tucking bottom lip

[crisna120]

I am having problem with DS latching on correctly - he is tucking his bottom lip under and causing a lot of pain and pinching. Any tips besides just trying to work with him to open wider, or untucking it myself? Thanks!

[KerryS]

trying to work with him to open wider, or untucking it myself?

Pretty much that.

[whitnessforhim]

Are you bottle feeding at all?

[crisna120]

yes...I know, I shouldn't be. I don't do it very often, maybe once every other day. I am just struggling with very painful nipples, and sometimes they just need a break. Like tonight, he nursed for 25 min, fell asleep, 20 minutes later was screaming and acting starving, so I nursed him again, about 25 minutes..he fell asleep, then 5 minutes later, acted hungry still. So I broke down and gave him a bottle. He only drank a little and then was happy as can be. Sometimes it seems like a full bottle is the only thing that will satisfy him. Do you think that I am hindering the effort with the bottle? I feel like sometimes it is the only option, like when I am in a hurry and he wants to nurse FOREVER.

[Amy_G_]

Yes, giving a bottle will make his latch worse, compromise your supply and lead to more troubles. but I know sometimes it seems like the easiest answer.

How old is baby? weight gain ok?

It is very very normal for a young baby to want to nurse every 45 minutes (count from beginning of one feed to beginning of next) in he evenings when your supply will be the lowest, but when baby will want to tank up the most before their (hopefully) longest sleeping time of the night.

Have you seen a Lactation consultant regarding latch and painful nipples? i can give you a bunch of links to read, but to start with, review latch at kellymom. http://www.kellymom.com/newman/a-when_latching.html

think of how you eat a big mac. It's bigger than your mouth, like a breast is bigger than baby's mouth (often bigger than baby's whole head :)

so you squish it as flat as you can. thumb on top, 4 fingers underneath. you tilt your head backwards, open up wide and then you stuff as much in as you can.

now picture this with baby's head. they have to be able to tilt their head backwards, but often we are holding their heads to keep them from getting whip lash with little head/neck control. try holding closer to the base of the skull/neck. Baby needs to be lined up with their nose level with your nipple. bottom lip will touch breast first and take in more areola, top lip will usually be closer to the nipple than the bottom lip. this is an asymetrical latch and works better than trying to get baby completely centered on the nipple.


Hurry and young baby just don't go well together. Heck, hurry and my 8 and 12 year old don't go well together either. Try to do as much as you can in advance of the evenings to give evenings as free time to nurse as possible. try a little bit more to just sit still and nurse for longer, it should help.

to fix painful nipples, work on latch over and over again, if it doesn't feel right, take him off (break suction with your pinky in the corner of his mouth, don't just pull him off the suction will hurt your nips). Try a different position with each feeding, laying down nursing, cradle position, football hold, standing on your head whatever you can will allow baby's mouth to put pressure on a different place at each feeding, which will help with pain.

motrin can really help take the edge off. after a feeding, express some milk into the nipple, let dry completely with bra flaps down for a few minutes. If you can get some time to soak the boobs in warm water that will help speed healing, as will some fresh air and sunshine (no sunburns please). Lanisoh can really help, but if you suspect any yeasties, be careful with lanisoh and even rubbing breastmilk into the nips, as the yeast loves the moist environment and the sugar in the breastmilk. change any nursing pads as soon as they get damp.

to give the boobahs a bit of a break, try nursing on one side per feeding instead of switching and giving both breasts in one feeding. that will give one side a longer time to heal in between nursing sessions, it will also allow baby to get more hindmilk, which will help baby to sleep longer.

tell me more of what's going on and I'll give more ideas on how to help.

[crisna120]

Wow, thank you so much for your help! A lot of that stuff I feel like I already know (about how to latch on properly), although apparently I am not doing a very good job at it. Here is my story in a nutshell...I was having pain so excrutiating in the beginning that the LC gave me a shield to use for a day so they could heal. She said my latch was fine. Well, they didn't heal completely, but nursing with the shield was much more bearable. So, here we are 3 weeks later still using the shield. I really want to wean from them, and when I try to do it without them, it will be ok the first time then progressively more and more painful as I work on getting the latch correct (he tucks his lip w/ and w/out the shield, and working on that can be painful...I am breaking the suction before like you said). Then after that nursing session, it is too painful to try again next time w/out the shields. I also met with a LLL LC and she also said my latch was fine, just to keep working at it without the shield. It has actually been getting more painful even with the shield, so the LC and I decided to treat for yeast. Today is day 2 of using the GV, along with other precautions such as boiling every day, vinegar solution, changing breast pads all the time, and other stuff. So my plan is to see if the pain responds to the treatment, and if it doesn't, then yeast is not my problem. It is frustrating to meet with the LC and have them tell me my latch is fine, when obviously something is not right. Ok, so there's the basics of what is going on. I am desperate for an answer because I don't want to give up...and I really want breastfeeding to be a bonding experience, not something I dread. Thanks again for all your great advice!

[Amy_G_]

http://www.kellymom.com/bf/concerns/thrush/thrush-resources.html

be sure to check out http://www.kellymom.com/newman/c-candida_protocol.html

and http://www.kellymom.com/newman/06gentian_violet.html
both from Dr. Newman

hang in there and keep us posted.