I have been trying to breastfeed but not having much luck, when he goes to latch on he hardly opens his mouth so he has just been taking in my nipple and has caused me so much pain! I have had to bottle feed him for now and even that is difficult as he doesnt open his mouth wide enough to get the bottle in. Does anyone have any advise or any tips for me? I feel bad giving him a bottle but i am in agony trying to feed him!

Ow! Nipple sucking is agony! You poor thing! Where can you get some good hands-on help? you really need, and deserve, the skilled, patient attention of someone who is knowledgeable.

If baby isn't really opening mouth, I have some suggestions:

Keep baby close to you at all times, so you can observe him closely, and anticipate feeds when he is still only slightly hungry and before he gets ravenous.
When holding baby, hold him in cradle position, so he is smelling your breast.
Bath with baby, skin to skin.
Ensure he doesn't have a hat on
Don't hold his head too much - he needs to tip his head back to open wide
Check for tongue tie
Take him to a cranio-osteo, some babies skulls get very hurt in the birth process
If baby is crying, rock and soothe, don't try to feed till baby is ready
Co-sleep until this issue is resolved, babies need 24 hour care.

I hope some of these ideas help. Let us know how you get on.

Melanie

id be interested in replies too as Im bottle feeding at the mo but tried breast tonight as baby was looking at them lovingly!
my husband helped me hold baby and she got some milk out but it was all very awkward really. On one breast in particular it hurt to start with but afterwards was ok which ive heard is good.
what i dont understand is the feeding on one and then the other breast as i feel wonky now! one boob is feeling better after milk coming and the other is still agony!

it can help to tickle the chin a little, and u have to b very quick! Also if they cry, this sometimes helps as they open very wide! just dont make them cry- lol! Def need to see someone just to get the latch checked as a poor latch can cause endless problems.

flower01- Possibly sounds like engorgement there are many ways to ease this, a warm flannel, express and or offer the breast to yr lo, she may require both boobs at each feed, i now mine does! and alternate each boob after making sure its emptied first!

In regards to positions, there a diff ways to try, for example, i can only use the rugby ball with many pillows to prop lo up with. there are also a couple of positions u wot b able to do untill there more of an effictient feeder and have the latch spot on!

It does take time and lots of practice to get it right, i still have 2 guide lo and relatch at every feed ans weve been goin for 8 weeks, but it does get easier!

x

Not sure about this. When Andrew cries, his tongue is raised to the top of his mouth, and even if I put him onto the nipple at this point, he doesn't latch due to the tongue being in the wrong place. I have to wait until he finishes the shout and try to get him to open his mouth with his tongue lower (at the bottom of his mouth).

Try sandwiching the breast to help him get a good mouthful

This was our big problem early on and the best thing for us was the nipple sandwich as marley suggested. Basically you squeeze the areola so it's quite narrow and when LO opens up their mouth at all, flick the whole lot in so they get a good mouthful. My LO just would not do that herself and I couldn't get her to latch until 2.5 weeks when one of the lovely ladies on here told me to try this. Hope something works for you

You haven't said if you're feeding ebm or formula but either way, keep pumping so you can maintain your supply until you can get LO to latch

Ryan has always been crap at latching on, he just doesn't open his mouth very wide, no matter how much I tickle his chin or rub my nipple on his nose! I also do the nipple squashing thing, all I would say with this is that you need to squash your nipple and areola in such a way that you are putting in more of the areola below the nipple to replicate a proper latch.

Its a bit hard to describe but when you put it in his mouth make the nipple point up to the top of his mouth, I do this by putting my thumb above and close to my nipple but my fingers below and further away IYKWIM? That way when i put it in his mouth the top of the nipple is almost the last bit to go in and it drags along the roof of his mouth so that when he sucks it goes really far back, otherwise it still hurts.

It is really hard when your baby just doesn't get the hand of BF! As my mum says - we may have read the book but they haven't! You just need to experiment and find something that works for you (I have to nurse in the rugby ball hold on my left side and cradle hold on the right!)

Remember however you do it comfortably is the correct way for you. I had a crappy BF advisor who told me I was doing it all wrong! Made me very upset and I made things worse for us by trying to do it the 'right' way until I spoke to a different BF advisor.

Jack Newman has a fab guide to latching, here: http://www.nbci.ca/index.php?option=...tion&Itemid=17

Mel

Do you have a surestart centre in your area? I was having a few issues the other day and was very close to giving up but I gave them a ring and within a few hours a breastfeeding support worker came around to my house and showed me a number of techniques. They still call me most days to check everything is o.k.

One technique they showed me is to lie back in bed and place LO on my chest and let them root around and self latch. It can take a bit of time and a bit of pointing there mouth in the right direction but in order for them to latch on they have to open there mouth wide plus once there on gravity keeps them from been able to pull away easily.

But i would def try and find out if you have BF support workers in your area they have more time to spend with you than a midwife.