baby won't latch/stay latched

[skfmama]

I'm a new mom and my son is 3.5 weeks old. We've had some challenges with breastfeeding...he still doesn't have a consistently good latch, but lately he's been fussy when he nurses (some feedings, not all). He'll have his mouth open and be bouncing around and rooting for my nipple, but when he gets his mouth on it, he doesn't suck and latch. Then he gets frustrated and cries...he's obviously hungry and wanting to eat, he just won't latch. Sometimes I can get him to latch if I put my hand behind his head and push my breast into his mouth and hold it there...but then he also pulls off more often and we start all over.

I know I have an overactive let down, at least on my right side, and he will pull off sometimes when I let down the first time for a feeding (subsequent ones don't bother him). This fussiness though is happening before he's gotten any milk, and it's only been the last 2 days or so that he's been doing it.

I think I had/have a minor case of thrush. I've been using APNO for the past 3 or 4 days and my nipples look and feel a lot better. There are a few suspicious white marks in DS's mouth, but we don't know for sure if they're thrush. If it is, it's not all over his mouth or anything...just a spot on his upper gum (where his front tooth would be) and maybe another spot or two elsewhere on his upper gums. I'm not even sure it's thrush - we have his 4 week checkup in a few days so we'll ask the doctor to confirm then.

Any ideas how I can encourage DS to latch and stay latched? Thanks!

[cristeen]

When you pull his head onto your breast, try lightly stroking the patch of skin right in front of his ear. That's the top of his jaw and in a lot of babies it will cause them to start sucking. I know it works on my guy if he's fighting me.

I can also make smacking sounds (like when you're smacking your lips) and that will sometimes work.

Also, you might want to try sitting down to nurse a little sooner - if he's to the point of bouncing around, then usually they're frantically hungry and it's harder to feed them. Try feeding him before he gets to that point. You'll figure out earlier cues with time.

[editornj]

My baby was doing that wide-open-mouth "searching" on my nipple when she was very hungry. I got her to latch better when she wasn't so hungry.

One night, it took 1.5 hours to get her to latch because she was so hungry (I could hear her stomach growl). Not miracle answer for you, but she and I were both so frustrated I just tried to speak softly and calmly. I told her (and myself, really), "OK, we're going to take a little break.") I put her over my shoulder and hummed or shhhed for a little while. Then I tried to get her to latch again.

I also did something that might not be advised. I let her just suck my nipple into her mouth (her mouth wasn't open much) to get the feel of it. (That would only happen if she wasn't rooting like a maniac.) Then I'd delatch and try to get her on properly.

It's soooo frustrating! I hope your little one gets the hang of it soon.

[blessedwithboys]

is your breast overfull? that can sometimes make it harder to get a good latch. picture a balloon blown up to capacity...try to imagine squeezing down enough to get in your mouth. now picture a balloon blown up only half way...make sense? what you can do for this is to express a bit of milk just out of the nipple. dont squeeze the breast up past the aereola, bc you dont want to encourage let down at this point. just squeeze the nipple or just right behind it. be careful not to hurt yourself, though. doing this will soften up the area so LO can get a good grip. HTH and GL!

[Llyra]

Has baby been offered any bottles? You didn't mention it, but I wanted to ask, because offering a bottle at an early age can sometimes lead to situations like this. If this is the case for your DC, I would strongly consider discontinuing bottles entirely for a few weeks at least.

Have you tried attempting to latch while walking around? Sometimes when my babies got all disorganized in that way, and couldn't settle down and latch effectively, putting them in a front carrier and walking around to nurse, or even just holding them and walking around to nurse, was very helpful. It can be challenging depending on breast size and shape, but if you can, you might try it. Sometimes they also would settle more easily in a side-lying position. So I would try varying the positioning, too. Swaddling can help, too, if baby is wiggly and getting his hands in the way.

A lot of babies, if you put your hand on the back of their head, will naturally push back against your hand, and thus thwart their own efforts to latch. Try holding the back of the neck instead, at the base of the skull, and leaving baby's actual head free.

Expressing a few drops of milk and leaving them on your nipple might help, too. Actually, with DS, I used to express a bit into a cup, and then dribble it with a dropper into his mouth and all over my nipple while he was attempting to latch. We called it his "appetizer." The taste and smell of the milk helped him to focus on what he was meant to be doing.