Good grief! It has taken me 11+ months to finally figure out P's latch problem! He has a maxillary labial frenulum (P's upper lip looks similar to the last set of pictures.) When P was 6 weeks old a doctor (not his usual doctor) casually mentioned it looked like he was "tongue tied." I had always assumed it was his lower frenulum. His latch was wonky at times, but until recently, not a major issue. After randomly stumbling across this post I checked his upper lip and scared him when I yelled, "holy shit!"
She accurately describes Parker's latching issues; which have progressively gotten worse now that he has teeth:
Because an upper labial tie restricts movement of the upper lip, it may be difficult for the baby to latch effectively to the breast (3,4). Once latched onto the breast, the baby's upper lip may be tucked inwards, resulting in a shallow latch (5). The baby may be a 'clicky' feeder who takes in a lot of air during a feed. Breastfeeding may be painful for the mother. An older baby's upper teeth may dig into the breast during a feed, causing indentations or damage. Some babies will be able to breastfeed with an upper labial tie; others will have difficulty. The ability to breastfeed effectively depends on a range of other factors also affecting the mother (eg. breast anatomy, milk supply) and the baby (eg. oral anatomy), all of which may create further obstacles or make breastfeeding easier. (http://thefunnyshapedwoman.blogspot.com)
Most of you reading is could care less, but if you know a frustrated mommy having issues with breastfeeding please steer her toward this article!
Oh sweetie, I'm so sorry you are just finding this now. Hopefully, it will help from here on out.
ReplyDeleteArgh, so late! Do you think it is impacting how he eats solids too? I notice he seems to roll the food over in his mouth rather than chew it.
ReplyDeleteBut, I promise you he makes it look cute.
Interesting Betty! Were you ever able to rotate your breast to pull his lip out or forward?
ReplyDeleteCan't wait to hang with you guys soon!
The LC told me he had a shallow latch, gave me a nipple shield and we used that for 4ish months before I started trying to feed him w/o the shield. Since I thought he had a shallow latch I just shoved my boob into his mouth as far as it would go and hold it there until I thought he had latched on 100%. It has been a problem off and on, but I really notice it more now that he has teeth and it hurts when he bites down on my nipple.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure this is affecting his eating and explains his issue with textures.