# fixing older baby's latch again?/



## jnmom (Sep 16, 2004)

I've had nothing but angst with this kid since he was born. I THOUGHT we had a good latch, but he's 10 mos old and for the past few weeks has had a super shallow latch and hangs on with his teeth. The teeth marks are RIGHT at the base of my nipple. He take NO areola in his mouth, and his tongue is no longer over his bottom teeth. This hurts!

I've tried making him take more in. When he first latches on, it's fine, but then he'll yank his head back to get less in. If I hold him in the cradle hold to force his head to stay, he'll just push it out with his tongue or he'll bite me.

He only does it on my left side, because if he's doing it on the right it doesn't hurt. But on the left, i have several blisters and scabs that I just can't seem to heal because he keeps re-opening them.

It's not really a positioning thing, I've tried them all. But he gets angry if I mess with him too much, but doesn't really get the point when I end it. If I switch to the right, he's ok.

He does not have tort, or an ear infection, or any teeth coming in, so that's out. He used to PREFER nursing on the left!

I don't seem to be producing more or less on one side, and neither side has ever had a more forceful letdown, and at 10 mos I don't think that's an issue anymore?

Thoughts? Basically all I need is to force him to latch and suck correctly and I'm at a loss here!


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## jnmom (Sep 16, 2004)

NO ONE can help me?


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## Katie063008 (Aug 18, 2008)

Sorry, I don't know too much about this. My little girl had trouble latching at first so we used a nipple sheild. Then we learned how to latch well, but now she's have a bottle of breast milk once and a while and her latch seems to hurt again. Sometimes when she's relaxed or falling asleep she pulls back a bit and that hurts as my breast goes with her







: and she only sucks on the nipple part. She's only about 9 weeks so when that happens I just say ouch and break the seal. Then she latches back on and it's usually a better latch. Sometimes we have to do this a few times. Not fun, but I also can't deal with sore nipples. I have also cut her off and tried again a few minutes later. Good Luck!


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## durafemina (Feb 11, 2004)

dd - who took 7 weeks to not cause me intense pain w/ her latch - is 10 mos too and also has reverted to a crap latch. Thankfully she has no teeth and my nipples have toughened up enough so no damage so far. I try to make a game out of getting her to open wide before she goes on - I open my mouth wide to show her . . .
of course I am NAK and she has the nipple half pulled out as she sleeps . . . sigh

my sympathies mama!


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## PatioGardener (Aug 11, 2007)

How do you feel about CST? It may be worth having a session (or even massage therapy) to see if it is an issue that can be resolved by some gentle relaxation of the muscles etc. I only suggest this because it sounds very frustrating and painful - so you may get to the point that you want to try anything/everything!


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## olien (Apr 21, 2008)

what is cst?


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## kalamos23 (Apr 11, 2008)

craniosacral therapy - I think it's chiropractic.


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## jnmom (Sep 16, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *PatioGardener* 
How do you feel about CST? It may be worth having a session (or even massage therapy) to see if it is an issue that can be resolved by some gentle relaxation of the muscles etc. I only suggest this because it sounds very frustrating and painful - so you may get to the point that you want to try anything/everything!

You mean for me or for him?







Are you meaning that you wonder if he's got issues opening his mouth more? because it does seem that he's tense, so even if you didn't mean that I am wondering. The nursing sessions where he's exhausted seem to go much easier for both of us.


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## PatioGardener (Aug 11, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *jnmom* 
You mean for me or for him?







Are you meaning that you wonder if he's got issues opening his mouth more? because it does seem that he's tense, so even if you didn't mean that I am wondering. The nursing sessions where he's exhausted seem to go much easier for both of us.









I meant for him - but you go for it if it will help!

I was wondering if his jaw is tight in some way, for some reason. Sometimes it happens with teething, but sometimes there is no obvious reason. If he nurses better when sleepy, then it may be a tension thing.

Have you seen any improvement lately? I hope it gets better soon.


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## jnmom (Sep 16, 2004)

There's a little improvement, but a lot of it is that the cut on the underside of my nipple has healed. I've been forcing him to stay close to me, he's stopped getting so mad about that.

But thinking back this was really always a problem, he would never open his mouth very wide or accept a deeper latch. We bought him these HUGE pacis when he was a baby and got him used to those, and that really helped with his latch (to the point that I don't think he'd have figured it out if I didn't do that) At the time I just thought he had some kind of oral aversion.

We've been "latching" on to a ton of things that could be wwrong from tongue tie to the weird dimples on the sides of his lips (he could never keep suction) so maybe that was it all along (see there I go again latching on to something he he) but he doesn't really open his mouth very wide for a spoon either. Maybe he's just weird









Still nursing him though, just have my moments of "I wanna quit now!!!"


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