could still get a decent suction.

I had his tongue-tie corrected at ten months, it helped but the other latch problems remained. I stopped getting plugged ducts though so I felt as though it was enough of an improvement to carry on with CLW.

Now that I have dd, I realize how bad ds's latch really was. Her latch feels like silk compared to his. My supply is HUGE compared to what it was like with ds, and it was good then. With him, I stopped leaking from the "other side" during letdown at nine months. Dd is eighteen months and I still leak! I think he just couldn't stimulate the breast the way it was supposed to be. But in the end it worked out ok. As he grew older, his mouth got bigger and that helped a lot. By the time he was one I was a lot more comfortable with his funny latch, and early on I got used to having to turn out his lip so he didn't pinch me. He stopped nursing late in his third year, just before he turned four.

I think the idea of chiro and/or cranial sacral therapy is a good one. I hope things continue to improve for you!

[roseyroses]

I'm there with you. DD is almost 9 months already. For the first 3 months I couldn't have anything touch my nips without hurting, they hurt so bad. DD's latch was horrible, it slowly improved as her mouth got bigger and we worked on it all the time, I'd latch/unlatch her over and over again until we got it a bit better. Finally got it good enough that I could lay down and nurse her, around 4 months I think, that was nice, at least then I could nurse her at night without getting up. She has a really shallow latch, she kind of clamps down with her teeth a bit to hold the nipple in, she also has been biting a lot...it has been a tough experience. Definitely satisfying at times but also a struggle. I have been taking it week by week and it has gotten much better. It is also satisfying to know that I have been nursing her for 9 months already. I feel like maybe we'll make it until she wants to wean. I did get a pump when she went through a biting spree, just in case I felt like I needed it. Hope the nursing is going well for you.
Good luck!

[PJJ]

Suggestions

Go to LLLI and try to get a leader to help you.

Also, look at the frenulum to see if there is a problem.

Bravo mama, hang in there.

It takes a while to "teach" a better latch once it starts off poor.

Also, taking alway pacifiers, other competing nipples might help.

Good luck

[BakerALM]

Thank you girls! It is so nice to hear that I am not the only one in this situation, nice to feel like I am not alone!

As of right now we have good latches and BAD latches, it just depends and truly I can't figure out how to teach her the difference since popping her off is not an option. We are just getting through a nursing strike that started when she was just about 3 months old and she is now 7mths! It has been a long road. I just can't pop her off since we are still dealing with strike tendencies, I mean she is still reluctant to nurse and if I pop her off to fix the latch she most likely will not go back on and does not help her feel more comfortable at the breast.

I know I just have to be patience since we have already come so far I am jsut kind of sick of always getting the short end of the stick, I just want to sit and relax when I nurse but instead more often then not I end up in some strange uncomfortable postion just to get her to latch on.

I guess this kind of turned into a rant but really thanks for listening!