Short and inverted nipples are the “sorrow” of many women
when breast-feeding.
Ha is usually full of breast milk but she can’t feed her
baby because her nipples are not only short but also inverted. Whenever she
pushes the nipple to her kid’s mouth, he sucks a bit, and then bends his body
and bursts into tears. Finally, Ha has to do the milking and put in a bottle
for him.
“Every day I try to roll and pull my nipple but there’s no
use. Milking frequently is hard because I’m afraid my child gets familiar with
it and refuses breast-feeding” – 25-year-old mother says.
Also struggling to breast-feed her babies, Nancy said: “My
nipple is short, stout, not only cracked in the middle but also stretch like a
disk. My baby finds it difficult to be breast-fed. At first, Nancy also
consistently forced her child, whenever he bent out, she quickly pushed on.
Sometimes it took many times but he was just fed a little milk and then cried
fiercely. Nancy’s mother-in-law and husband were so impatient that they
immediately made a milk bottle to feed him. He munched it quickly because of
being too hungry. After that, Nancy got a scolding from her mother-in-law
because she didn’t know how to give her baby the breast.
Nancy was scared that her kid was rarely breast-fed that
made she lose milk, but she didn’t know how to deal with it.
Short and inverted
nipples make mothers feed the baby with a bottle.
Breast-feed baby with inverted nipples
Some mothers have short and inverted nipple that makes
breastfeeding difficult. Babies often cry to object to breasts due to it’s hard
to hold and suck their mothers’ nipple. Then, if the mother isn’t patient,
breastfeeding will not be smooth. The baby will be lazy and refuse to
breast-feed, so the breast will reduce the amount of milk. Simultaneously, if
the mother lacks of milk, the baby will fed up with breast-feeding and prefer
being bottle-fed.
The mother may choose to do the milking, put into a bottle
and then give her baby a fake nipple but it is just temporary. Because once the
baby gets familiar with the nipple of milk bottle, he will not allow being
breast-fed and cry more loudly when the mother attempts to push the nipple into
his mouth. With these cases, you can try:
1. Take
a clean and soft towel, dip it in warm water, squeeze, put it onto the nipple
and “roll”. You should do it before breast-feeding to let your baby suck at
ease.
2. If
a nipple is inverted, avoid letting the baby suck another nipple because it
doesn’t take advantage of milk in both breasts and makes the mother’s breasts
unequal (big and smaller). You should consistent to feed the baby even with
short nipple.
3. Right
breast-fed posture is that the baby’s mouth opens widely to hold the breast,
not just only sucks the nipple. Therefore, the mother needs to know how to push
the nipple into her baby’s mouth to feed him better: Hold him to oppose to a
breast so his nose (or upper lips) in front of the nipple. Wait till he opens
his mouth (you can slightly rub your nipple against his lips to stimulate him),
you immediately push his mouth to your breast. His lower lip will touch the
breast; keep the lower lip away from the nipple because it will make the nipple
head to his upper jaw. Signs that the baby sucks the nipple right:
o
His mouth opens widely; he sucks most of his mother’s breast.
o
His jaw touches the breast.
o
His lower lip bends rearwards.
o
You see less the halo of breast (dark color skin surrounding the
nipple) veiled because the baby’s mouth sucks the breast.
o
The way of breast-feeding has to be changed, from short to long
time with breaks.
4. You
can use silicon nipple tool (attached to the nipple while breast-feeding) to
reduce pain while the baby sucks and simultaneously lengthen the nipple to let
the baby suck easier.
5. Be
patient to give the baby the breast. Avoid making milk bottle due to the baby
is tired of breast feeding. There are many cases which take several months to
breast-feed the baby despite short nipples.
Breast-feeding
baby with inverted nipples
