Scarlett is not latching well all of a sudden more so on the right side than left. It is painful at times when she is sucking. She is starting to do the nurse alittle and then come off and then nurse again and so on and so on. She does do this witha bottle as well where she has half of the bottle down her chin from a poor latch I think. As well as cry a little after she has feed for a bit.Any suggestion why she may have the poor latch all of a sudden? Is this from reflux or something else?

Hmmm...I'm not sure.

B developed a really poor latch on my left side early on; however, it was due to the fact that the left nipple is inverted. (TMI, sorry!). Later on (around 2 or 3 months old) she started doing something similar to what you're describing with Scarlett--she'd latch, then sort of slide off and latch only onto the nipple (ouch!), then would fall off, and repeat the whole cycle (with arching and crying between). We figure now that she was uncomfortable either from gas or reflux or both.

Have you spoken to a lactation consultant? Just in case this isn't a reflux issue, it might be good to have an expert see exactly what you're talking about.

{{{BIG HUGS}}} to you!! Please keep us posted--I'll be anxious to hear whether Scarlett starts latching better.

I have no experience BFing, just want you to know that I'm praying it's not reflux!!!

Here's to hoping she'll start eating better!!

okay im not supposed to be on here anymore, so pretend you dont see me :wink:

Does she fuss alot when shes nursing? Is she taking enough of the areola into her mouth? If not she could be getting frustrated because shes not getting the milk out well enough....Aaron does the pull off and on thing when hes really gassy or needs to burp....if she is doing it with a bottle too, and the milk is spilling out of her mouth you may be right she may have developed a bad latch. Is she tongue tied? That can affect latch too....when she is on good and nursing pull down her lower lip and see if her tongue is in a U shape wrapped around your nipple. Also what about thrush? Are you having any nipple pain, red nipples, or any white spots in her mouth? You said its painful sometimes when she nurses so i would think that it would be a bad latch and not reflux related.

When she latches on make sure her chin touches your breast FIRST and then kind of roll your nipple into her mouth if that makes sense. And make sure she has her mouth open really wide and gets a good mouthful. If when she starts sucking it hurts , break suction with your finger and relatch her. If she has deveolped a bad latch habit you might have to do this many times. We went through a couple days where aaron got lazy about opening his mouth and i got really sore and engorged from him just chomping on my nipple.

I am so paranoid about breastfeeding, since alexys was so horrible with it, that i bug my lactation consultant every other day, no joke. Even though obviously aaron isnt having trouble nursing since he is 12 and a half pounds now lol I will run this by her and see what she has to say.

Oh also i forgot, she could be going through a growth spurt, and getting frustrated because she wants more milk than is there.

AN update......I called a breastfeeding consultation tonight b/c Scarlett is still not nursing well at all. The lady I talked to could not help me since Scarlett is latching on properly, there is no thrush, my nipples are (Sorry TMI)fine etc. Especially since she is feeding from a bottle this way as well. She feels that something may be hurting her mouth. Oh, she said that something may be wrong b/c she was nursing fine for the past 41/2 weeks. She has advised me to try to nurse her often or try to get her to try. Watch that she is not getting dehryrated and call the ped in the morning for him to evalute her in the next day or two. But if she continues to nurse like this for another 6-8 hrs then I should take her to the emergency. So We will see how she does.