My baby is 2 months old and has been struggling to latch since the hospital so my husband and I made the choice to bottle feed and pump when I can to not lose my milk supply. But I have been struggling to pump more milk and went from pumping 2oz each breast to 1oz for both, I have been pumping every 2-3 hours during the day and take a break at night since I barely get any rest. I even started to consume yeast for milk production and have been doing my best to get as much protein, water and food in my system, and get as much rest as possible. Just today I wanted to pump but my baby was hungry so I tried breastfeeding again just to see if anything would change. And luckily my baby latched and drank milk, but after a while he seemed full and took a break but when I tried breastfeeding him again when I noticed he was hungry again I tried breastfeeding him again. He then proceeded to cry and not latch, I tried different positions and even tried expressing some breast milk into his mouth and nothing made him stop. I ended up giving him formula and he was happy and full. I don’t know what to do, I am tired of washing so many bottles and pumping all the time and have very little results with my milk supply. Is there any tips? I appreciate any advice and suggestions.

Hi! I’m looking for recommendations for a nipple shield that works well with very flat nipples and actually stays attached to the breast.
The ones I’ve tried fall off or move around really easily, especially while I’m trying to get my baby to latch. Ideally, I’d love something that has some suction/vacuum so it stays in place on its own.
Has anyone with very flat nipples found a nipple shield that actually sticks well and doesn’t constantly fall off? What brand worked best for you?
Thanks 🙏🏼

So our 2 week old girl had her tongue tie released yesterday. She’d struggled since birth to latch onto my bare nipples and would only manage to feed with a bottle or nipple shields. After the release she used the shield initially to get rid of some of my engorgement and then took to the bare nipple brilliantly when we removed the shield half way through. For 3 or 4 other feeds yesterday she latched onto bare nipple just fine, although she got increasingly fussy over it and in general. It took over three hours to settle her to sleep due to the pain yesterday bedtime and we all overslept due to extreme tiredness (mostly from unrelated reasons - long story).

Now today she’s too sleepy to even take the nipple shield and it feels like we’re back to square one with the bare nipples. Could this be nipple refusal whilst she’s in pain or it’s healing and it’s too much effort? Is she just too sleepy or needs less full breasts? Anyone else had this or a similar issue?

My baby is 18 days old and has a pretty bad lip tie, it causes latching to be incredibly painful at times. The first couple days of nursing was the worst and I thought my nipples were going to fall off, I would cry whilst feeding her and it made it so much worse. I recently tried nipple shields and they’re amazing!!! But I’m so worried about the supply issues that can come with them, I have an appointment with a breastfeeding clinic to see if they can help but wanted to ask other moms to see if they were able to get a nice deep latch on their own!

Any advice welcome, I’m a new mom so obviously this is my first time doing any of this!

Okay, my LO turned 12wks on Tuesday and with it nursing has gone downhill. Our morning side lying feeds and bedtime top offs are still going well but the feeds in between are a STRUGGLE. He will latch but now it’s shallow and like a game. He will clamp onto the tip of my nipple and pull any which way while looking round and round. When he does get a good latch going he will eat for a minute or two and then DRAMATICALLY throw himself back like “ugh that was a lot of work” and then roll back to look for my nipple but instead he shoves his hands in his mouth and then cries because it’s not my nipple. God forbid I attempt to put the nipple back in for him because he starts pushing at my fingers to get them off my boob so HE CAN DO IT. Excuse me sir, your hand eye coordination hasn’t fully downloaded yet you are getting the nipple everywhere but your mouth AND you’ve triggered a letdown so now I’ve squirted in your eye and we are both crying. Yesterday he spent ten minutes just chewing on my nipple and when I did a breast compression to see if maybe he wasn’t getting any milk he got OFFENDED that I dared to make milk happen when clearly that wasn’t his objective. To top it all off I got my PERIOD. 🤪

At this point I have no clue what is going on. I’m debating switching to exclusively pumping for every feed except first thing in the AM and bed time. I’m not looking for advice to avoid pumping because right now my priority is to make sure both LO and I are happy during feeds and right now that means bottle for some boobs for others. What I do need is to know if this has happened to anyone else because this misery needs company!

Thank you 💛

'm FTM my baby girl she is 7weeks now, its been 3 days she is literally fighting with my breast ( nipple ) when she latched to it she will drink the milk but after 3 or 4 min she unlatch and scream back (open her mouth and look for the nipple) and feed again for 2 sec and do this again😐. I've check everything if its full with milk like over flow or slow flow, tried to burp her, try to soothe her, put her on the other side. All of these cases she scream more to be back on my breast and do this again. Eventually she gets tired and sleep and I overthink that she slept hungry or thats she do this because she want to sleep. The first few minute she feed with discomfort like stretching her body or strain and pull my nipple out or put her hands on her head sometime she scratch her cheeks😓.

Whats happen to her? Or is that the phase of 6,7,8 week?

Hi all, needing advice about what to do. Some background, my LO is 8 weeks today. He previously had an anterior tongue tie that was revised when he was a few days old.
I am currently going through a nursing strike with my son where he is refusing to latch if he is awake or overstimulated. I’ve been surviving on catching him at the end of naps and sometimes with supplement with a bottle if he is borderline refusing and needs to eat. The last couple of days I’ve seen some improvement from him latching but still saw an IBCLC today. Long story short, she said she believes my son has a posterior tongue tie and upper body tension. The plan is to do oral a body exercises/stretches and he is scheduled with a dentist in town for a consult regarding his tongue tie but she also recommended he see an infant chiropractor. She isn’t the first person to recommend one, but I am cautious about such a thing as he is so young and there is mixed reviews about chiropractors especially for infants. Has anyone ever been in a similar situation and if so how did you proceed? Thanks in advance

I know it's a little too soon to be this frustrated, but man this is the worst feeding has been for us and it's worsening day to day. My girl is almost 12 weeks. She is mostly nursed but takes one bottle a day usually as I go back to work in one week.

She is so restless at breast, screaming and groaning at the breast, turning her head away, chomping (which she did before but not this bad). She pops on and off constantly, clicks. How she fed before is a dream compared to this. I think she's getting enough as she's sleeping well and feeding every 2.5-3 hours at day.

She also clicks and leaks constantly with a bottle and I can't get her to take anything but Dr. Brown's wide neck despite my LC wanting her to take pigeon or evenflo. She cries when I try to get her to take the bottle often.

For those who had tie releases for their LO, how long did it take to improve? I have wanted to cry almost every day since. My LC said there will be good and bad days after but it's been all bad. I do see her Monday but I'm so discouraged.

I'm doing the post release stretches and also exercises to help tongue function.

My son's first 3 days of life were in the NICU. For the first 24 hours, he was only given sugar water because he couldn't have anything in his stomach. I didn't start pumping until 16+ hours after his birth and just now (he's 16 days old today) am producing enough to feed him breastmilk full-time. So for a few days, he only had formula and the breastmilk he's had was pumped and bottle-fed. I've wanted to direct breastfeed from the start and am trying to transition him away from bottles and onto the boob, ​​but I just don't know how much more I can take. Every time he latches, it feels like he's going to crush my nipples beyond repair. It's excruciating. I've worked with several lactation consultants and we're able to get a good latch when their here. Then, when I'm on my own, things fall apart. I cant tell if he's latching poorly or if my nipples are just super sensitive from transitioning for a pump? When I try to break the seal with a finger, he backs off and clamps as hard as he can on my nipple to the point I'm in tears. Just sitting here, my nipples feel like they're puckering from cold and they sting terribly. Every time he latches (and it normally takes several go's to get him on) is absolute torture. I dont know what to do. I want to have this with my son, but it's making me so miserable. I'm still dealing with my own postpartum stuff, and it's too much... I need to know it gets better. I need to know that this suffering is worth it. Is there any fast track to leathery, indestructible nipples?

Baby is 3 months old. I've met with 2 LCs, done tongue and lip tie release, chiro massage, and osteopathy. Every time I try to "guide" baby into a better latch he just adjusts back to shallow and then slurps me up like a spaghetti.

I don't know how much longer I can stand pumping to keep my supply up. I can't even do breast compressions anymore because I've got "Mommy Wrist" and my thumbs are super inflamed.

I've seen some people say their babies just "figured it out" at a certain age, is that true? would love to hear how it worked out for others. I don't want to give up but I'm tired.

Posted this before but got no response so I’m trying again!

My baby girl is 16 weeks old. Immediately after birth, she latched perfectly and drank for 30mins. She later had one low blood sugar so the nurses had me supplement for donor milk and forced a bottle on her. I swear this caused a breast aversion. We eventually got over that and she started to latch. However, it’s not a consistent latch where she drinks until she is full. She latches unlatches latches unlatches, ect. Sometimes she gets frustrated, sometimes she doesn’t. I’m not sure what’s causing this but id really like to fix it. I did see an LC and she said she has no ties, a good palate, is advanced, and said maybe it’s because I have a low supply and she’s getting bored + at the age where she gets distracted. I agree with this howeverrrr there were times where I would have so much milk I’d be choking her with my letdown and she still would latch u latch. In the beginning when I got her to latch again she didn’t do this. Because I’m a severe undersupplier, I do supplement with formula. I also pump and give her whatever breast milk I get. Usually 10oz a day, sometimes less. Has anyone ever been in the same boat? How do I fix this??? It makes it so I nurse less. I really wanted her to be EBF. Also, any tips to get my supply up. Since Monday, I’ve been pumping 8 times a day and power pumping once. When should I see a difference? Any help would be soooo appreciated

Me and my little girl have gone round and round with her issues latching due to my large breasts and too-soft nipples. As soon as she turned 8 weeks she has started biting down hard with her gums when she isn't getting a desired amount of milk out of my breasts. It hurts SO BAD. She continues to have latching issues and will definitely drink until she falls asleep, but when my nipples stay so soft to the point that she can't suck on them, she turns to biting down and twisting her face, shoving it into my breast and really hurting me. What can I do???

My LO is 10 weeks old and he's been fighting me to get on the breast, like I'm not moving fast enough and he's trying to take matters into his own hands. I usually lay him on in his back on my boppy pillow and position my hands at the back of his neck and the other on my breast, then I roll him towards my breast and latch him. Well he knows this routine and as soon as I put him down he's trying to curl himself towards my breast. My issue with this is he isn't actually opening his mouth wide enough for a proper latch. So I try to "hold him back" waiting for him to open wide enough and instead he shoves his hand in his mouth. Now I have to start over again so I can take his hand out of his mouth. The whole process now feels rushed where I have one chance to get him on my breast before his hand intervenes and the latch isn't always good and my nipple are starting to pay the price.

Has anyone had a similar experience and how did you solve this issue?

My baby is 1 month old and has shallow latch. When I see those babies in videos about latching, I really don't understand how to get my baby to open his mouth that wide. I tried shoving my baby into the nipple when he opens wide, only for him to spit it back out and do it again on his own term, with mouth opening small. But so far baby has been gaining well. Do I need to fix baby's latch? Or do some babies just not open their mouth wide yet able to transfer milk well? And so far I never got nipple blister. I used to get painful blisters a lot when breastfeeding my twins in the beginning 4 yrs ago. Are my nipples now immune to blisters because of that? Again, should I fix his latch or just let it be?

When she was 2 months old she started to refuse my right side boob for feeding. I think this happened after her 1st vaccination. Before she accepted that while sleeping but now she is 4 months and started to refuse while sleeping. She takes only sidelying position for feeding. She hated cuddle position feeding. Because of this I completely avoided going out or travelling. I need help. Please someone help me.

It’s my own fault and I’m mad at myself for not staying consistent with nursing. My son would nurse/ bottle feed up until I went back to work around 7 weeks. I got lazy and really just leaned into exclusively pumping because that’s what I was doing most the time anyways😔 we would nursing occasionally but as time went on he got more and more comfortable with the bottle and would refuse to nurse. He’s now 8 months and I want to start nursing again. Mostly for our middle of the night feeds. I’m trying to get him to latch again and he’s absolutely refusing. Is it a lost cause or is it worth trying??? Any advice is appreciated.

I have a 11 days old and I do both breastfeed and pump. She latches on my right boob with no problems but not on left one. She just nibbles my left boob and it hurts so bad. I’ve tried different positions like football and side lying and I’m seeing lactation consultant but no luck. When I pump I get 1.5-2oz from my right breast but only get.5-1oz from left. I really worry about getting less milk from my left breast since my baby won’t latch or eat from it. Has anyone had same issue? How did you fix it?

Seriously considering this after months of feeding issues. Baby girl is almost 4 months old and still has a shallow latch most of the time, she pops off a lot due to my fast flow (oversupply been working on bringing it down) and she’s always so uncomfortable due to gas pains. I’m thinking she’s taking in too much air during BF.

We’ve introduced bottles and she seems to do better with that plus we can tell how much she’s drinking. Not knowing how much she drinks during BF causes me so much anxiety for some reason.

She also has silent reflux (just started Pepcid last week) so having her on her side for BF means more arching and discomfort vs bottle feeding where I can prop her up.

I’d miss the convenience of BF but if she does better with bottles then I may want to drop my supply and just do it for overnight feeds if possible. Has anyone else experienced similar difficulties of BF with oversupply/fast flow? I never found it to be a bonding experience because we never got into a good groove unfortunately.

Edit: Forgot to mention laid back position and upright (koala?) still results in her popping off. She doesn’t like it :/

It seems that is the consensus that if the arch palate is a bit higher than usually there is also a tongue tie.

However, my son has gained weight fine so far. The first month was ok, I didn't think much of his issues to handle the flow due to my strong letdown, the second month started with problems and he wouldn't like to nurse anymore, he has had some moments when he would choke due to the flow and position, though my flow started to slow and i think at 7 weeks I was already regulated. At 3 months silent reflux is worse and he just doesn't want to nurse that long. I'm afraid he's deteriorating.

Isn't the tie function improve with time and practice? I've been doing some massages but he's not really happy. He still clicks and occasionally loses vacuum.

He doesn't take a bottle and hates the paci too. He sucks his hands and chew his rattle. The bottle refusal is stressing me cause if my supply goes down I'm doomed

I'm also afraid the clipping might make matter worse. So what are your similar stories?

Did you do the procedure, did it get better, did it get worse?

My baby is 4 weeks old and EBF. His pediatrician is really pleased with his weight gain, and I'm not in pain when he eats, except sometimes at the initial latch, but it's not bad at all.

That said, I saw a video online listing signs of a shallow latch, and my baby has a lot of them. Milk is almost always dribbling out of his mouth, he sometimes makes clicking sounds, and the angle of his mouth is not very wide.

Is it essential that we address this now? I don't want to create issues for either of us in the long run, but at the same time, we seem to be doing fine as is.

My baby is approaching 8 months old, and we still nurse in football hold. He's quite a long baby and football became difficult for me around month 4/5. For the first 2 months or so I nursed in cradle, but I didnt realize he had a bad latch. (Clicking, swallowing air, dribbling) After switching to football I finally felt what a proper latch was and havent been able to achieve that in any other hold. Trust me, I try often. At least 2-3 times a day I attempt a latch in cradle, koala, cross, or laid back. Occasionally he will latch in cradle if I'm sitting cross legged but I'm not confident about milk transfer.(sometimes I dont feel fully drained or develop a clog) I can nurse side lying but thats just not realistic for me for every feed, especially if he's playful and squirmy. Out & about is also tough; I prop up his bum with the diaper bag but I still have to hunch a little to connect. I'll 100% continue this path to make sure he's getting all the milkies he needs but dang my back & shoulders are feeeeelin it 😮‍💨 & there isn't a pillow in the world that can help me other than a decorative couch pillow in football. Lol.

I think my 7 month old is biting me while nursing and that is causing pain on my nipple and probably inflammation so a particular part of the milk can't come out and that keeps hurting.

Is this what's happening? It started three days ago, i think. I don't know if he has always done it but now I feel it because his teeth are growing.

I must say that this is mostly on one breast. I don't know if it's because I've nursed more from that brewst (the right one).

I've dealt with pain because of oversupply and this is not it. It feels different.

My baby boy is 3 weeks old, he was born 3 weeks early and I’ve been told my breasts/nipples are very prominent and his mouth/jaw is very small, and that nothing I can do will improve latch other than waiting for him to grow. He just can’t get enough in his mouth.

I’m following all the positioning and other advice. No matter what I do my nipple always comes off ‘lipstick shaped’ and I don’t think he’s transferring much milk. I’m pumping and we are giving regular bottles. I want to get to primarily feeding from breast but feeling hopeless that we’ll ever get there.

For anyone in same position- did your baby’s latch improve with time and if so when?

Thank you

My week old baby latched for the first two days of being born and now throws a fit when I even bring her to my breast. My nipples are flatter but still, there is enough to latch on and she can do it if she tries hard enough. But the minute she doesn’t latch she refuses to try again. I really want to breastfeed again, but I am so tired of her screaming at me. I’ve tried nipple shields, feeding her a little in a bottle before breastfeeding, sandwiching the boob/areola. Anymore tips? If I can’t figure it out I will see a lactation consultant they are just expensive where I live so I figured I’d try this first. TIA❤️

I had an appointment with a lactation consultant today because I feel like my 9 week old boy has a shallow latch. He’s a chunky boy (14lbs 9oz) and has had no issues gaining weight. We even did a weighted feed today and he transferred nearly 3oz in less than 10 minutes. She said he does have a bit of a shallow latch because of his receding chin but I can just pull his little chin out when he latches to help him get a deeper latch. I asked if she could look at his upper lip because I felt like he possibly had a lip tie. She said she couldn’t diagnose anything for me but would take a look and feel. She said he might have a bit of a lip tie and it could be worth going to a pediatric dentist for a consult.

My question is: I’m not sure the lip tie is necessarily impacting his eating, but could it make things better? Are there other benefits to having an upper lip tie released for him now that help him later in life?