Babies Refuse to Latch and Milk Supply Keeps Dropping

“My baby is now a month old and is still not able to transfer milk efficiently via breastfeeding. His latch is terrible despite trying all the tricks and seeing 3 different lactation consultants. One LC says he has a posterior lip tie and a "very tight" lip tie. He is unable to flange both his bottom and top lip. Even if you manually correct them, they pop right back. He lost 12% of his body weight the first week and developed severe jaundice (were .5 bilirubin from being admitted). We”

“I’m currently 6weeks pp and I’m looking to put my son back on the breast. I managed to breastfeed for a week and a bit and then pretty much stopped after that cause my nipples ended up cracked and bled anytime I tried to draw milk from them. Which put me off touching or going anywhere near my breast area for a few weeks due to how sensitive it was. At first I was getting 3oz but since I stoped being consistent for a few weeks I’m now only getting droplets out. I was on and off pumping to help su”

“I know they’re not recommended, but has anyone used nipple shields for the entire breastfeeding journey? We’re only in our third week, and I simply can’t latch her directly onto my nipple because the pain is unbearable, even with a good latch. Shields at least make it somewhat manageable for me. submitted by /u/sleh_96 [link] [comments]”

“I want to make a long story short, but I need help. I have a 7 week old, born 7.2 pounds, lost a small amount of weight right after but gained it back in 5 days with exclusive breastfeeding. I was so proud. I thought that would continue. He got to 7.85 at the end of August, about 2-3 weeks old. Then at our 6 week appointment, he weighed 7.9. I have been so so stressed because I didn’t know my baby wasn’t gaining weight. What changed in that time period is I went from feeding him 40 min on each b”

“Hi all! We’re working with an IBCLC, an OB with specialized breastfeeding training, a chiropractor, and waiting for an ENT eval (small tongue and upper lip ties). LO can sometimes get a good latch but last nights MOTN feeding was so shallow and I just let her have it after several attempts to fix. (Poor choice by me!). I did a short pump after that made it much worse. My nipple now has a big white spot at center and a red bump on the side (I think from friction). Any tips on pain relief?? 😭 TIA”

“Hello Mama’s, Has anyone done a virtual lactation consult in regard to getting a deeper latch with your baby? My girl is 3 months old and I am just struggling getting her to latch deeply and stay on. I’ve been considering one of the virtual appointments because the in person ones don’t have openings until late October 😵‍💫 Just wondering if anyone felt like they actually got good guidance despite it being through the camera. Thanks in advance. Also, if anyone has any tips for deep latching, ple”

“Hi all, I'm looking for support as I weather a nursing strike. My baby is 12 weeks old, and was an incredible breastfeeder from the start. No issues with latch at all. But lately I am struggling to get her to nurse. She will nurse eventually for the most part, but as of last night it's getting to outright refusal. I am a medical resident, meaning I work 65-70 hours per week. I went back to work at 5 weeks, 6 days- any longer and I can't graduate on time, so I will not be able to star”

“Hi all. So I had my son on 09/09/26, so he’s 17 days old today, and we’ve never truly been able to nurse at the breast. When we were in the hospital we attempted but he either had a really shallow latch or wouldn’t get on at all. Unfortunately, he was a jaundiced baby and had to be on the bili blanket for several days once we got home. I attempted to nurse during that first day, but he had no wet/poop diapers all day so we had to use formula to get him caught up. Since then we’ve been feeding vi”

“I have a flat and inverted nipple so I’ve always struggled breastfeeding. With my first only made it a few months, my second I only pumped, and I just had my third he’s 7 weeks and he refuses to latch anymore. Out of all my kids he had the best latch. And we breastfeed on and off the first few weeks but we did introduce a bottle the first week because my nipples were bleeding. Everytime I try and latch him he get hysterical and freaks out. I’ve tried multiple positions, I’ve tried just doing ski”

“I’m a proud mother to a 5 day old baby boy, and we have been trying so hard to get him to latch. He simply cannot do it. The few times we were able to, it was painful, even with the help of hospital staff. Today we had our lactation consultation at the pediatrician’s office, and after an hour of trying, the lady said it just probably won’t work out. His chin and jaw are too small for me, and he has a tongue tie. She thinks cutting the tongue tie won’t help. This is my second baby that I’ve tried”

“Baby is 8 weeks old today, when she was born she would not latch for more than a few seconds or suckle a bottle and had to be cup fed for the first week. After 1 week she took to the bottle but still wouldn't latch so i have been exclusively pumping and bottle feeding the whole time. This week I thought i would give nursing another go (as pumping/washing/sterilising was draining me) and to my surprise she latched and stayed on for 20+ minutes. For the past 3 days i have been mostly nursing w”

“So my baby is about a month and a half old and we have been breastfeeding since she was born but she had a tongue and a lip tie so I have been using a nipple shield basically from day one. We had the procedure to cut the ties about a week ago and her latch has improved so much but because of that she's now not properly emptying my boobs while breastfeeding due to the shield making her have a shallow latch so I've been having to pump after feedings and give her that in a bottle basically”

“Hi, I gave birth few days ago after a prolonged labor which ended up in an emergent c section. It is now day 6 and there is no colostrum or milk production. Baby does not want to latch. I have been trying to pump intermittently and hand express but have had no success. Anyone who was in the same boat as me and was successful in breastfeeding their child, what worked for you? I feel guilty. Please help! submitted by /u/dingding2345 [link] [comments]”

“second child. first child did triple feeding for six months and rest formula due to latch, and so many other problems. with our second, if the latch and sucking were good, we said our goal is about two months of ebf(as I need to go back to work). everything healthy, sucking and latching good. newborn gaining weight steadily and trending to be meeting birth weight by 11days. but we started noticing jaundice from day 7 ish. our first had bad jaundice for two months but no need for admission and we”

“We’re at our first cluster feeding stage. Baby is 9 days old. He’s terrible at getting onto my left boob (right is fine for some reason??) and just wants to fall asleep at the breast after a couple minutes. The suckling he does do after the initial frenzy is kind of slow and lazy and GOD it makes me want to peel my skin off. I hate the sensation. I wish he would just get it over with. I don’t generally have a problem with the feeling breastfeeding, it’s just when it slows down that I can’t stand”

“Hi all! FTM here, (currently recovering from 4th degree oasi, agh) but I had a question regarding latching and flatter nipples/softer breasts. I've had not a single bit of luck latching my little one bare and have had to rely on nipple shields. I really don't like using them and want to be able to latch him bare - but every time I try he gets so upset and can't manage to get a latch. I am feeling so lost and frustrated with this especially when he gets upset... Has anyone experienced”

“I am so incredibly frustrated and sad at the turn my breastfeeding journey has taken. What is supposed to be “natural” did not come naturally to me at all, and not only do I feel like I failed my baby but I feel SO angry and failed by our healthcare system. I planned to breastfeed for the first year and now I’m not sure I’ll make it. My baby is 17 weeks and I am just now confirming MYSELF that he has a shallow latch. The LCs at the hospital did nothing but say it looked good from a distance, eve”

“Hi All, I have a 5 month old baby boy. I fed him exclusively from my breast for first 2 months. But I had a tooth extraction in second month and I had to give him stored milk via a bottle. After 5 days of extraction, I tried breastfeeding again,but he completely refused, We tried several times, but the baby keeps on crying and simply refuses the breast. Its been 3 months since this and we have tried various times, baby only latched couple of times and simply cries most of times. and hence we hav”

“I am 3 weeks PP and mu breastfeeding journey has been pretty difficult. I have flat nipples and my baby’s initial latch was not proper which led to cracked nipples which made feeding very difficult. My supply also kicked in a bit late around after 7-8 days. I was feeding her and complementing with formula to ensure she gets proper nutrition. Last 3 days I have been experiencing sharp shooting pains in my nipples after feeding due to which I was pumping and feeding her, direct BF became too painf”

“My baby is 11 days old. We were in the hospital for 42 hrs after birth. We tried breastfeeding that whole time, we use a syringe of donated milk at one point. Baby absolutely destroyed my nipples in that time. We continued to try at home, and supplemented some formula, because I couldn’t feed her enough to satisfy her. We started pumping the day after we got home because it was just so so painful. My nipples were cracking and scabbed. It was so painful I was nearly screaming trying to get her la”

“Currently 19 months into nursing my second, and am almost 10 weeks along with my third. By the time my third will be born, my older babies will be 4 and 2. I’m curious how breastfeeding will.. work? When I have two kids that also need my attention throughout the day. With my second, for the first ~8 months, I had a pretty significant oversupply so I’m not worried about being able to produce enough for the new baby. I’m worried about how I’ll be able to nurse as often as a newborn / baby needs wh”

“I birthed through CC and had huge problems with lactation at the very beginning my baby was fed with my breast and also modified milk the baby got attached to the bottle to the point she won't eat from my breast she treats the nipple like a pacifier and it hurts me both mentally and physically I have no time for myself, others or other important things like laundry since I feed every 2-3 hours and I need to clean and sterilize the bottles then I have a breastpump on for 30-60 minutes and whe”

“My baby is 5 days old. She's my second. I was unable to breastfeed with our first, but am currently EBF so far. I know it's so early, but I am in so much pain. She is not the best at latching, and when she latches on to the right side the pain is so intense that it makes me cry. On both sides it's still painful through the whole process. I have a public health nurse coming on Monday to help assess her latch, but I really don't know how I will stay sane until then. I'm also so”

“Hi everyone, I am really struggling as a new mommy. My baby is 2 weeks old and im struggling to get her to deep latch for breastfeeding. i have met with a lactation consultant multiple times and I still am struggling to get her to deep latch. Some context my baby was born at 37 weeks and I have huge boobs, like size H and my nipples are big. The nipple guard was helping at 1st but hasn't recently. She is a lazy eater and prefers bottles. Is there anything I can try to fix this? I am a 1st ti”

“Baby is 3 weeks old. We had some latching issues and the last few days have been able to do some breastfeeding and bottles with pumped milk. We have had success with side lying while breastfeeding. Since my milk came in I have been primarily pumping and have had a bit of an over supply. Due to the latch issues we have used a nipple shield. But I am starting to think I may have a fast let down? From what I have read online, a fast let down is described as “spraying” but because I use the nipple s”

“My beautiful daughter is now 9 weeks old and our breastfeeding journey has been really hard from the get-go. She was only able to latch with a nipple shield and did not transfer enough milk the first 6 weeks so that I was tripple feeding. Then after 6 weeks she suddenly started to scream everytime I tried to breastfeed and would also refuse the bottle most times, which led to her gaining too little weight. She eventually started to accept the bottle again, but we have not been breastfeeding for”

“TLDR: any positions to put baby in to help with a latch while we wait for appt? I have back issues that make sitting up difficult. Ive only been shown the football hold. Hey moms. I'm a FTM and my baby is 12 days old. Ive seen a lactation consultant who says my baby has a lip and tongue tie which is causing him issues with breast and bottle feedings. We have an appt with a dentist to evaluate and check cheek ties (but its almost 3 weeks out). I'm currently pumping, giving him bottles my”

“I am 3 weeks pp and breastfeeding has been so much harder than I had expected. Baby wasnt latching properly and wasn't getting enough milk and sleeping mid feed. Although at the hospital they said he has a good latch and a lactation expert saw him as well But after the first week, he wasn't gaining enough weight so we had to learn another posture that works better for us and supplement with pumped milk after every feed. His weight has improved but we are still supplementing just to ensur”

“Ebf 8 month old, has favored one side since birth basically, I would like to start producing more but I’ve struggled with producing for pumps. Any recommendations? Also if you have done this how long did it take? submitted by /u/Icy-Pea7026 [link] [comments]”

“To make a long story short, our baby had trouble latching at birth, and on top of it my milk took a while to come in, so I was doing combo breast and pumping till he in theory got stronger with latching and until my milk fully came in. He ended up with a bad case of thrush that took 3 rounds of meds till it finally went away. But it took from about 2 weeks till about 2 months. During that time our pediatrician warned that if I continued feeding him at the breast I could also get the infection in”

“Both of my babies have had significant latching problems. We eventually got it sorted out around 3 months old with my first and went on to have a successful, year-long breastfeeding journey. I’m in the thick of it now with my second and this is hard . He is three weeks old and won’t latch at all (never really has). We have an amazing IBCLC that is working with us. We got his tongue tie released almost two weeks ago, have been using a nipple shield, and just got set up with an SNS feeding tube to”

“My baby is 9 weeks old and this week has started completely refusing to latch. He latches for a bit with a nipple shield but doesn’t transfer milk well at all anymore. I recently learned that shields should only be used short term under the guidance of an LC. wish I was told that when they gave it to me in the hospital as I’ve been using it ever since. I tried to latch him without which he used to be able to do just fine but now he screams the entire time even with the boob in his mouth. We have”

“Hi everyone! I’m a second time mom (my first wouldn’t latch so I ended up pumping with him) but this is my first time trying to breastfeed. My baby is almost 3 weeks old and since I found out I was pregnant I was so ready to do whatever it would take to nurse him. He was born and within 30 min, he latched (I was so happy!). After maybe 4 days, my left nipple (the one he preferred to nurse on) lost some skin and got a little hole in the middle. It was so painful to nurse him like that but I kept”

“I am considering a breast reduction as they cause me to feel extremely uncomfortable in my body and not confident. What is your experience? submitted by /u/Mental_Bug_7844 [link] [comments]”

“SOS! My baby girl had her tongue tie corrected a couple weeks ago, but she now has a strong preference for the shield as that’s all we’ve used. She will latch to my bare breast for maybe 20 seconds and then get pissed until I bring the shield back. I have flat nipples, so this combined with the tongue tie made us choose a shield to ensure she gained weight. I would be fine keeping the shield, although not ideal, she’s eating from the breast. New issue I’m finding is cracking on the face of both”

“Breastfeeding has been a challenge from day 1. Baby had little to no suck reflex for his first few days, then couldn’t quite latch, which caused me a lot of pain. Latch eventually improved but he struggled to transfer milk effectively. 20ml after 30m of nursing at 6 weeks. Doctors identified muscle tension (which we have been seeing an osteopathic manipulative medicine doctor for) and a tongue tie (which we eventually got released around 7 weeks. We also ended up trying a supplemental nursing sy”

“I am 5 days pp after a c section and feeling very discouraged. Needing advice on how to help baby latch and transfer milk and also some support because I feel like I'm failing him. Baby had a great latch at the hospital, lactation consultant said it looked like we were having a great start and I was optimistic. Then he had a scare with low blood sugar several times and they almost had to admit him to the nicu. But he was ok after formula supplementing so we were instructed to supplement ever”

“I’m 8 days postpartum, I had a c-section with my breech, babygirl on the 25th and have been latching her every other time and pumping in between and after a latch (only every other time because my incision pain is quite bad at times and I can’t constantly). But she will latch, suckle, then detach and do it again and shake her head and peck at my boob. I just wanted some advice on how to get her to latch well. I don’t have a LC and the one they offered at the hospital was very rude and pushed my”

“My son has always had latch issues and I had a lot of appointments with the infant feeding team but because my son has a high palate nothing has worked. I had to resort to using nipple shields because of the pain and because I was still trying to correct my son’s latch I would only use them to give myself a break from the pain and then when it no longer hurt to latch him without I would try and fix his latch again and it never worked, he also had his minor tongue tie revised at some point and th”

“Baby has a very hard time latching. Had to supplement with formula and my breast milk. I now make more than enough breast milk through pumping but I cannot get her to latch. I’m happy she’s able to breastfeed still, but I would LOVE for her to be able to breastfeed versus feed from a bottle. I feel like I lose so much time with her pumping, cleaning bottles and then when I do spend time with her she’s upset because BFing is so hard. Would love advice/thoughts/suggestions submitted by”

“My baby will be 6 weeks old on Saturday. She has a shallow latch that makes feeding her uncomfortable for me a lot of the time, and I always worry about how much milk she’s getting because she always seems hungry just after I’ve fed her. It’s not as painful as it was, but my boobs are still sore after a long day of feeding her constantly She was assessed for a tongue tie but they said her frenulum was small and it wouldn’t make a difference if they cut it. The only thing they found was a slightl”

“Baby is currently 4 weeks old and was born at 37w3d with low birth weight and poor feeding skills. He was in nicu for 2 and 1/2 weeks where I would attempt breastfeeding for 2/3 feeds and he would latch on and off. Once he came home our breastfeeding frequency improved. However, I was unable to tell how much he transferred. Went to an LC today and we did a weighted feed on one side, and LO only transferred 19grams in 10-20 mins. She didn’t sound very optimistic and explained that baby has a shal”

“Hi all, I’m just looking for some advice or encouragement - success stories of latching on flat or inverted nipples welcome!! My baby is 4 days old (so fresh and scrunchy) and I’m already losing hope that she will be able to latch to my flat nipples. I’m not giving up, we try to latch every feed before she has a bottle of expressed milk - but when she’s constantly falling asleep when we try and latch, even on the shield in the middle of the night, I feel a bit hopeless. I’ve got a lactation cons”

“I'm struggling with trying to breast feed my 4 week old, I want to exclusively breastfeed but since she was born she doesn't seem satisfied by the breast. She can be latched for hours but she still comes away hungry. I get to the point that I can't stand it any more and give her a bottle of formula. I tried pumping for a bit but realised that I was not breastfeeding in order to pump so I've given that a break but it means she's having a lot of formula. I use newborn and premi”

“My baby was born at 32 weeks. He is almost 12 weeks but His corrected age is 4 weeks old today. Is it normal that we are having a hard time with latching and breastfeeding? His mouth is just so small he can’t latch well and ends up swallowing a lot of air. Anyone else experience this? submitted by /u/noneavailable_ [link] [comments]”

“I was able to finally collect some colostrum! However, I’m a bit nervous with milk supply due to previous breast reduction surgery. It seems that I’m only mainly to produce from 1 boob compared from both, is there a way I can increase my colostrum production ? and is it normal to mainly produce most of it from only one side and does the color look fine? Thanks ! https://postimg.cc/ThfTQKV3 submitted by /u/Snoo13905 [link] [comments]”

“my baby is 3 months and recently she’s been doing this repeated latch and unlatch while eating. i was going crazy thinking she was not getting any milk, or that she somehow had an ear infection or something was going on. turns out this is part of the “breastfeeding crisis“ that happens to some babies at 3 months. i think she’s also going through a growth spurt because she’s also eating so much more frequently, it feels constant (but in reality probably every 1.5 hours). i guess im just curious o”

“I have had to EP for almost 2 months while my baby (now 4m) refused the boob. I have miraculously, FINALLY, gotten her back to breast, though she is still a bit fussy and not always taking both breasts. How was your supply when you got baby back to breast? did you still pump at all? submitted by /u/Minimum-Conflict-176 [link] [comments]”

“My firstborn struggled to latch and rejected the breast for many weeks. My second was born 3 days ago and was excellent nurser until I gave him a paci on night 1 because I was alone in the hospital and ever since then he hasn’t signaled for hunger. I withold the paci as much as possible and he still never fusses or shows hunger cues or wants to latch by himself, every two or three hours I spend an hour or so trying to get him to latch. I usually have to give him the paci, let him suckle, pump an”

“I have a 4 month (16lb) baby that is mostly formula fed due to low supply issues but she very much loves the boob. The best position that really works for us is side lying but it is hard to do this out in public. She has a little bit of a tongue tie so her latches aren’t perfect unless we are in the side lying position. I would like to find a new easier position for us to do and would love any advice/tips for this. Thank you! submitted by /u/sleepyyy-momma [link] [comments]”

“My firstborn struggled to latch and rejected the breast for many weeks. My second was born 3 days ago and was excellent nurser until I gave him a paci on night 1 because I was alone in the hospital and ever since then he hasn’t signaled for hunger. I withold the paci as much as possible and he still never fusses or shows hunger cues or wants to latch by himself, every two or three hours I spend an hour or so trying to get him to latch. I usually have to give him the paci, let him suckle, pump an”

“My baby is 2 weeks old, born at 37 weeks and so has been struggling to latch onto my nipple without a shield. This means I have been trying to 20 mins with/without the shield then pumping and topping up with the expressed milk or formula. I have started to dread trying to breastfeed my baby, and pumping makes me feel really low. Just wanted to know if anyone had a similar journey and was able to breastfeed successfully after? I’m worried my baby will never take my bare nipple as the bottle is so”

“I have a baby with a high palate who wasn’t able to latch onto the breast for the first 4 weeks. I’ve been bottle-feeding pumped breast milk and also using nipple shields. Recently, she’s started hating the shields, so I’ve been trying to sandwich my breast to help her latch. She’ll suck for a little bit but then spits the nipple out and seems almost grossed out by it. Has anyone experienced this? Is it possible that she’ll eventually get used to the feeling of the nipple as she grows? sub”

“I’m three weeks postpartum and at the point where I’m crying daily over breastfeeding. I have a very short nipple so my baby struggled to latch in the hospital and we almost had to supplement with formula. It was a SUPER stressful time and so the hospital lactation consultant advised to just use shields for now. He took the shields absolutely no problem and I saw another LC through my pediatrician and she said once he got bigger he should be able to latch without them. Three weeks later he’s doi”

“I am desperate to know if anyone has had success changing a latch after 3 months. My 3 month old has a pretty narrow/small jaw and has never had a very deep latch (I assume because the hospital kept trying to correct it when he was first born). He basically just takes my nipple no matter how much I try to get a deeper latch with the C-hold/sandwich technique. He seems to always pulls himself back to the shallow latch he’s used to. I have zero pain and he’s gaining amazingly (around the 90th perc”

“Essentially as the title goes. On day 4 (the day my milk came in) my baby decided that he would no longer latch to me and just scream and cry at the breast, he had lost 11% of birth weight already so I had to take the decision to pump and use bottles (paced feeding). Is there anyway back from this? I try and do skin to skin and offer the breast around 3 times a day, I have started to mentally struggle with the refusal so have stopped offering at every feed. I've tried different holds but he”

“My baby girl is 16 weeks old. Immediately after birth, she latched perfectly and drank for 30mins. She later had one low blood sugar so the nurses had me supplement for donor milk and forced a bottle on her. I swear this caused a breast aversion. We eventually got over that and she started to latch. However, it’s not a consistent latch where she drinks until she is full. She latches unlatches latches unlatches, ect. Sometimes she gets frustrated, sometimes she doesn’t. I’m not sure what’s causin”

“Did anyone have a nipple shorter than the other which affected baby’s latch? My 6w baby can latch and drink like a champion off my right breast but my left one has caused a lot of issues. It’s only in the last week or so that she’s managed to drink from it however I know the latch is shallow as it’s causing me pain and I can see the shape of my baby’s lips. I also keep getting milk blebs on it. I’m considering other options like whether baby has a tight neck/preference for laying on one side or”

“My partner gave birth to our beautiful daughter at home on Wednesday early hours. The birth was perfect and, if anything, textbook. However, my partner has really struggled getting our baby to latch. Immediately after the birth the midwife placed her on the breast and she latched, we’ve had a nurse come out for support and again she latched. However, as helpful as that is, as soon as they leave we struggle. For my partner it’s emotionally draining and on the second night we had no option but to”