I do have to say though, when my DS was tiny, if he was screaming, I could get a good latch (’cause his mouth was SO open). So…it may not be bad advice, though it sounds ridiculous.

The advice may be as practical as Kimberly suggests, but I do have a strong gut reaction to the idea of “forcing” an already upset baby to anything!! I would not be inclined to listen to a person claiming to be a lactation consultant (credentials notwithstanding) if they spoke this way.

The advice is good, the presentation is not. I often got DS to calm down and nurse by popping my breast into his mouth when he was crying, but I certainly didn’t FORCE him to do anything.

If my baby was screaming because she wanted to nurse, I *would* (and have) pop my nipple in her mouth while it was open. That’s just giving her what she wants. But I could see that a baby might have trouble latching on properly if she is hysterical — if you have to “force” a hungry baby to the breast, I am guessing she’s hysterical — and letting her suck on Momma’s finger for a bit to calm down first sure isn’t going to hurt anything!

I was taught (by several WONDERFUL IBCLC’s) that a baby actually cannot properly latch while crying, because their tounge is on the roof of their mouth, and they need to extend it out over their bottom gum. I have always suggested BFing a calm baby for that reason, not to mention that hearing your baby scream while trying to shove your boob in it’s mouth is totally nerve racking for the mother!

This quote is from me. Forcing my baby to the breast in the manner I was encouraged to do by the nurse nearly destroyed our breastfeeding relationship. My baby became afraid of me, and would scream at the touch or smell of my skin. It took weeks for her to get comfortable around me and eventually latch on.

I was at the hospital for 3 days, and one hour before I left, the midwife on call that was with me through labor noticed how I was breastfeeding, and told me to never try and latch on a screaming baby because their tongue isn’t in the right position. Not to mention the psychological trauma.

Fortunately, she latched on finally at 6 weeks (after pumping constantly and syringe feeding), and nursed for 2.5 years

My little one was intubated for weeks and had quite the temper, the second he was hungery he started screaming about it. Trying to get him to nurse, because he was guarding his airway so much and so angry about being hungry (think the feeding tube had something to do with that) that the only way I could get him to nurse in the hospital was to wait until he opened his mouth to holler then pop my breast in his mouth. He’d immediately clamp down and start sucking (usually to let go and holler again/repeat until my let down happened a few long minutes later) so, for our situation, this worked really well. But if he had been crying because he was upset (instead of clearly angry about not getting fed RIGHT THIS INSTANCE) I don’t think it would have worked. Of course, I think this only happened to begin with because the NICU staff wanted to feed him by the clock, not by his stomach, so I didn’t get to try to breastfeed him until he was yelling in hunger. Putting him to breast at his first sign of hunger helped put an (almost) end to the need to slip my breast in while he was screaming. He never did like to wait for my letdown though.