7 Breastfeeding Problems You Can Avoid With A Good Latch

Getting the best latch right from the start can help avoid some common breastfeeding challenges that might result in early weaning.

If you and your baby latch well from the time you first start breastfeeding, you’ll be more comfortable, your baby will develop and gain weight, and breastfeeding will be a smooth and enjoyable experience for both of you.

Common breastfeeding problems you can avoid

#1. Cracked nipples

This can happen as early as the first day post birth – even with just one poor latch. As many women who have experienced this will tell you, it really hurts!

Although some mild discomfort associated with breastfeeding is normal in the first week postpartum, any lasting pain – especially when it’s accompanied by broken or blistered skin – is a sign that something is wrong with your baby’s latch.

As you’re working on getting a better latch, you might want to apply some purified lanolin or other natural oil – virgin coconut oil for example, which is also anti fungal and anti bacterial. This will help to heal your sore nipples.

If the damage is severe, you might need to use a nipple shield to help the nipple injury heal. It’s best to use nipple shields under the advice of a lactation consultant.

#2. Sore nipples without visible damage

If you hear clicking noises as your baby nurses, it might be that your baby isn’t latched deeply enough.

You can try shifting your baby’s position at the breast, to see if she will take the nipple deeper into the mouth. You can also unlatch and try latching again. If the clicking persists, it could be that your baby has a tongue tie or high palate, both of which can cause nipple pain.

If your nipple soreness is from your baby slipping down on the nipple as the feeding progresses, try pulling the baby’s body in closer to yours and keeping it there for the duration of the breastfeed.

Read more about this in BellyBelly’s article Sore nipples.

#3. Prolonged breast engorgement

When your breast milk comes in (usually 2-5 days after the birth), some swelling is normal. With frequent milk removal, breast engorgement typically subsides after a couple of days.

If your baby isn’t able to get enough milk from the breast, however, you might experience lasting engorgement or painfully full breasts. Expressing milk – either with a breast pump or by hand – can alleviate some of the pressure but getting a better latch, so that your baby can transfer milk effectively, is the best way to prevent engorgement.

To help your baby latch effectively to engorged breasts, you can try reverse pressure softening.

Read more about this in BellyBelly’s article Engorgement – Relief For Breast Engorgement.

#4. Blocked milk ducts (plugged ducts) or mastitis

If milk isn’t being removed because your baby isn’t correctly latched, your chances of a plugged milk duct or breast infection are increased.

Watch for signs of inflamed milk ducts, such as a small tender spot or painful lump on the breast, redness, heat or even flu-like symptoms. If you develop any of these symptoms, treat the problem while trying, at the same time, to get baby to latch more deeply and transfer more milk.

An unresolved blocked milk duct can lead to a breast abscess, which might require breast surgery.

You can read more about this in BellyBelly’s article Breast Abscess And Breastfeeding – 4 Questions Answered.

#5. Thrush or breast infection

Any broken skin on the nipple is susceptible to infection – bacterial, viral or fungal (yeast) infections.

Your health care provider will be able to differentiate between the types of infection (i.e. yeast infection or bacterial infection). In the meantime, you might want to work with a lactation consultant or a GP who works in breastfeeding medicine, to get to the root of the problem and to be sure you’re getting the best possible latch. You don’t want to experience recurrent breast infections.

It’s important to realise that thrush (no matter where you get it) always begins in the gut. When your gut is out of balance, thrush spreads to other areas, resulting in outbreaks if it isn’t brought under control.

To help prevent or beat thrush at the root cause, read the helpful information in our article Thrush Treatment | Get Rid of Thrush For Good.

#6. Low milk supply

If your baby falls asleep quickly at the breast and you don’t hear any swallows, or if your baby seems to stay at the breast forever but is fussy and hungry again right after you unlatch her, it could be that she isn’t getting the milk that’s there. This is usually due to a poor latch.

If not enough milk is being removed at every breastfeed, your breast milk production will slow down. Doing breast compressions while you are breastfeeding will increase your milk flow and help your baby to continue breastfeeding effectively at each feed. Frequent feedings are also important to maintain a good milk supply.

Check out our other articles on low milk supply, including How To Increase Milk Supply Fast! 9 Best Things To Do.

#7. Poor weight gain

Most babies return to their birth weight within 2 weeks of birth. A baby who isn’t gaining well is not getting enough nourishment. Babies will typically nurse 8-12 times per day, with some babies needing to nurse more and some less.

If your baby’s weight is not increasing as expected, make sure you are breastfeeding often enough and optimising every feeding so that your baby gets the most breast milk possible. This starts with getting a deep asymmetric latch.

How to get a good latch

A good latch starts with the right breastfeeding position. Be sure you have your baby’s body turned toward yours (tummy-to-mummy), with her head where your breast naturally falls.

If you need pillows under your baby to achieve this, use them. If not, don’t feel you have to use them. Pull your baby’s body in tight against yours – with no space between you. Now, with your nipple next to your baby’s nose, tickle her top lip to elicit some rooting. When your baby’s mouth is open wide, bring her toward the breast and allow her to latch. Your baby might need to tip her head back slightly to do this. Your nipple will be pointing toward the roof of your baby’s mouth and the chin might be buried in breast tissue, with the nose lightly touching your breast.

How can I tell if my baby is latched correctly?

First of all, it shouldn’t hurt. If it does, try to get a deeper latch at the next feeding. Sometimes just the first few sucks are uncomfortable but once the baby gets the nipple deeper into her mouth, the discomfort subsides. If it’s so uncomfortable you can’t continue the feeding, break the suction and try again.

You should see some quick flutter sucking at the beginning of a feeding, followed by some deeper sucks. These are followed by swallows as the baby gets more milk. Then the baby will pause for a short time and start the process again. You should hear lots of swallowing while your baby is actively nursing – sometimes you’ll hear gulping but sometimes it will be a soft ‘kah’ sound. You can see swallows as a brief pause mid-suck.

If you aren’t seeing or hearing swallows, your baby isn’t transferring enough milk, and might need a deeper latch to do so.

Your breasts should feel softer after a feeding, and your nipple should be the normal shape and colour when your baby lets go. If your nipple is creased, or looks like a new tube of lipstick, your baby is not latched well.

What to do if you can’t get a comfortable latch

Consider spending time skin to skin. Often this awakens baby’s breastfeeding reflexes and baby will search for the breast and self-attach.

If you cannot get a comfortable latch on your own, work with a lactation consultant, or an Australian Breastfeeding Association or La Leche League peer counsellor, in person. Sometimes just small adjustments in the way you are holding your baby will be enough to make a huge difference.

An experienced lactation consultant can also examine your baby’s oral anatomy to make sure that isn’t the source of your problems.

Occasionally, a baby’s mouth might be out of proportion to a mother’s breast or nipple size; in that case, the only way to get a comfortable latch is with time and infant growth. When a baby is born prematurely, sometimes a nipple shield is useful and sometimes it’s necessary to pump and feed expressed milk until baby grows a little.

If you are finding breastfeeding difficult, hang in there, but also get help. Breastfeeding is worth the effort to get the best latch possible.