Hi everyone

The week end is almost over and tomorrow I am heading to the breastfeeding clinic. I wanted to talk briefly about the subject of latch. So many issues stem from a bad latch. Some research actually says that 80% of problems in nursing are related to a bad latch. When I help moms, the first thing we always do is to look and correct the latch. Also remember that if you are experiencing pain during nursing there is something wrong. It should NOT HURT!!!. When nurses tell you the latch looks good but you are still in pain then you must do something. It is not normal. A few simple tricks to remember is to point the nipple towards the nose so that the baby has to reach up and open his mouth very wide. Remember that the baby’s neck also needs to be in extension or looking up. It will be a lot easier for the baby to move his tongue down and swallow as well.

Another thing that we seem to have forgotten is that babies are programmed in their brain to nurse and to latch well. At the clinic and what I use a lot in my practice is called self latching. We place the baby in an upright position between the breasts of the mother and we do not touch the head or force the baby on the breast. The baby will then move around and find the breast by himself and attach in a much better position with a wide mouth. A great web site you can visit for more information on that is http://breastcrawl.org/ I encourage you guys to view that video and to see how amazing this little baby is.

Don’t forget latch is key if you are still having problems call someone to help you so you can evaluate if there is a reason why the baby can’t latch well.

talk soon

valerie