Sippy cup affecting latch?

[ElaynesMom]

I was reading a thread about sippy cups here on the forums and someone mentioned that a sippy cup affected their child's latch. For more than a year now my dd (2.5) has been latching poorly and causing pain. She leaves deep red indentations on the top of my areola. After reading the other thread I sort of had a moment and went and checked her sippy cup. Sure enough, the spout of the sippy has indentations on the top, so now I'm wondering if the sippy has affected her latch.

Has anyone else experienced this? Were you able to fix it? I'm really hoping to ditch the sippy cup and fix her latch, but I'm worried it's too late. Any advice is welcome


Kassandra

[Nazsmum]

Not to late to fix a latch.

I never liked sippy cups. Can you try a straw/lid cup?

[Peony]

You can take it away and see what happens. If she has been latching poorly for a year then it may be difficult to get her to latch correctly now. I had two kids that latched poorly during pgs and I could never get them to relearn how to correctly latch. It is a skill that can be difficult to grasp them they aren't babies anymore!

[ElaynesMom]

Thanks mamas I think I'll get some different cups (maybe with a straw) tonight. I'll see how it goes over the next few weeks. I guess it isn't the end of the world if her latch doesn't improve, I've been nursing her like this for a long time and just stop if the pain is too much, so I guess if it doesn't get better I'll just try and continue as I am. Who knows if it is even the sippy cup causing the problem, though I can't believe I had never thought this might have something to do with it before.

[Nazsmum]

I don't like sippy cups because the suck is so different from the breast. Straw are a better kind of suck.

[Shanny2032]

We went through some recent latch issues but it wasn't sippy related (she rarely uses them just uses regular cups). I think it was because I had thrush for so long that it was hard to tell if she was clamping down wrong and causing the pain or if it was the thrush. Anyway, when she latches, especially at sleepy times I tell her she "needs to be big" (meaning open her mouth big) and "no teeth". If she is to tight I tell her and she re latches. She isn't yet 14 months and she definitely gets it so hopefully your LO will too.

[ElaynesMom]

Just wanted to update and say that I bought some take and toss straw cups and the difference has been night and day. Maybe it's a coincidence, but her latch has been far, far more comfortable, I'm actually able to nurse her for more than a minute at a time.

Thanks to the mamas that replied, I'm so glad to have MDC to help me figure things like this out.