Baby won't open mouth wide enough to latch.

[Primigravida]

Amen for internet in the hospital room!

I haven't had 1 successful bf session yet. He just shuts his mouth an sucks on his tounge. The lactation consultant came by and we tried using a nipple shield and that didn't work. Then the majority of the time he won't even open his mouth. So far he's had 3bottle feedings.

<Steps away from computer for 5mins to clean baby up because he just spit up all hell and formula over his clothes>

So the RN suggested that I just keep trying to BF and give formula until he latches on.

[RachelGS]

Post in Finding Your Tribe and ask for help locating a private LC! Formula will NOT help you right now. The last thing you need is nipple confusion and to have your supply compromised. If you aren't able to latch, your solution in the short term needs to be to pump and to dropper or finger-feed. But REALLY what you need is someone who knows what they're doing to help your baby learn to latch.

Are you modeling for him when you try to nurse? Look at him and open your mouth wide and see if you can get him to imitate you. You can also use your index finger to put some pressure on his chin and see if he'll open up that way. Stimulating his lower lip may help as well. If this persists or you never see him opening his mouth wide (nursing or otherwise), you might look into quickly finding a chiro or craniosacral therapist to come to you; it may be that his jaw is sore or misaligned from the birth, and that's an easy fix.

But pump, mama, and no bottles, no formula. This is resolvable, but you don't need to compound the problem. Yell for help and keep yelling until someone actually helps you. I went through a similiar thing with my daughter, and a private IBCLC saved our nursing relationship.

Keep us posted!

[WendyC]

I second for the private LC - the hospital ones that saw us made our problems much, much worse.

Try some warm washcloths on his jaw and the back of his neck to soothe the muscles, sounds like he is sore. I had success with looking baby in the eye and going OOOOWWWWWAAAAHHHHHHHHH with my mouth really wide and she would do it too.

Start pumping, pumping, pumping - and when you are released, see a cranial scaral (sp??) therapist - they are FANTASTIC with newborns and one saved our breastfeeding relationship!

[velcromom]

My ds2 was sort of like that, he'd purse his lips tight when I offered the breast at first. It was frustrating. Even when he did open his mouth wasn't any larger than my nipple. Saying AWWWWW and getting him to mimic sometimes helped. When he did open it didn't last and I had to move quick to get him onto the nipple.

I really worry that the artificial nipples/bottle is going to cause further trouble. Pumping and finger feeding might be a much better choice while you two get through the learning phase.

Call your LLL, they can refer you to an IBCLC - you need some real life help asap!! Suggesting to give formula instead of EBM isn't helpful - he won't get hungry as often and so he'll be even less likely to open up for you.

LLL might even be able to refer you to a chiro or cranio-sacral therapist who could come to you & help your little one out. Definitely ask, though.

[sedalbj]

I remember helping my sister when my niece was born, I would kinda make sure her mouth was open wide enough (gently) and DS would stick it in! No formula, none none none!!! Try the cup or the spoon or the syringe... And the private LC, the stories I have heard about hospital LC's are a disgrace.

[mimie]

Okay, maybe I'm a mean mama, but I waited until DD was crying and then stuck my boob in her wide open mouth. I still do this sometimes when she gets lazy about opening wide enough.

(Disclaimer: I don't MAKE her cry, but if you wait around long enough, every baby will open their mouth to cry).

[Love my 2]

Congratulaions on the birth of your son!!!
How was your delivery? Epidural or medications? that can soemtimes affect he latch. Keep him skin to skin as much as possible. I second (or third) the modeling opening wide for him. There are some exercises that might help him open wide, like rubbing his gums gently, top and bottom, prior to attempting to latch him to the breast. Keep trying, and I agree with finding a lactation consultant to help you out.

[RoundAbout]

I can relate. My baby is about a week old and born via emergency C-section. Unfortunately he spent a few days in the NICU due to infection and dangerously low blood sugar, so avoiding forumla those first few days was not an option. I did not get the opportunity to put him to the breast until a good 12 hours after birth. Luckily they only gave him a bottle twice.

I am currently using a combination of syringe and finger feeding to get him through. He is starting to latch with a nipple shield. We've had about 6 extended bf sessions and many other brief ones. My lactation consultant is awesome and we are only using the nipple shield as a last resort because he was losing weight very rapidly and did not have the energy to even attempt to nurse.

I'm meeting again with the lactation consultant tomorrow and hoping to get some advice about where to go next. Just wanted to offer my support!

[boheime]

Find a decent LC and maybe even an OT (occupational therapist). They can give you training exercies to help your baby learn. In the meantime, throw the bottle away and start finger feeding. Tell the hospital LC that you want a starter SNS or some premature infant feeding tubes to finger feed. Pump as much as possible. If the baby isn't nursing, you nee dto be pumping to bring your milk in (and you can give baby any and all that you pump).

[MommytoHHH]

This may be way too simple, but my DD was 3 weeks early and we had quite a bit of difficulty with getting to open her mouth wide enough - but we'd tickle her nose with my nipple and she'd often open her mouth for that. If she didn't get wide enough for a good latch, we'd remove her and try again. After a few tries (and realizing that food would come from it) she got better at opening her mouth.
I agree on finding a good LC. If your LC is allowing formula and a bottle to interfere with your BF relationship, I'd run screaming for a different LC.

[BlueBella]

ITA with the pp's - no formula! You should be pumping if you're not nursing, otherwise you'll jeopardize your supply. If you feel that you'd rather use bottles than syringes or finger-feeding, try to get the baby to open wide for the bottle (but I agree, if you already have latch problems bottles won't help - but check out kellymom.com's page on alternative feeding methods - she has info about everything including bottle-feeding). There is also a latch technique that I was shown at a lactation clinic that they called the scoop (I can't find it on the internet, but it's kind of like Jack Newman's latch technique) that I found really useful when my ds wouldn't open wide - he opens a little bit, you sandwich your breast in a "c" hold, and use it to pull down his lower lip then flip the breast into his mouth, kind of hooking the top of his jaw over the breast (so you're using your breast to open his mouth). The downside of this technique is that it doesn't teach baby to open wide on their own so you may continue to have latch issues. Sorry that's such a bad explanation - but get thee to an IBCLC asap, and in the meantime google jack newman + latch + video. Good luck!

[bri276]

Originally Posted by MommytoHHH

I agree on finding a good LC. If your LC is allowing formula and a bottle to interfere with your BF relationship, I'd run screaming for a different LC.

absolutely. stop the bottles. even if you don't stop the formula, stop the bottles- use a cup, syringe, finger feed, anything but bottles!!!

and keep trying. pump a lot or your milk supply will take a huge hit.

[RachelGS]

How is it going, mama?