Latch refers to how the baby fastens onto the breast while breastfeeding. A good latch promotes high milk flow and minimizes nipple discomfort for the mother, whereas poor latch results in poor milk transfer to the baby and can quickly lead to sore and cracked nipples. In a good latch, both the nipple and a large portion of the areola are in the baby's mouth.
Assuming a comfortable position helps the baby to latch properly. [1] [2] It takes practice to get a good latch. The nursing hold that works best for mother and baby is sometimes discovered through trial and error. [1]
Getting a good latch for breasting can be learned. Recommendations for nursing mothers is to:
Latching on is facilitated by secretions from the nipple that are reported to help align the infants' head with the mother's breast and thought to promote latching and sucking. [3]
Pain or pinching is a good indication of a poor latch. [1] If the pain lasts longer than a few seconds, the latch is probably too shallow. The technique for getting a good latch is to gently break the suction by placing a clean finger into the baby's mouth and help the baby latch on again. It is normal for the nipple to look slightly elongated or drawn-out.
When the baby latches, it can feel like a pinch that goes away. If it's more painful than that, it's probably a bad latch. A bad, uncorrected latch can damage the nipple and compromise milk flow for the baby. [4]
Infants will naturally move their head while looking and feeling for a breast to feed. There are many ways to start feeding the infant, and the best approach is the one that works for the mother and the infant. The steps below can help with getting the infant to "latch" on to the breast for feeding.
Hold the infant against a bare chest. Dress the infant in only a diaper to ensure skin-to-skin contact. Keep the infant upright, with his or her head directly under the chin. Support the infant's neck and shoulders with one hand and his or her hips with the other hand. The infant may try to move around to find the breast. The infant's head should be slightly tilted back to make nursing and swallowing easier. When his or her head is tilted back and the mouth is open, the tongue will naturally be down in the mouth to allow the breast to go on top of it. At first, allow the breast to hang naturally. The infant may open his or her mouth when the nipple is near his or her mouth. The mother also can gently guide the infant to latch on to the nipple. While the infant is feeding, his or her nostrils may flare to breathe in air. Do not panic—this flaring is normal. The infant can breathe normally while breastfeeding. As the infant tilts backward, support his or her upper back and shoulders with the palm of the hand and gently pull the infant close. [5]
Sometimes, a baby's tongue is stuck to the bottom of the mouth by a band of tissue, which means the baby cannot open his or her mouth wide enough to get a good latch. Checking for tongue-tie is not a standard newborn test. If the baby is not latching on well and doesn't seem to be gaining weight mothers are advised to contact the pediatrician or nurse to ask about this. Fortunately, it is a very simple fix. Once tongue-tie is treated by a medical professional, breastfeeding improves. [1]
A good latch is important for both effective breastfeeding and comfort. Review the following signs to determine whether the infant has a good latch:
A shallow latch causes the sensitive nipple skin to press against the bones in the top of the baby's mouth. That can cause pain and lead to cracked nipples. [1]
A poor latch results in a poor flow of milk to the baby, even if the mother is capable of producing plenty of milk. If not corrected quickly, inadequate milk transfer can lead to dehydration and failure to thrive in the baby, and blocked milk ducts and mastitis in the mother. [4] Lactation consultants are experts in helping mothers teach their babies to latch better.
The nipple is a raised region of tissue on the surface of the breast from which, in females, milk leaves the breast through the lactiferous ducts to feed an infant. The milk can flow through the nipple passively or it can be ejected by smooth muscle contractions that occur along with the ductal system. The nipple is surrounded by the areola, which is often a darker colour than the surrounding skin. A nipple is often called a teat when referring to non-humans. Nipple or teat can also be used to describe the flexible mouthpiece of a baby bottle. In humans, the nipples of both males and females can be stimulated as part of sexual arousal. In many cultures, human female nipples are sexualized, or "regarded as sex objects and evaluated in terms of their physical characteristics and sexiness."
A pacifier is a rubber, plastic, or silicone nipple substitute given to an infant to suckle upon between feedings to quiet its distress by satisfying the need to suck when it does not need to eat. Pacifiers normally have three parts, an elongated teat, a mouth shield, and a handle. The mouth shield is large enough to prevent the child from attempting to take the pacifier into its mouth, and so forecloses the danger that the child will swallow then choke on it.
Breast engorgement occurs in the mammary glands due to expansion and pressure exerted by the synthesis and storage of breast milk. It is also a main factor in altering the ability of the infant to latch-on. Engorgement changes the shape and curvature of the nipple region by making the breast inflexible, flat, hard, and swollen. The nipples on an engorged breast are flat or inverted. Sometimes it may lead to striae on nipples, mainly a preceding symptom of septation mastitis.
A nipple piercing is a type of body piercing, centered usually at the base of the nipple. It can be pierced at any angle but is usually done horizontally or, less often, vertically. It is also possible to place multiple piercings on top of one another.
An inverted nipple is a condition where the nipple, instead of pointing outward, is retracted into the breast. In some cases, the nipple will be temporarily protruded if stimulated. Both women and men can have inverted nipples.
Ankyloglossia, also known as tongue-tie, is a congenital oral anomaly that may decrease the mobility of the tongue tip and is caused by an unusually short, thick lingual frenulum, a membrane connecting the underside of the tongue to the floor of the mouth. Ankyloglossia varies in degree of severity from mild cases characterized by mucous membrane bands to complete ankyloglossia whereby the tongue is tethered to the floor of the mouth.
A supplemental nursing system (SNS), also known as a lactation aid, is a device that consists of a container and a capillary tube. It is used to provide additional nutrients to a baby whose mother has low milk supply. During breastfeeding, the end of the tube is placed alongside the mother's nipple so that both the tube and the breast are in the infant's mouth.
A nipple shield is a nipple-shaped sheath worn over the areola and nipple during breastfeeding. Modern nipple shields are made of soft, thin, flexible silicone and have holes at the end of the nipple section to allow the breast milk to pass through.
Erotic lactation is sexual arousal by breastfeeding on a woman's breast. Depending on the context, the practice can also be referred to as adult suckling, adult nursing, and adult breastfeeding. Practitioners sometimes refer to themselves as being in an adult nursing relationship (ANR). Two people in an exclusive relationship can be called a nursing couple.
Overactive let-down (OALD) is the forceful ejection of milk from the breast during breastfeeding. In some women it occurs only with the first let-down in a feeding, occasionally women may have multiple strong letdowns during a feeding. OALD can make breastfeeding difficult and can be the source of some breastfeeding complications. It may also be known as hyper milk-ejection. A woman may have OALD in addition to an oversupply of breastmilk. The physical or medical cause of an overactive let-down is still unknown. Whether mothers with OALD have a higher overall milk volume – or a strong reaction to the hormone oxytocin also remains to be seen.
Breastfeeding difficulties refers to problems that arise from breastfeeding, the feeding of an infant or young child with milk from a woman's breasts. Although babies have a sucking reflex that enables them to suck and swallow milk, and human breast milk is usually the best source of nourishment for human infants, there are circumstances under which breastfeeding can be problematic, or even in rare instances, contraindicated.
Breastfeeding, or nursing, is the process by which human breast milk is fed to a child. Breast milk may be from the breast, or may be expressed by hand or pumped and fed to the infant. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that breastfeeding begin within the first hour of a baby's life and continue as often and as much as the baby wants. Health organizations, including the WHO, recommend breastfeeding exclusively for six months. This means that no other foods or drinks, other than vitamin D, are typically given. After the introduction of foods at six months of age, recommendations include continued breastfeeding until one to two years of age or more. Globally, about 38% of infants are exclusively breastfed during their first six months of life.
Lactation describes the secretion of milk from the mammary glands and the period of time that a mother lactates to feed her young. The process naturally occurs with all post-pregnancy female mammals, although it may predate mammals. The process of feeding milk in all animals is called nursing, and in humans it is also called breastfeeding. Newborn infants often produce some milk from their own breast tissue, known colloquially as witch's milk.
Breast crawl is the instinctive movement of a newborn mammal toward the nipple of its mother for the purpose of latching on to initiate breastfeeding. In humans, if the newborn is laid on its mother's abdomen, movements commence at 12 to 44 minutes after birth, with spontaneous suckling being achieved roughly 27 to 71 minutes after birth.
Cracked nipple is a condition that can occur in breastfeeding women as a result of a number of possible causes. Developing a cracked nipple can result in soreness, dryness or irritation to, or bleeding of, one or both nipples during breastfeeding. The mother with a cracked nipple can have severe nipple pain when the baby is nursing. This severe pain is a disincentive for continued breastfeeding. The crack can appear as a cut across the tip of the nipple and may extend to its base. Cracked nipple develop after the birth of the infant and is managed with pharmacological and nonpharmacological treatment.
A blocked milk duct is a blockage of one or more ducts carrying milk to the nipple for the purpose of breastfeeding an infant that can cause Mastitis. The symptoms are a tender, localised lump in one breast, with redness in the skin over the lump. The cause of a blocked milk duct is the failure to remove milk from part of the breast. This may be due to infrequent breastfeeding, poor attachment, tight clothing or trauma to the breast. Sometimes the duct to one part of the breast is blocked by thickened milk. A blocked milk duct can be managed by improving the removal of milk and correcting the underlying cause.
A nipple bleb is a blister on the nipple that can be filled with serous or other fluid. It may be pink or light yellow. It is thin-walled and may appear as a small blister, more than 5 mm in diameter. It can also be referred to as a bulla. Some clinicians may also include milk blisters as a type of bleb. In addition, a blocked Montgomery gland may also be called a nipple bleb though its cause is different than a milk or serous-filled bleb on the nipple. In some cases the bleb may be associated with an adjacent blocked sebaceous cyst.
Nipple confusion is the tendency of an infant to unsuccessfully adapt between breast-feeding and bottle-feeding. It can happen when the infant is put back onto breast-feeding. Nipple confusion can turn into nipple refusal in which the infant refuses both the bottle and breastfeeding.
In breastfeeding women, low milk supply, also known as lactation insufficiency, insufficient milk syndrome, agalactia, agalactorrhea, hypogalactia or hypogalactorrhea, is the production of breast milk in daily volumes that do not fully meet the nutritional needs of her infant.
Nipple pain is a common symptom of pain at the nipple that occurs in women during breastfeeding after childbirth. The pain shows the highest intensity during the third to the seventh day postpartum and becomes most severe on the third day postpartum.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .| Pregnancy |
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