Hey all,
I have a question for my friend - I didn't have this problem with my daughter so I can only speculate - any tips or advice I could pass on would be greatly appreciated...
My friend just had her first baby and is having trouble getting him to latch on on one side. She has pretty large breasts and her nipple isn't pointing out on the one side. She said he is doing great on the other side and she can get plenty of milk out of both sides, but doesn't know how to get him to like that side. She said she has a breast shield that was working, but now that her milk has come in it's not doing the trick. Is there anything she could buy or tricks to try, to get it to stick out, that anyone has had success with? What about different holds - she has tried the football hold and the regular one across the chest. I thank you all in advance for your words of wisdom.
She can try expressing some of her milk on that side. She can pump and store for later or just express by hand. I don't have large breasts but they would get very full and my little one couldn't latch on until I expressed or pumped some. That didn't last very long, only about 1 or 2 weeks and then she got used to it and my body did too.
I had that problem b/f my firstborn. My midwife showed me a techniques called the "hoffmans technique"..it would be hard to describe here, but you can try to google it to see if you have any luck.
If there is a local LLL or breastfeeding clinic they will have lots of techniques to try. First they will determine if it is flat or inverted. Medela makes nipple shells and nipple shields. Both were helpful for me in the beginning to help my daughter latch on. I had very large breasts and very flat nipples with my first baby... and since she was only 5 lbs at birth her tiny mouth had a hard time opening wide enough to get all of what she needed to in her mouth without the nipple sheild. Breastfeeding was compounded by thrush and milk blisters and many other problems that caused severe pain (pain is not normal in breastfeeding ~ it shows there is something wrong). DD had a very difficult time latching on so she'd end up just somewhat licking what she could get until we began using the nipple sheild. I tried all sorts of things and finally when DD was 5 mo old it seemed to get much better. I even got her to latch on without the nipple sheild. Eventually DD stretched out the tissue of the nipples and was able to latch on without difficulty. ... oh and after she was weaned I went down 4 cup sizes from my PRE pregnancy size. For my second baby I had tiny breasts and very stretched out nipples so it was really only the first one that I had a lot of trouble getting to latch on due to flat nipples. My second had other breastfeeding issues due to prematurity.
For Both babies my local breastfeeding clinic was essential to getting me through. They provided support, encouragement and lots of hands on knowledge that got my babies to eat like they needed to.
She should go to a lactation consultant. The nipple shield should help though, until he can learn to latch on his own. I had the exact same problem with both of my kids, but after a couple trips to a lactation consultant the issue resolved itself in a couple weeks.
L.:
I had the same problem when it came breastfeeding my son. I had one side that just would not come out enough for him to latch. I have been using the shield for the last 6 months and it has worked very well, I'm surprised that it didn't work well for your friend. Something she could try is the breast shells, sold by Medela. They are like a turtle shell that you put on over your nipple to help draw them out. They were given to me by my L.C., they actually do work however they are not the most comfortable things in the world. I gave up on them because my son was doing well with the shield. Hope this helps!!!
I think I would pump on the weak side and give the breast milk in a bottle, rather than waste it! Let the baby nurse on the good side and let the dad or the sitter or the grandma enjoy feeding from a bottle of breast milk. no point in letter the mom feel bad about being "improperly formed." Why push the baby? Just get the nutrition in the baby and still enjoy half of the breast feeding!
She should check out the Medela products at Breastfeeding Center of Maine...I'm pretty sure they make something specifically for this issue.
I'ld have her try to pump a little before she gets him to latch on and to have hom feed first fron the side he doesn't like-this was recommened by a nurse, friend, and mother of three. It's normal for a side preference. My daugter prefers one side too. There's also this little "too"(sold at target) that pulls the nipple out. It's different from the nipple shield I forget who makes it but the company brgins with a "L" and the package is purple.
I hope she has good luck soon.
Hi L.,
you could tell your friend to try pumping for a few minutes before she feeds him. my nipples were slightly flat when i started nursing my daughter and that helped to draw them out a little and made it easier for her to latch on. after about 1 week there were no more problems. hope this helps!
If she had a c-section it might be a response to some of the medication she had or is on now. That's not scientific, just anecdotal :)
She should stick it out (no pun intended) even pumping on that side for awhile and eventually it will return to normal - that is if it was not flat before. If it was always flat I'd try some of the other suggestions like the nipple shield.
Hello there,
She may want to try to continue with the shield for a while. I had that problem on both sides. I would use the shield to get my son to latch on, and then disengage him once he had nursed for a few minutes,take off the shield and then get him to latrch back on. My nipples would have exrtended enough by the nursing to make it easy without the shiled. I also found pumping helped extend the nipples and corrected the flatness. It took about seven or eight weeks, but then the flatness had resolved and we were good to go. Your friend may want to nurse on the good side and pump on the other until her nipple stays extended? Also, she may want to check in with a lactation specialist just to be sure. You are a good friend to encourage her to keep on nursing.
Cheers!
C
With my first child, I had to wear those hard cups that made my nipples poke through (yuck). It was mostly time and effort that helped my baby to latch on (and I mean a lot of HARD effort)and not giving up. When milk first comes in, breasts are more engourged than they will be as things settle down. If I am correct, things will get easier for her!
Try a nipple guard. You can find it at Babies R Us.
the easiest position is to lie on your back and put the baby on your tummy, support his head, and position him over the nipple. he should suck it right up.
another position to try is to lie on your left side (with pillows behind you) place baby (on his right side) as close to breast and let him root for the nipple. or vice versa
remember the skin of the breast should be slighlty drawn into his mouth while feeding so make sure you're not engorged or he won't be able to pull the skin in when he sucks.
Tell her to try to use a hand pump to draw out the nipple before nursing. This helped me with my first child who wouldn't nurse on one side, and the more engorged you get, the harder to latch on! Sometimes rubbing some of her milk on the nipple will help, too. But the hand pump did get the nipple to be less flat.
Good luck to your friend!
get a nipple shield!!! medela makes them. they work great!
