Before Your Baby Is Born
- Setting Up for Success: Ten Tips to Prepare for Breastfeeding
- Breastfeeding: 15 Ways New Dads can Help
- What to Bring with you to the Hospital
- What is Colostrum?
- Breastfeeding: The First Few Hours
- Breastfeeding: The First Three Days
- How your breasts will change during pregnancy and nursing
- Breastfeeding: What is a Latch?
- Breastfeeding: How to Position your Baby
- Breastfeeding: How to Hold your Breast
- Breastfeeding: How to Position Yourself
- Breastfeeding Holds: Cross-Cradle, Football Hold, Cradle, Side-Lying
- Breastfeeding: How to Know When Baby is Hungry (Rooting Reflex)
The First Six Weeks
- Breastfeeding: The First Six Weeks
- Breastfeeding and Nutrition: What should I eat while breastfeeding?
- Breastfeeding: Where to Find Support
- Breastfeeding: How to Latch
- Breastfeeding: What a Good Latch Feels Like
- Breastfeeding: How to Know if you Have a Good Deep Latch
- Care Plan: What to do if Your Baby Won’t Latch
- Care Plan: How to Use a Nipple Shield
- Breastfeeding: How Your Baby Gets the Milk Out of Your Breast
- Breastfeeding: How Often do I Breastfeed?
- Breastfeeding: How to Learn Baby's Feeding Cues
- Breastfeeding: How Long Should a Feeding Take?
- Care Plan: What if Early Breastfeeding is Not Going Perfectly?
- Breastfeeding: How do I Know Baby is Getting Enough at Each Feeding?
- Breastfeeding: How to Breastfeed a Sleepy Baby
- Care Plan: What to Do if Your Baby is Not Getting Enough at Each Feeding
- Breastfeeding: Waking Your Baby to Eat: When do I Stop?
- Breastfeeding: How to Know Baby is Getting Enough Overall - Diapers
- Breastfeeding: How to Know Baby is Getting Enough Overall - Weight Gain
- Breastfeeding: How to Know Baby is Getting Enough Overall - Infant Behavior
- Care Plan: What to Do if Your Baby is Not Getting Enough Overall
- Care Plan: Engorgement
- Care Plan: Sore Nipples
Finding Your Breastfeeding Rhythm
- Care Plan: How to Increase Your Milk Supply
- Increasing Your Milk Supply: What to Expect When Following the Care Plan
- Effective Feeding: What is it?
- Increasing Your Milk Supply: Why the Care Plan Will Work
- Effective Feeding: How to Identify Effective Feeding
- Effective Feeding: The Difference Between a Suck and a Swallow
- Effective Feeding: How to Ensure Effective Feeding
- Breastfeeding: Milk Flow - The Difference Between Breast and Bottle
- Breastfeeding: How Milk Supply Affects Your Flow Rate
- Care Plan: How to Fix Your Milk Flow and Increase Your Milk Supply
- Breastfeeding: Why Your Baby May Not Be Getting Enough
- Breastfeeding: What Am I Supplementing With?
- Plugged Ducts
- Mastitis
- Demystifying Cluster Feeding: What’s Normal...What’s Not
Common Challenges
- Getting Breastfeeding Support from Mom
- Care Plan: How to Increase Your Milk Supply
- Care Plan: What to do if Your Baby Won’t Latch
- Care Plan: Engorgement
- Care Plan: Sore Nipples
- Care Plan: How to Use a Nipple Shield
- What to Expect When Following the Care Plan to Increase Supply
- Care Plan: What to Do if Your Baby is Not Getting Enough at Each Feeding
- Care Plan: What to Do if Your Baby is Not Getting Enough Overall
- Why Your Baby May Not Be Getting Enough at the Breast
- Care Plan: Plugged Ducts
- Care Plan: Mastitis
- Care Plan: Yeast
- Care Plan: What if Early Breastfeeding is Not Going Perfectly?
Breastfeeding and the Working Mom
The Man Behind The Milk
Resource Library
Our Experts
Breastfeeding: How to Know if you Have a Good Deep Latch
To help you understand if your latch is effective during your first days of breastfeeding, here are some signs:
- Although you might feel some gentle tugging or mild sensitivity as your baby begins to milk your breasts, overall breastfeeding should be comfortable. There should be no pain, or just a little pain, and only for the first few days as your baby begins to feed. Read about What a Good Latch Feels Like to learn more.
- Your baby has a mouthful of breast tissue, particularly near his lower jaw, and isn't latched onto just the nipple. In other words, more of your areola is showing near his top lip than his bottom lip.
- Your baby's mouth opens wide just before you bring him onto your breast. So his mouth isn't clamped or pinching your breast.
- His top and bottom lips are "flanged" out, meaning he isn't sucking in his lips.
- His cheeks look normal, not dimpled or drawn in as though he was sucking from a straw.
- You don't hear any lip smacking, as if the seal isn't good. While some clicking sounds can be normal, lip smacking shouldn't be possible if your nipple is far enough back in his mouth.
Many moms often experience some nipple pain when they begin breastfeeding despite having a good latch. If the pain is slight, carry on and it should disappear in a few days. If the pain is excruciating, follow the care plan for sore nipples. Even if the pain is tolerable and improving, you can follow a modified version of the care plan to give your nipples time to heal.
Tips for success
- If the latch doesn't feel good, it probably isn't good. Take your baby off your breast and try re-latching.
- Aim to get as much of your breast into his mouth as possible, so more than just the tip of your breast or nipple, particularly near the lower lip.
- Ensure that both his top and bottom lips are flanged out and not curled in.
Source: Heather Kelly is an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) who also sits on the Bravado Breastfeeding Information Council Heather has been practicing in New York City since 2001.
Our Experts
