strong, tense jaws and latch issues

[MediaNaranja]

I've seen 3 lactation consultants to see why I'm in so much pain during BFing. My son is 3 weeks old. They've all said our latch is very good but that LO has very strong jaw muscles and essentially bites down when he is nursing, causing major abrasion on my areola. It lasts the entire feeding. Ouch. He also doesn't have a very wide gape very often. Every once in a while he opens wide and then it doesn't hurt me. They didn't know how they could help me with this but said he may outgrow it and let up on his latch a bit. I don't know how much longer I can take it. He comes at me like a piranha and I am miserable during each feeding. I've done some research and apparently long labors sometimes lead to stressed-out NBs who have tight muscles--including jaws. Almost like baby TMJ. We were in labor for 75+ hours and he has always seemed a little tense since birth. DH said we should consider chiropractic care to ease up his muscles and relieve some tension. My chiro is fantastic and does pediatrics so that is an option. I've also tried a nipple shield but we didn't like it very much.

Does anyone else have any experience related to this? Any suggestions? I'm just feeling kinda defeated right now.

[PatioGardener]

I think your DH has a great idea with the chiro! CST is another option.

[July09Mama]

me too!

My baby was the same way. I'd never heard it be connected to a long labor, but mine was really long too, so that makes sense. I don't really have any advice, but keep going! My baby is now 5 weeks and in just the last few days it's gotten SO much better. I also went to the lactation consultant and didn't get much help, but for us anyway, time really did help more than anything. Good luck! It really is worth it if you can stick it out!

[Sarahstw]

I had the same issue but only for the first three days. When my milk came in, the oversupply issue took care of the tight jaw issue. lol
Anyhow, I think you have the answer - when the baby opens his mouth wide, it doesn't hurt. So - teach him to open his mouth really wide. Open your mouth wide when he's getting ready to latch and take him off the breast and try again until he opens wide enough to not hurt you anymore - it might take some time and patience.
Interestingly enough, I also had an exceedingly long labor. :

[zebramama]

Ditto- I literally feel your pain

I had the exact same problem. Over and over, the lactation consultants would tell me he had a great latch, but was just a "chomper", and my son insisted on marathon feeds. I would find myself crying, shouting at my sweet newborn in the middle of the night "For the love of god, finish!" And I too, had a crazy long labor, and the little guy was stuck in some funny positions for a good deal of it before I got him to turn.

The long labor theory is that the little head is getting jammed against your pelvis over and over, compressing the base of the head and the neck repeatedly as the little one tries to make his was out. The nerves that innervate the tongue and jaw run through holes and between bones in the base of the skull, and if compressed after a long labor or funny position, they can't quite convey the right messages to the muscles that make the tongue and jaw move right.

Here's some things that worked for me:
1. I massaged his little jaw joint before and during nursing. It's right in front of the ear, and you may be able to feel it tighten as he nurses.
2. I sought out someone who does cranial osteopathy (or cranio-sacral therapy) for kiddos, to work on his head. We had a few sessions before he finally let up after a particularly great release. It was awesome, and was by far the most effective of things we've done.
3. Set a realistic expectation for yourself of timeline. Everyone kept telling me that is would be "totally better" by 6 weeks, but at 4 and 5 weeks, I was tired of their platitudes. I said if it was pain-free enough to be tolerable by 8 weeks, I'd consider it a success. And here we are at 4 months, and he still sometimes chomps, but it's much much better.
4. My lactation consultant was big on the potential of food allergies, but since the other stuff worked and my son did not look like the allergic type (no rash, good skin, lovely yellow breastmilk poop), I didn't bother exploring this too much. Your symptoms sound a little closer to allergy stuff, though. Feel free to do a dairy, soy, corn, wheat, egg, peanut or tomato free experiment for a few weeks to see if it helps.
5. Have a friend to call when you're losing it who can rally you back onto breastfeeding when you feel like you'll falter.
6. It never hurts to pump and have someone else give a bottle or finger-feed the baby if you're really losing it. You'd be amazed how much nipple healing can happen in a 4 or 6 hour period.

Good luck and congrats on the new one! Oh, and I'd call the nearest LLL to check in- they may just be a good phone resource.