What are your secrets...

[Mikani]

... to help encourage a newborn to open WIDE for latching on? My new little guy was tongue tied, and learned some bad habits before we were able to have his frenulum clipped. We're still struggling with getting a good deep latch at 3 weeks. Any tips or tricks you have would be most appreciated! I am still very sore... TIA!

[PatioGardener]

This may be worth trying:

Start baby off WELL below the nipple, so his lower lip is on the bottom border of your areola - and he has to extend his neck up to get the nipple in his mouth. You can shove the nipple in with your thumb if he won't open wide enough, but he should get the idea after a while and open wider. A diagram is here: http://www.kellymom.com/bf/start/bas...resources.html

Also, have you tried CST? That often helps with tight jaws (especially after tongue-tie clipping.

[Mikani]

Thanks! That's helpful.

We did do 4 sessions of CST, but didn't see any improvement, and now I can't really afford any more sessions. The doc said that he has a bit of TMJ and suggested I do some soft tissue massage, which I'm trying to keep up with.

We saw an LC who really was encouraging us to get his head tilted back, and when it works, that's fantastic. My frustration is that on the few occasions when he DOES open wide, he tucks his chin to his chest. ARGH!

[ShwarmaQueen]

Lucky for you it was discovered when you did. We didn't discover DS had TT until he was 5 wks, had it clipped at 5 1/2 wks, and are STILL struggling with a good latch now (almost 9wks old ).

What I do is I touch my nipple to DSs nose and that makes him tilt his head back and reach up (opening his mouth wide) to latch.

GL!

[PatioGardener]

Originally Posted by Mikani

My frustration is that on the few occasions when he DOES open wide, he tucks his chin to his chest. ARGH!

Hard to describe (so much easier to show!) but when baby tucks his head, sometimes moving baby's whole body down, away from the nipple, extends the neck.

Hang in there - you guys will perfect this!

[cmhermes]

Sounds silly but I would say "open wide" and then bring baby to the breast as if taking a bite of a sandwich. If they didn't latch correctly I'd unlatch and try again until they latched correctly. Even now, when my girls get lazy with their latch I ask them to relatch and "open wide."

[shibababy]

this really works and cool to see that even newborns can understand verbal cues. I started right from birth, but everytime I offer the nipple I make the sound "HMMM". when baby hears this sound she knows I'm offering my breast and she opens wide. I also make use of wide jaws during crying and yawning. I have also done the touching nip to nose.

[melbb]

My DS had a bad latch from birth because he didn't open wide enough. My LC had me latch him on and then use my finger to pull his chin down. After a few days, he got it and we have been pain free ever since.

[Denae524]

We had the problem of not opening wide enough and a friend suggested tickling her nose with my nipple. It works and she opens up really wide for it.

[lovepiggie]

My DS never really opened wide to begin with, and it was frustrating. I had pain while nursing and bleeding nipples, until I tried the trick of pointing my nipple up towards his nose while bringing him forward. That seemed to work, and nursing became much easier. Now he opens wide all the time because it's easier for him too!

[Heba]

Have you tried laid-back feeding positions (e.g. Biological Nurturing or Baby-led Attachment)? They work with baby's natural instinctive behaviour, instincts which are apparently suppressed when baby is held with mum upright in the cradle-hold etc.

[Heba]

Also opening wide yourself can sometimes encourage baby to mimic you.