Hi Sarah
Two methods to optimize a deeper latch, especially for a baby who is
reluctant to open wide.... can be firstly to ensure that the baby's
lips and the areola are wet before starting breastfeeding, ie wet
lips, nipple and whole areola with a little drop or two of EBM before
touching the baby's lips with the nipple to stimulate the gape (or
whatever passes for a gape with this baby....touching the _top_ lip
often stimulates a wider gape than touching the bottom lip). But
wetting everything first ensures that as the baby takes the first few
"sucks" on latching (usually when painful nipples become extremely
painful as the nipple/areola complex s t r e t c h e s to its full
length inside the baby's mouth) then the _most_ tissue can easily
slip into the mouth.
Secondly, once the baby is latching, the mother can support the
breast very well _as_ the baby feeds, so that gravity has as little
chance as possible of drawing the nipple _out_ of the mouth. In fact,
you can often get more of the nipple/areola into the mouth _after_
latching if everything is wet by pouring the breast in as the baby
sucks..... This is one of the reasons why I question whether BN
(laid-back breastfeeding?) can be very useful to fix/minimize sore
nipples - because the more laid-back a mother is, the more gravity
can cause the breast to spread like a fried egg, preventing the baby
from drawing in as much areolar tissue as s/he would be able to if
the mother was sitting up or even leaning forward a bit, and
supporting the breast tissue from underneath. This means literally
"pouring" the breast into the baby's mouth, taking all the weight of
the breast off the baby's chin/lower jaw, and allowing it go right
inside the baby's mouth. Of course, the mother needs not to lift the
breast too high (there will be wrinkling of the areola above the
baby's mouth), nor to hold it too low (there will be stretching of
the skin above the baby's mouth - you can see the stretch with every
suck). But these little red flags of less-than-optimal positioning
can be taught to the mother so that she can have the tools to latch
her baby in the best position - for her.
Needless to say, the softer the breast tissue, the easier it is for
the baby to get a good mouthful of nipple/areola, so allowing the
breasts to become too full can be counter-productive. In addition,
it seems that some mums just have more elastic tissue than others -
the stretchier the tissue, the less likely she is to get sore
nipples. And lastly, if the positioning is good, or even half-way
reasonable, and the mother continues to feel pain and suffer damage,
then I'd start looking for a bacterial or fungal infection (the
latter least likely) before considering TT as a cause of ongoing
pain/suffering. In fact, in this case, if the tongue was snipped at
9 days and the pain is still ongoing at one month, then I rest my case!
Generally speaking, if the nipple is misshapen (usually flat at the
bottom and peaked on the top of the nipple face, where it runs
parallel to the baby's smile??) then it is a sign that more of the
underneath of the breast tissue needs to be in the baby's mouth. On
latching, the mother can present the underside of the nipple/areola
first (depress the top of the breast with her thumb on latching) and
then as the baby takes that first suck, release the thumb, so that
the nipple "flipples" to the back of the mouth....
Best wishes
Pamela
-----------------------------
Emergency caeserean section after a long labour. Was finger fed for
first few days in hospital due to being very sleepy.mum has lots of
milk. Baby had a tongue tie snipped at 9 days old. I haven't seen
baby feed myself (friend of my sisters) but my sister is an
experienced breastfeeder herself and said she thinks the latch is
quite shallow. The mum has never had a comfortable feed even after
the tongue tie was snipped, although it was slightly better. Her
nipple is often misshapen after a feed but no matter how hard she
tries she cannot get the baby to open his mouth any wider. I have
suggested biological nurturing to her but have had no feed back as
yet. Any other suggestions? Anyone had any success with cranial
oestopaths in a similar situation?I think she will stop if she cannot
resolve this situation.
Thanks,
Sarah
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