Hello everyone my friend had a baby girl on Thursday and she is really struggling with breastfeeding her as LO wont open her mouth wide enough so she is just sucking nipple, no areola.
My friend is desperate for help as she is currently topping her up with formula as BF is just so sore for her, her poor nipples are cracked and bleeding but she doesn't want to give her formula. She is going to a BF group tomorrow but any advice would be gratefully appreciated.
I never had a problem with Halen opening his mouth so I've given her as much advice as possibly but really I didn't have much to give

I found Kamillosan (sp) fab for sore nipples (I thinkits actually nappy cream!)

Also try positioning the nipple towards baby's filtrum (the bit of skin between nose & upper lip) as it helps baby to take more areola over the tongue & point nipple towards her inside upper mouth (its name escapes me atm) which should help both stimulation of milk and prevent baby sucking the nipple.

Also, I was told to 'place' baby onto the breast rather than let her find her own way, dont shove her onto it, but holding back of baby's head with one hand and gently moulding nipple with the other (with thumb and forefinger making a C shape, areola between them) and guide it into babies mouth - I had to hold baby and breast there for a while until baby latched on properly.
Isobelle wouldnt open her mouth very wide either and I have quite large boobs so struggled to begin with.

All of this helped me, but Im by no means qualified to offer advice. I hope she finds a solution soon x

Thank you for the advice I'll pass it along. Her LO is called Isobelle as well

This is what I had to do also for about the first 2-3 weeks until he got the hang of it.

Another thng she could try is a breast crawl - don't wait for LO to be really hungry, so start a little ahead of when she'd normally want to feed. Strip down to the skin, lean back in a comfy chair or on a bed with lots of pillows and put baby between her boobs, tummy to mummy. Let her root around and latch on on her own. I've heard of other mums doing this and it improved the latch no end. It's a nice thing to do, and it's not as frustrating as latching, relatching, and relatching again.... with both of you getting frustrated and upset and LO getting hungrier....

Also, if baby is latched wrong, slip finger into their mouth to unlatch and retry, rather than carry on feeding.... that only makes you sore and baby might not be getting enough... this means it can affect your supply as well.

Is baby very small/pre-term?

I was told to try the rugby ball hold (hope know what I mean!) to encorouge LO to open his mouth wider. Has her girl been checked for a Tongue tie? That's the problem I had with james' and having it cut has improved our feeding no end! Get the cream on her nipples as well it made such a difference to me! like said above do the c hold, Aim the nipple at the nose, attach the bottom lip first then slip the nipple in with the thumb
quickly. I hope this makes sense! Again I'm not expert but just what worked for me! Good luck to her Xxx

Oh and breastmilk and fresh air are also excellent for sore nips.

madasa no she was overdue and a healthy weight. I will pass all your info on to her ladies thank you.
She went to a breastfeeding group this morning and they wouldnt help her, just left her to get on with it so she left. She lives in Wales and I'm in Leicester so I cant even go show her how I latch Halen on as she doesn't know anyone else who breastfeeds

Aw thats awful that she feels so isolated & unsupported byt the professionals

In the city near me there is a peer councilling scheme, I havnt used them but maybe there is similar where your friend lives? I think its something to do with surestart (it might be called CIW Children in Wales there tho).

I would urge her to try to find some support & advice rather than struggle on. I found that with some minor adjustments we were feeding like pro's, but without the support I had Id have struggled even more.

If shes not keen on FF she could perhaps try hand expressing and feeding to lo with a syringe/cup? I fed Isobelle this way for the first 2 days, literally 1ml at a time - she was also overdue and good weight but just had no inclination to suck due to a stressful birth. I would feed her to calm a hungry tummy then we spent hours just having skin to skin and trying to encourage her to feed.
The breast crawl (as Madasa suggested) is fab too, as it works on baby's instinct and is a calm, gentle approach.
I hope your friend feels better soon

I've sent her a huuuge message on FB with all the info and loads of stuff I found online with loads of fab pictures of getting LO to latch on. I've also told her to ring La Leche League helpline and ask them for help and if theres a LLL group ran by them in her area like the one I go to.
She sounded so upset on the phone last night and I feel so bad because I just cant help her!