Hi Ladies,
I'm usually on the May 2013 board, but thought I'd seek your BF wisdom here. My new DD is 6 weeks old now and we have having a couple of issues. I am EBF, and have a pretty bad plugged duct that I am trying to get unstuck. I am guessing that I got the plugged duct because DD has some not so good latching habits when nursing on that side. She is pretty gassy and tends to release a lot of gas when on my right breast, and her left side, so she is kindof distracted while nursing there and does not latch as well as she does on the left side. Over the last few weeks she has gotten to where she takes only a small amount of my right nipple in her mouth, so I am having nipple pain and this plugged duct.
Is it possible to change the latch of a baby who has been latching wrong for several weeks? I have tried to get her to take my whole nipple, but after a minute or two, she starts clicking and is back down to just a little bit more than the tip. It's painful and obviously not a good thing.
Thanks in advance...
Re: Latching question
https://www.pumpstation.com/pumpstation/dept.asp?dept_id=3228
Unlike the PP, I think it's fine to work on teaching baby to latch. Is your flow faster on the side with the bad latch? She might be clamping a bit to try to slow the flow. Reclining can help.
You can also squeeze like a hamburger and point the nipple to her nose so she goes up and around it.
If she latches well on one side, consider just shifting her to the other breast while keeping her in the same position. Might be a little awkward if she is in cradle or cross cradle, but worth a try.
That's all fine until your nipples are cracked, bleeding, and so sore you can barely stand to feed your child. I've never seen that happen to an animal, nor have I ever seen an animal with flat or inverted nipples.
Sometimes we just need to help our babies figure out how to do it better. I read this
https://shell.newpaltz.edu/jsec/articles/volume3/issue4/VolkV3I4.pdf
about how most primates have some difficulty nursing their young, and some possible explanations for why humans have even more problems. It makes me feel less crappy about not having this perfect, instinctual experience with bfing... It's normal to need help. Our bodies and brains are not like most animals. We're complicated!
This video was super helpful! Thank you so much, mrshall!! I tried doing it twice last night, and what a huge difference in both less gassy-ness and less pain! It will take some practice to get it right every time, but this was great. I think this is what the LC at the hospital was doing a really rotten job of trying to explain to me while DD was screaming at the top of her lungs, starving at 3 days old.
Thanks again!
Now, if I could just get rid of this plugged duct...
you feeling crappy is your own problem. i know that the technique i was taught is proven to be best. that doesn't mean that because someone made the decision.not to.use it and then had trouble should blame.me for there guilt when all IM doing is giving CORRECT information. furthermore nursing correctly will not result in cracked scabby painful nipples.
I'm pretty sure no one blamed you for anything, but suggested that maybe your way isn't the only way.