Nipple Nurser!

[MommaCrystal]

Ugh! She seems to only take in the nipple! It HURTS what do I do! HELP!

[emnic77]

nak

she needs to open her mouth wider. you can help her with this by applying a bit of pressure to her chin as she's latching on. also don't let her latch on until her mouth is open really wide - tickle her lips and her upper palate with your nipple to get her to open up wide, and then guide it in when she looks like a little bird with a big mouth Her lips should be flanged out - not tucked under/into her mouth. If there is a gap between your areola and the corner of her mouth, she needs to open up wider. Try the chin pressure, that normally works for me. Unlatch her and try again of she gets only nipple.

[h@ppy mama]

My son likes to do that too. Ouch. What helped was tickling his lips into opening more. I also do a different hold when he's really tired, because that's when he is laziest. I switch from the cradle hold to the football hold. That seems to help.

[MommaCrystal]

I'm doing these things. We get into a down right wrestling match. I break out in a sweat and try over and over and over and over. She gets her hands in there. It is a mess. And even when I get her open as wide as possible she still seems to slide back to just the nipple after a while.

[Dee-Groovy]

I'm in the same situation. The latch would look perfect at the beginning but she slid down the nipple as she nursed. My nipples were cracked and bleeding by day 2. It was so painful that I resorted to nipple shields. It will be hard to wean off them but I think they allowed me to continue when the pain was too much so overall it was worth it. Not recommended by any breastfeeding experts though.

[copperfox]

Sometimes, Baby gets lazy about nursing. I'm constantly chanting "Big, Big, Big" when we're trying to latch. Check out this site for info:
http://www.kellymom.com/bf/start/bas...resources.html

[Hooplehead]

I have a hard time getting my guy to give me a big open mouth on my left side - perfect on the right, can't figure that one out. I have been letting him latch as best as he can and then taking my thumb and rolling it under his chin to pull it down and flange his lower lip out. The latch is still not perfect. It is not painless, not sure if that is because my nipple has not quite healed from the first couple of days of nipple shredding that occurred in the hospital. If I do the cradle hold, my nipple looks like a tube of lipstick when he is done. If I do the football hold, it is fine. I have noticed that as my breast deflates, his mouth gets smaller which is logical since the breast tissue is less full.

I am going to a breastfeeding support group tomorrow so I will see what they have to say. It is led my some of those IBLC (or whatever acronym) people.

[MommaCrystal]

Yeah, I know the kellymom site backward and forward. This is my 3rd nursling. I nurse at least 2 years.

This is FAR worse on the left than the right. The left makes FAR more milk than my right and has for all three kids. The milk coming out of the left when I pump has an orangy tint to it and is VERY thick.

I'm not cracked or bleeding.

Usually we latch on in a HAIL of pain with mommy even screaming out. Then we settle and it is pretty much fine. Then she starts to slip and it hurts again so I've got to take her off. My nipple is deformed and sort of pointed toward the top.

I'm exhausted! How do I get through this. I've never dealt with an LC I liked or who provided any real help. I've always just worked it out on my own.

ETA Hooplehead you describe what I'm facing pretty darn well!

[tsk_mum]

I'm sorry & feel your pain ... my last DD was a struggle learning to nurse too. Hang in there!!!

[gillibean]

I don't know if this will help but figured I'd throw it out there. With DD2 I found that the best thing for me was to feed her in a different position at each feeding. It didn't do a lot to improve her latching but it made things much less painful for me since the pressure was on a different part of the nipple/breast at each feeding. I'd rotate between cradle, football and lying down. Changing positions got be through the really rough period before she got better at latching.

[rhiOrion]

DDCC- if her hands in the way are part of the problem, have you tried swaddling?

Also, I was having similar issues with her latch being worse on one side than the other, and with having to do cradle hold on one side and football on the other. A mix of a chiropractor and time helped. The chiro helped with some back and jaw issues, and time helped in that her mouth got bigger. We're nursing pain free more often than not now.

[lili-chan]

My daughter got her hands in there as well but swaddling solved that problem. You're probably already doing this but holding my breast in the right shape to fit her mouth and gently shoving it in deep enough helped while holding her head close and tight with my other hand. Football position propped up on pillows worked best for us during the first days.

[Crispie]

My last son had a very small mouth and liked to nipple. What worked best was 1. swaddle his hands in as PP said so I can have better control til he gets the hang of it
2. squashed my boob as flat as I could so it was like a sandwich coming at his mouth instead of a melon. he was able to get more nipple in his mouth that way.
3. ask a LC to show you how to do a "jaw support" if you can. there was a way I supported his jaw under his ear that seemed to help him open more. he was actually weak on one side and would tire out fast until he built up the strength.
4. we also used a nipple shield briefly (about a week) so that I wasn't scaring him by yelling or whining or tensing up every time we went to latch.

Hope that helps mama! Best wishes that things are easy peasy soon!

[2sweetboysmom]

DDCC

My third had the same pattern and difficulty you have described. In our case he had/has a VERY high palette and had a tongue tie further back on his tongue. We did not discover the tongue thing till he was over a year...we nursed that whole time with me in pain and seriously considering being a pumping mama!!! Do consider having your little one evaluated for tongue tie.

[Gemini529]

Originally Posted by MommaCrystal

This is FAR worse on the left than the right. The left makes FAR more milk than my right and has for all three kids. The milk coming out of the left when I pump has an orangy tint to it and is VERY thick.

I have that issue as well! My right makes like twice as much as my left. When I pump it is very obvious! I had a really hard time getting my boy to latch at first. I couldn't even get him to just do the nipple...I was terrified that he was starving the first few days. Then for a few days, he would only do the nipple (Oww!) Now it's kind of hit or miss. He gets it sometimes but is really inconsistent.

bfing has definitely been the most challenging thing about parenthood thus far! I keep thinking how much easier it would be if I just did formula but I know it's not just about me so I am going to keep plugging away til we get it right! Good luck! I feel your pain. I have already cried several times over this!!

[HonkyTonka]

Originally Posted by Hooplehead

I have a hard time getting my guy to give me a big open mouth on my left side - perfect on the right, can't figure that one out. I have been letting him latch as best as he can and then taking my thumb and rolling it under his chin to pull it down and flange his lower lip out. The latch is still not perfect. It is not painless, not sure if that is because my nipple has not quite healed from the first couple of days of nipple shredding that occurred in the hospital. If I do the cradle hold, my nipple looks like a tube of lipstick when he is done.
.

Whoa! This was me! I got some of Jack Newman's All purpose nipple ointment to help with the pain (so I could figure out whether pain was from bad latch or previous damage). I needed a prescription. It really, really helped. I also made sure to hold her in really tight, at her neck/upper back area (and make sure not to push top of head into breast) - I noticed that I would relax my arm and she would slip off a bit. Still have to do the chin thing from time to time, but for the most part, I'm now pain free. I hope you figure it out soon!

[MommaCrystal]

An update...
I had a great big cry and a great big temper tantrum this morning. We actually got through the night pretty well. But this morning my hormones just got the best of me. I was miserable. Adding to it all was the fact that I had to go out to my oldest son's gymnastics recital and I was terrified I'd have a big huge issue nursing my daughter in public in the middle of this show.

So I called an LC. She was fabulous. First she recommended I work on getting the baby to latch coming from the side, from my cleavage. HUGE difference. I can now nurse on the right with almost no issue. She also recommended putting a scolding hot wash cloth on my nipple just before nursing to soften it. And of course pumping a little off to soften the whole breast (which I was already doing).

All of these things are helping. My left still hurts like a four letter word but I'm not screaming in pain any more. I'm going to give it a couple of days to see if it continues to improve. If not, we'll go to see her.

She also gave me a prescription for an ointment called mupirocin. It acts like lanolin only stronger and has a healing agent. Can I just say... feels SO good!

So... we are improving.

On an added note. She had her first doctor's appointment today. She is 2 ounces over her birth weight at only 6 days old. She is obviously getting what she needs. I knew that, but the confirmation is so good to hear.

[pleasantlyfurious]

I'm so glad it's getting better!

A couple things that worked for us -
1. putting the nipple to the top of his mouth so he's open wide and tilt his head back.

2. totally second the Jack Newman's nipple cream

3. saying "ahhhhh" when he's latching. This may be coincidence, but he seems to open wider when I say it.

good luck!

[Hooplehead]

Well, I went to the support group yesterday and had a fab time. We worked on my left side. The LC had me move my guy forward a bit for the football hold and then she watched him eat. She did not see any of the big eating motions from him. After watching and weighing him, it seems that I have a rapid flow on that side and he does not have to work very hard at all to get the milk. He just kind of hangs out and nurses lightly. Of course, my nipple is killing me through the whole thing.

He really opens wide and nurses hard on my right side and it feels fine.

The LC did comment that yes, he is not opening up very wide because he does not have to and that he is holding his tongue high. How on earth do I fix that? Pulling his chin down after he has latched helps some but it still hurts a bit. I think a good portion of my pain is from my nipple not being totally healed up on that side and I am hoping that it will get better soon. Meanwhile, I plan to go back to the group next week.