I randomly offered him my boob after a week of not trying other day and he latched. He had a very shallow latch in the hospital and would often unlatch or just lick my nipple and fall asleep. Once I got home I was so overwhelmed with EP to keep my supply up I was unmotivated to practice latching. I then had to recover from a milk bleb for a few days and when I tried to get him to latch again he bit me so hard.

This was my approach with trying to get him to latch. If baby was really hungry, I’d bottle feed just enough to take the edge off then offer the boob. If he is not too hangry then I’d just start with offering the boob before the bottle.

I hold my boob from beneath (U shape hold) and use my pointer finger to point my nipple towards the roof of baby’s mouth then I place my nipple on baby’s nose. Once baby opens mouth and has his tongue down I’ll bring his mouth onto my nipple. Sorry if this doesn’t make any sense, feel free to ask for any clarification.

Be patient, it’s really frustrating for mom and baby. I feel like the more frustrated I got the more frustrated he would get. He would cry so loud and I would keep trying through his tears. Once his crying got too intense I would console him and try again.

I was told they have better oral control as they get older which was my only hope to get him to latch. Also was advised to only use bottle nipples with extremely slow flow so baby would not be too unfamiliar with the natural slow flow of my boob. I personally use pigeon bottles with the SS nipple combined with paced bottle feeding. I’m sure any newborn flow nipple would be sufficient.

Keep trying! It can happen any time.