# HELP w/lipstick shaped nipples, bad latch



## 2BoyzMum (Jul 23, 2006)

I am writing on behalf of sis-in-law. She has 2 week old baby boy and is trying her best to breast feed without alot of support around. I am 1000 miles away. She is in a lot of pain and struggling. Here's the situation:

-Baby not latching right, sis tells me it is like sandpaper. Sounds like it is his toungue? Her nipples come out "lipstick" shaped. I think he is curling his tongue
-She has hired an LC for help, but won't see her until Tuesday again. Am hoping she makes it through to that visit. She is thinking of bottle feeding with so much pain. Obvious that she needs to follow LC's advice so I am not getting in way of that. But am sending her any other ideas to get her through
-They have her using an SMS
-Working on getting baby's weight up and then the latch (?)
-Her nipples are so beat up she is pumping when nursing is just too painful

I am just wondering if anyone had this type of bad latch experience. I had lots of other challenges but not this. How do you fix the babe's latch when it is his tongue. I sent her my two breast feeding books and can't find specific recommendations for this at a couple of websites I visit.

Any help welcome-thanks so much.

Proud auntie


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## grypx831 (May 22, 2005)

The problem I had with "lipstick nipple" (I thought I was the only one who called it that!) was because my baby's lower jaw was ending up ON the nipple instead of me getting the whole nipple in her mouth. It felt AWFUL. What I did to fix it was make sure the baby's mouth was open WIDE before I put the my nipple in (easier to do when the baby is just starting to get hungry and not freakin gout for food!) and also to try harder to be sure to aim my nipple "up" to try to get it behind her jaw. It took some practice but it worked - it also gets easier as they get older because their moths are bigger! I think it took me a good 6 weeks before I was nursing without thinking about it anymore.
Hope this helps.


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## TurboClaudia (Nov 18, 2003)

from dr jack newman's website, video clips of latching baby on: http://www.drjacknewman.com/index.ph...d=18&Itemid=42
specifically have her look at assymmetric latch videos down toward the bottom.

has baby been evaluated for tongue-tie?

the sandpaper description makes me think thrush and i would suggest that she treat assuming she and baby have it. i found the best treatment protocol for us at http://www.drjaygordon.com/development/bf/thrush.asp

~c


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## KWenn (Jun 13, 2006)

I had "lipstick nipple" only on the right side when dd would finish nursing on that side. It wouldn't hurt the whole time, only when she latched on, so I couldn't figure out what was wrong.

Then I saw on a website that it was not good if you ended up with lipstick shaped nipples after nursing. So I worked on making sure she had a good latch by getting her mouth open wide and pointing my nipple to the roof of her mouth, like grypx831 suggested. Within a day, she had it correct, and things got better after that.

Hope things get better for her!


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## katiesmom (Dec 11, 2003)

I had that problem with ds, latch on was excrutiating, sometimes I would scream, or cry, or both. I had a huge open crack in the other nipple which would come out more flat. My lc recommended cranial sacral therapy if he wouldn't respond to my guiding him on correctly. Luckily, it never came to that, but I did get him adjusted a few times, and his neck was out of alignment from a fast descent at birth. Maybe she could try a chiro if her child doesn't respond to her guidance.


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## 2BoyzMum (Jul 23, 2006)

Thanks all for the help. Thankfully sis-in-law's LC was wonderful enough to come by over the weekend and help. For now she is going to work on latch and pump when it is just too painful. As the work and he grows I hope this will go away. I passed all your good info on. I truly appreciate it.


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## timneh_mom (Jun 13, 2005)

Oh that's great news that the LC came to see her this weekend!! I too had "lipstick nipple" and one of the PP's mentioned an asymmetrical latch - that worked for us too. I was to try to aim my nipple at the roof of DS's mouth, so that you could still see areola below his nose, but that his lower lip covered almost all of the areola below. I'd gotten cracks just in a few days and they cleared up quickly once we got his latch taken care of. Making sure his lips were flipped outward on top and bottom helped too.

Those first few weeks can be so hard, it sounds like she is doing a wonderful job coping with it all. I hope it gets easier and better for her soon!!


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## oregongirlie (Mar 14, 2006)

I have this, too and while recovering from thrush I started using a nipple shield. They're controversial, but they're working great for us. I make DS practice latching on now and then, but don't want to go off the shield for my sake because it really keeps nursing pain free for me. They haven't messed up latch, supply or anything else for us.


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