Damaged nipples, breastfeeding and caring for your newborn baby

I thought I would just put up a little post about nipple damage breastfeeding and caring for your newborn    baby.
Damage on the tip of the nipple is usually caused from the nipple being too far forward in the baby’s mouth or the baby’s tongue rubbing it with the back of the tongue.  This applies at all ages but most importantly from the beginning.
There could be a number of reasons for this. This is two of the most common.
1.  The baby ‘s tongue is not stretching forward as much as we would like for comfortable breastfeeding.  For breastfeeding  to be comfortable, the baby’s tongue mostly needs to be able to extend over their bottom lip so that they can hold the breast and milk the breast with their tongue.  The tongue needs to be able to move around  freely in the mouth,  and be able to function in a co-ordinated manner with a mainly forward backward motion.
The tongue may not be as stretchy or forward from a tongue tie or neurological/ muscular impairment related to a difficult or extended birth in some cases.  Some babies just take a little while to get the co-ordination after an initial difficulty.  With correct intervention such as snipping the tongue tie or exercises for the mouth, tongue, cheeks, lips and really good support with latching and positioning, the tongue can be encouraged to co-ordinate better making breastfeeding more comfortable and efficient.   Babies can self correct in most cases simply by practising the correct latch  etcetera after a few feeds.
2. The positioning and latch of the baby to the breast needs a little tweak.  The nipple is protected when it is at the back of the soft palate.  That is further back in their mouth than what you think.  When the nipple is too far forward in their mouth it gets squashed between the hard palate on the roof of their mouth and the tongue.  When your baby is born, their tongue is the most developed organ in their body. It is a muscle and is very strong.
Sometimes all it takes is to slightly adjust positioning of your baby at the breast and it makes all the difference. Getting the nipple right back is one of the most important points for comfortable breastfeeding.
I will do a followup to this one about other types of nipple damage and caring for your newborn baby.