Bad latch on one side some of the time..

[lavwana]

My 13 day old has a bad latch only on my left side, rarely on the right side.  I can unlatch and relatch her all I want and it is still mildly painful.  Its a pinching feeling and I end up with the nipple lipstick shaped. Doing a sidelying position it is sometimes a good latch and every now and then with the cross-cradle position.  Anyone experienced something like this or have advice about it?

[whitney4126]

I just want to say good luck and keep trying positions. I had all kinds of latch problems in the beginning. I went through a phase where I couldn't get a good latch on my left side also, and my left breast has always been larger than my right. I never figured out why there was such an issue, but I just couldn't seem to replicate the same latch as on my other side. Now we've been doing it long enough and LO has enough head control and strength and that we can get a painless latch in any position on both sides, but I still prefer to nurse my left side in the football hold and my right in the cradle hold. Hang in there!

[ellabee]

I feel you! I had the same problem with righty. DD would latch fine on the left but would give me lipstick nipple on the right. I tried a whole bunch of positions and kept switching it up each nursing session so the same part of the nipple wouldn't get squished/chaffed. It got better for me when I went to see a LC. She spent about an hour working with me to get a good latch in the cross cradle position. From then on, that's what I used and after a while DD seemed to get it better. I will say it still took me 5-6 weeks before I didn't have any discomfort on that side at all.

Eventually, with head control and a bigger mouth, latching gets so much easier.

Also, be sure to watch out for blisters/blebs with lipstick nipple. I ended up with a clogged duct because the tip was getting too much friction and ended up blocking a milk pore.

Good luck mama!

[lavwana]

Thanks guys this is my second and I nursed for years with my first so I think my nipples are toughened from that experience, Good to know about the duct/nipple blister issue and this is normal.

[casey]

Yeah, definitely switch up the positions to see what helps. LO might prefer to hold her head at a certain angle just based on how she was situated inside. Our pedi gave us exercises to help LO stretch those muscles out. It should get better with time and practice.

[puffandstuff]

I had the same issue. It eventually worked itself out, but in the mean time I did laid back nursing.