Can flat or inverted nipples be corrected so I can breastfeed my baby?

You want to know if there's anything you can do to prepare your body or your baby for breastfeeding before your baby is born. Specifically, you have questions about flat or inverted nipples. And this is actually a very common problem, but unfortunately, there's not anything you can do before your baby comes to prep for this. After you have your baby, your Labor & Delivery nurse is going to help you breastfeed for the first time. And one of the things we do is assess everything to see how likely it is that the baby will latch properly. One factor to consider is that the softness or tenderness of the mother's breast, if they're really hard, or you're engorged or something (which isn't too common after a delivery, but it can happen a few days later when your milk comes in), it makes it really hard for the baby to latch.

Another thing that we look at are the nipples. We want to know if they are flat or inverted. Is there something we can do to help the mother, because they have to be everted, there has to be something for the baby to latch onto. So if there's not, then the mother can roll the nipple in between her fingers to get it to poke out a little bit more, or we can even help her pump. By pumping, it draws the nipple out and gives the baby something to latch onto, and then they, through breastfeeding multiple times, will naturally bring it out a little bit more. If those things don't do the trick, then there's something called a nipple shield, and it attaches over the nipple, and that gives the baby something to latch onto. As the baby sucks on the nipple shield, that draws the natural nipple out into it, and eventually the mother's nipples usually become everted, and the baby can latch onto the real breast tissue.

So in summary, your Labor & Delivery nurses, your postpartum nurses, and a lactation specialist will help you make breastfeeding successful for you and your baby after they're born and before you go home from the hospital. We want you to feel confident in your ability to care for them when you go home. And if you're still having issues later, then talk with a lactation specialist again, outpatient. They're available to watch you nurse one-on-one to see what's going right, to see what can be improved upon, again, so breastfeeding is successful for you and your baby. If you have any other questions for me in the future, feel free to ask them on our Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/IntermountainMoms, and recommend us to your friends and family too.

Видео Can flat or inverted nipples be corrected so I can breastfeed my baby? канала IntermountainMoms