Fundamentals of Breastfeeding Latch
📌 Successful breastfeeding hinges on a good latch, ensuring the baby gets more milk and feeding is comfortable.
🤱 A common misconception is that babies get milk by just sucking on the nipple; effectively, they need a deep mouthful of breast tissue to extract milk efficiently.
📐 A proper latch means the nipple is directed toward the palate, deep in the baby's mouth for effective sucking and triggering the milk ejection reflex.
❌ A shallow latch centers the nipple in the mouth, near the hard palate, leading to a pinched nipple, pain, potential injury, and poor milk transfer.

Steps for Achieving a Good Latch
👶 Initiate latching in the first hours after birth, utilizing the baby's instinctive rooting and latching behaviors.
🧘 Always latch a calm baby when hunger cues are present (lip movement, hand-to-mouth, head turning), avoiding waiting until crying starts.
🫂 Hold the baby close and turned towards you, ensuring the ear, shoulder, and hip are in a straight line for easier swallowing.
👆 Instead of pushing the nipple into the baby's mouth, touch the nipple to the upper lip to encourage a wide-open mouth, similar to a yawn, then quickly bring the baby to the breast.

Checking and Correcting the Latch
👀 Signs of a good latch include a wide-open mouth, the baby being pressed onto the breast, more areola visible above the mouth than below, and everted lower lip (like a fish mouth).
💪 Cheeks should be rounded, not dimpled, and the baby should exhibit deep, rhythmic sucks with clear pauses for swallowing (indicated by a distinct lower jaw drop).
😥 If the latch is painful (pinching, pulling, or rubbing sensation), the baby is likely not latched well; gently break the suction by inserting a clean finger into the corner of the baby's mouth.
🔄 A nipple with a pointed shape after feeding indicates it was crushed between the tongue and palate; a normal round shape suggests it sat further back in the comfort zone.

Key Points & Insights
➡️ Effective milk transfer relies entirely on a deep, correct latch, which also stimulates sufficient milk production.
📉 Correcting shallow latching is vital because persistent improper latching leads to decreased milk supply, often causing mothers to supplement unnecessarily.
⏳ While challenging initially, good latching becomes easier with practice; by 4-6 weeks, the baby's increasing head and neck control aids in self-latching deeply.
🧠 Remember the principle: the baby drinks from your breast, not just your nipple; deep latching supports the milk-making process.

📸 Video summarized with SummaryTube.com on Oct 06, 2025, 19:14 UTC