Latch problem, need help

Many latch problems can be corrected if caught early enough. I urge you to
seek the help of a good IBCLC (International Board Certified Lactation
Consultant) as often the ones that see you in the hospital are not
certified, not to mention that they are not all created equal. You can find
one in your area athttp://www.breastfeeding.com/directory/lcdirectory.html

When you find a good one they are worth their weight in gold. I fyou are in
the Phoenix area I can recommend an awesome one...

Good luck,
CY

"Dan C." wrote in message
news:cCR8b.335207$cF.101323@rwcrnsc53...
Hi all,

I'm a new father and my wife is having problem with latching and is
considering giving up breastfeeding. Our son is only 10 days old
and cannot latch on correctly. We saw a LC at the hospital, but
she was not very helpful.

He attaches to the breast, but then pulls his lower lip towards the
nipple and sucks some breast tissue (upper lip) and the nipple itself
(lower lip). That causes my wife severe pain and bleeding. Even
when we manage to latch him on correctly, he immediately draws
in the lower lip. We tried different positions and pulling his chin down,
but we cannot remove him far enough from the nipple His lower
lip is always curled inwardly as much as we try to re-latch him or
pull it out.

Any suggestions or advices would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Dan

In article cCR8b.335207$cF.101323@rwcrnsc53,
"Dan C." wrote:

He attaches to the breast, but then pulls his lower lip towards the
nipple and sucks some breast tissue (upper lip) and the nipple itself
(lower lip). That causes my wife severe pain and bleeding. Even
when we manage to latch him on correctly, he immediately draws
in the lower lip. We tried different positions and pulling his chin down,
but we cannot remove him far enough from the nipple His lower
lip is always curled inwardly as much as we try to re-latch him or
pull it out.

This sounds very much like what happened to me, and I had a good lactation
consultant who helped me. I started off well, but developed some pain in the
second week, which got bad enough that I called for help.

The LC showed me that he latched on well, but closed his mouth as the feed
went on, which meant part of my breast came out of his mouth. The baby needs
to take a good mouthful so that the nipple is drawn towards the back of the
mouth. My nipple was being squashed on DS's hard palate, and his suckling
pulled on the base of the nipple instead of my areola, which made it crack.
Ow ow ow. I can still remember the cold sweat from the pain (and the tears).

What I had to do was retrain the baby's latch. Whenever his latch went wrong,
I had to delatch him and put him on again properly. The first week was very
hard, especially at night, when we were both tired so it was easy for his
latch to go wrong. I seemed to spend all night putting him on and taking him
off, putting him on and taking him off. It was a nightmare. BUT... after a
week, I realised there had been an improvement. That was an encouragement to
keep at it. After another week, we were well on the road to recovery and I
was no longer in pain.

Your wife needs some supportive women around -- just having some one to talk
to makes things easier. What country are you in? In most countries, you
should contact La Leche League; in Australia, the Australian Breastfeeding
Association. Both are organisations of mothers who want to help other mothers.

--
Chookie -- Sydney, Australia
(Replace "foulspambegone" with "optushome" to reply)

"...children should continue to be breastfed... for up to two years of age
or beyond." -- Innocenti Declaration, Florence, 1 August 1990

A good LC would help; try to find one in your area.

You might search the archives for my post from february, called
"update to tongue problem and bleeding nipples". In it, I describe in
some detail all the problems we had. It's kind of confusing, but you
may find that some of the latching problems we went through ring a
bell for you.

Some immediate coping mechanisms for the pain and bleeding: Look for
Soothies in the breastfeeding supplies area of your pharmacy/CVS-type
store. They feel so good! Alternate the breast your wife feeds from:
use one one day while pumping from the other; use the other the next
day while pumping from the first one. That'll help repair the
nipples. However, these are both short-term coping strategies, not
cures. Your wife needs a cure!

Please tell her to hang in there. Pain and feeding problems are just
awful on top of the already-stressful postpartum stuff she is dealing
with. But breastfeeding is not supposed to be painful and the very
large majority of women who try it end up having problem-free
breastfeeding by 6 weeks. The baby's mouth will get larger, if nothing
else. But don't try to wait for that! Read my previous post and search
the archives for other latching problem stories, but most of all, get
yourselves a good LC.

Good luck!

"Dan C." wrote in message news:cCR8b.335207$cF.101323@rwcrnsc53...
Hi all,

I'm a new father and my wife is having problem with latching and is
considering giving up breastfeeding. Our son is only 10 days old
and cannot latch on correctly. We saw a LC at the hospital, but
she was not very helpful.

He attaches to the breast, but then pulls his lower lip towards the
nipple and sucks some breast tissue (upper lip) and the nipple itself
(lower lip). That causes my wife severe pain and bleeding. Even
when we manage to latch him on correctly, he immediately draws
in the lower lip. We tried different positions and pulling his chin down,
but we cannot remove him far enough from the nipple His lower
lip is always curled inwardly as much as we try to re-latch him or
pull it out.

Any suggestions or advices would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Dan

I have two suggestions.

1. Look in the phone book and check for an IBCLC certified LC. Hospital
LC often have inadequate training.

2. Hae your son checked for tongue tie. This can cause a bad latch.

Good luck,
Larry

Dan C. writes:
: Hi all,

: I'm a new father and my wife is having problem with latching and is
: considering giving up breastfeeding. Our son is only 10 days old
: and cannot latch on correctly. We saw a LC at the hospital, but
: she was not very helpful.

: He attaches to the breast, but then pulls his lower lip towards the
: nipple and sucks some breast tissue (upper lip) and the nipple itself
: (lower lip). That causes my wife severe pain and bleeding. Even
: when we manage to latch him on correctly, he immediately draws
: in the lower lip. We tried different positions and pulling his chin down,
: but we cannot remove him far enough from the nipple His lower
: lip is always curled inwardly as much as we try to re-latch him or
: pull it out.

: Any suggestions or advices would be greatly appreciated.

: Thanks,
: Dan

As a temporary way to deal with the pain your dw can use a nipple shield.

KC
-------
Whittlestone Breast Expresser Distributor:
Special discount available for newsgroup participants.
Contact me at for details.



"Dan C." wrote in message news:cCR8b.335207$cF.101323@rwcrnsc53...
Hi all,

I'm a new father and my wife is having problem with latching and is
considering giving up breastfeeding. Our son is only 10 days old
and cannot latch on correctly. We saw a LC at the hospital, but
she was not very helpful.

He attaches to the breast, but then pulls his lower lip towards the
nipple and sucks some breast tissue (upper lip) and the nipple itself
(lower lip). That causes my wife severe pain and bleeding. Even
when we manage to latch him on correctly, he immediately draws
in the lower lip. We tried different positions and pulling his chin down,
but we cannot remove him far enough from the nipple His lower
lip is always curled inwardly as much as we try to re-latch him or
pull it out.

Any suggestions or advices would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Dan