The agony of the shallow latch

[stoof21]

DD is 2 days old and has a terrible problem with shallow latch. It seems like she just physically can't open her mouth wide enough. She will also let go of my nipple and relatch herself (painfully.) I have very large, saggy breasts with short nipples.

I was lucky enough to have a LC help me latch on almost every time while I was in the hospital, but even she was having trouble getting DD to open wide enough to not clamp down on me and distort my nipple. I actually ended up with a compression stripe after every single feed, despite her help.

So now my nipples hurt constantly and are bleeding. I'm worried that DD won't stimulate my supply enough until her latch improves, but I'm not sure how to get her to really open. Do I just need to suck it up until her mouth gets a little bigger? I tried the nipple shield, but it's too big for her mouth and she can only latch on to the tip of it. (and I wear an extra small one too)

It's very frustrating because I ended up giving up on nursing my first DD because of the same problems, but I don't want to end up with another dehydrated, screaming baby either.

[PatioGardener]

Are you able to hand express after she nurses? This will help your milk supply if she isn't able to transfer well, plus you can refeed the colostrum to baby with a spoon or syringe if needed.

As for the latch, oh Mama, I feel for you! Have you tried to let baby latch by herself? www.breastcrawl.org or www.drjacknewman.com have videos that show self latching - it may help.

Or it may not.

Positioning of baby may help to get a deeper latch - how are you feeding right now? Have you tried football hold?

And has anyone checked for a tongue-tie?

Hang in there, Mama. Take ibuprofen or acetominofen or whatever painkiller works for you/is safe for baby. As baby gets older this will get better.

[CookAMH]

Do you compress your areola with the hand on the side you are nursing? I have large breasts and have done that since the LC showed me, and DS is 6.5mo now. He'd never get a good latch without that. That also helps to support the breast and have it stay put for him to nurse.

P.S. Get some lanolin for your nipples and give them as much air time as you can. It'll take a few days but they can heal.