How to fix a painful latch

Many mums experience a painful latch when they are new to breastfeeding. I’m gonna shout this for those in the back… BREASTFEEDING SHOULD NOT BE PAINFUL! 

It’s common in the first week or two after birth to feel a bit of discomfort when your baby first latches for a breastfeed, but it should ease within the first minute of feeding. If the pain continues for longer, then something is not right.

The most common cause for a painful latch is baby’s positioning is not quite right. This causes them to breastfeed using a shallow latch (just the nipple in the mouth) instead of getting the nipple deep into the mouth with some areola. (Areola is the coloured skin around the nipple). Having the nipple far back in the mouth is important so your nipple doesn’t get squished against the hard part of the roof of your baby’s mouth (the hard palate). When your baby has a deep latch, some areola will be in your baby’s mouth as well as the nipple.

While there are other possible causes of nipple pain while breastfeeding, ruling out the issues below that commonly cause a painful latch is a great starting point to getting you breastfeeding pain free.

Positioning mistake #1: Your baby is too far away from you and the breast.

In the photos below, you can see that the baby is too far away from the breast and the rest of mum’s body. The left photo shows the baby’s chin and cheeks aren’t touching the breast at all. In the right photo, the baby’s chin is touching the breast, but their cheeks aren’t and there is a lot of space between mum and baby’s tummies. Having bub too far away means that the nipple will stay towards the front of their mouth where it will get squished which results in the painful latch.

Fix:

Pull your baby in close to you so there’s no space between yours and bub’s tummies. Your baby’s chin should be digging into breast and both of their cheeks touching the breast. That’s how close your baby needs to be to get a deep latch (see pic below).

Positioning mistake #2: Baby’s tummy is facing up instead of in towards you.

This is especially common when using a breastfeeding pillow. The photo on the left below show’s baby lying almost on their back, so baby has to turn their head to latch on. It isn’t possible to get close enough to the breast to get a deep latch in this position, and it’s really hard for them to swallow with their head turned to the side (try it yourself!).

Fix:

Hold baby facing in to you, tummy to tummy, so that their head, neck and spine are all in line when they are going to latch. They should still be in that position once they’re on the breast and feeding. See pic on the right above.

Positioning mistake #3: Baby’s chin is to their chest.

This stops your baby from opening their mouth wide and often causes their nose to be squished into your breast.

Fix:

Your baby is too close to the outer edge of your body. Move your baby across your body towards your baby’s feet (towards your midline) so that they tip their head back slightly and dig their chin into the breast. It helps to try and line your baby up this way before they latch on, but if you get them on and notice bub has their chin to their chest, you can move them while they’re already latched. Check out the Instagram reel below to see this in action.

Mistake 4: Aiming your nipple straight into the middle of bub’s mouth when latching

You can see from the video below that when you aim the nipple straight into the middle of bub’s mouth (fingers in the video represent baby’s top jaw and thum represents bub’s chin), that the latch ends up with only a the nipple and very little breast tissue in the mouth. The nipple stays towards the front of the mouth where it will get squished. 

Fix:

Position your baby so that your nipple is pointing towards your baby’s nose before they latch. This way, when your baby tips their head back and digs their chin into the breast, they also end up with a lot of areola in their mouth, not just nipple = deep latch. You can see on the video below, that when the nipple is pointed towards baby’s nose, baby ends up with a lot more breast tissue from under the nipple in the mouth and the nipple is futher back in the mouth.

The tips above assume you’re breastfeeding in the traditional cradle position, but these points all apply no matter which position you use. The only difference would be the direction you move your baby to get their head to tip back slightly.

Other reasons for nipple pain during breastfeeding:

• Infection such as thrush or bacterial infection
• Vasospasm (some good info on this here: https://www.breastfeeding.asn.au/resources/vasospasm)
• Oral dysfunction:
  • Sensitive gag reflex causing baby to prefer shallow latch
  • Low or high muscle tone preventing deep latch or uncoordinated suck
  • Tight lingual frenulum (tongue tie) preventing deep latch

Each of these will have different treatment and fixes specific to yours and your baby’s situation. If you have tried the positioning tips above and are still finding breastfeeding painful, it is important to get support from an IBCLC ASAP, to help you get to the bottom of why and help you fix it! You can also get my FREE “How to get a good latch” guide below.