Breastfeeding in comfort will require a proper latch. A good latch can seem impossible for some new mothers. When I was initially nursing my newborn son, I didn’t realize what a proper latch looked like. Thankfully, I had a lactation consultant that drew me a diagram. The way she drew it made perfect sense, and then I understood just how far into my baby’s mouth my nipple was actually supposed to go. I was shocked.
Once I understood, I didn’t need the lactation consultant’s diagram anymore, so I disposed of it. I think the way she drew it is really important for new moms to see though, so I recreated it for our readers who are having a difficult time finding a good latch while breastfeeding:
My son used to always try to suck in his bottom lip. My lactation consultant showed me how to correct that. She had me simply, pull his bottom lip down and his top lip up while he was sucking if he’d try to pull too far away or such on his bottom lip. This made the rest of his mouth follow into proper positioning almost automatically.
Here’s a closer view of what it looks like on the inside:
I hope these diagrams can help uncomplicate breastfeeding latches. If you are having difficulty with your baby’s latch and are finding it hard to maintain a proper latch once it is achieved, you can try a really easy position that ensured a proper latch was maintained between my children and me every time. Read more about that in this previous blog post.