It can take a bit longer to get it sorted, but breastfeeding with flat nipples is possible and (after a while) even enjoyable & relaxing!
In the hospital where babypixie was born, several “helpful” midwives took it in turn to tell me my nipples were very flat and then to shove, yes shove, said flatties into her little mouth, all the while pushing her head into my breast. And this from a “pro-breast-feeding” hospital! Needless to say, within a few hours, they were bleeding and I was in bits, my nightgown rubbing off them was toe-curling torture!
Luckily, I am stupidly stubborn and persevered. Anyone who so much as glanced in my direction was invited over to check our latch. Everything I read said that the only reason for bleeding nipples was poor latch but ours was fine. Many experts believe it’s to do with adhesions within the nipple needing to stretch and break, that is certainly what it felt like!
It took the best part of 10 weeks to get to the stage where nursing didn’t hurt, and now at 9 months we have no plans to stop anytime soon. We’ve gone from me making a “nipple sandwich” so she had something to latch on to, to her crawling over while I’m asleep, pulling my top down and popping herself on! If someone had told me that on week 2 i would have thought they were mad, and probably given them a good punch.
Do I have any advice for anyone in the same situation? I had read up about flat nipples and breastfeeding while pregnant but never really believed they would cause me hassle. I’d recommend getting to know your local LLL leader while pregnant, you usually can’t depend on the hospital for much help, I wasn’t even offered the help of a lactation consultant.
There are techniques you can do, some your partner can help with 
but in my experience a hungry baby, properly latched will sort them out once and for all! Mine will never look like the ones on Jack Newman’s instructional videos but they are very good at their job!
A bit of online reading is always fun:
Breastfeeding Basics (with pictures)
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Thanks for all the information. It’s good to see that it gets easier!
Hey – another flatty! I wish I ‘knew’ you when I was attempting to breastfeed my two! The midwives who ‘helped’ me with my first one just said I probably wouldn’t be able to manage it and I would just have to express and taught me different expressing techniques – I gave that up pretty quickly. The second time around they did exactly the same thing – SHOVED his little head onto my nipples – he was almost suffocating! I wish I had had more help and encouragement – or that I had that stubborn streak I’ve heard about from yourself and other mothers who found it difficult at first
Ha! I could have written this post, too! (Sorry, I’m having fun reading your archive on a lazy Sunday) Now that baby number two is nearing eighteen months of nursing, these nips are no longer flat, but I can remember those days of bleeding and even blistering (with what everyone assured me was a perfect latch) and wondering wtf I was getting myself into. Like you, it never occurred to me to give up. I’m stubborn like that!
Hi Elissa, Glad to hear you’re enjoying the archives
Welcome to HPP! And a big well done to all of us who got through those rough starts!
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