A nurse teaching to a woman regarding breast feeding. Which statement is incorrect about breast feeding?

NORCET-7 Mains-2024

Obstetrics & Gynaecology

Easy

Appeared in: NORCET-7 Mains-2024

Explanation

The statement that the baby's lower lip is turned inward describes a sign of poor attachment, not proper breastfeeding.
For a correct latch, the baby's lower lip must be flanged or everted (turned outwards), as confirmed in pediatric guidelines.
An inward-turned lip means the baby is likely sucking only on the nipple, leading to pain for the mother and inefficient milk transfer for the baby.

Option A: This is a correct statement describing good attachment. Seeing more areola above the baby's mouth than below indicates an effective, asymmetric latch where the baby has taken a large mouthful of breast tissue.
Option B: This is a correct statement describing good attachment. The baby's chin pressing into the breast helps to stabilize the latch and ensures the tongue can effectively draw milk from the breast.
Option D: This is a correct statement describing good attachment. A wide-open mouth is essential for the baby to take in not just the nipple but also a significant portion of the areola, which is necessary for stimulating milk let-down and effective milk extraction.

Visual 1: Diagram - A side-by-side comparison showing the four signs of good breastfeeding attachment (chin touching, mouth open, lip everted, more areola above) versus the signs of poor attachment (chin away, mouth closed, lip inverted, more areola below). This visual helps learners quickly differentiate correct from incorrect latch.

Clinical Relevance

Nursing practice connection: Use the key finding related to Signs of correct breastfeeding latch/attachment to guide bedside assessment, documentation, and the next nursing action.
Assessing for correct attachment is a fundamental nursing skill to prevent complications like nipple trauma, mastitis, and poor infant weight gain.
A nurse must be able to teach and correct a mother's latching technique to ensure successful breastfeeding and prevent early cessation due to pain or frustration.
What if? If a mother reports severe nipple pain despite the baby's lip appearing everted, the nurse should assess for other issues like a tongue-tie (ankyloglossia), a high palate, or thrush (Candida infection) in the infant's mouth, as these can also cause pain and feeding difficulties.

How to Approach the Question

First, identify the negative framing of the question: it asks for the 'incorrect' statement about breastfeeding.
This means you are looking for a sign that indicates a problem or poor technique.
Recall the key signs of a good latch. A helpful mnemonic can be thinking about what a baby needs to do to get a good mouthful.
Evaluate each option against the criteria for a good latch: The baby's mouth should be wide open, chin touching the breast, lower lip turned out, and more areola should be visible above the mouth.
Options A, B, and D all describe positive signs of a good latch.
Option C describes an inward-turned lip, which is the opposite of the correct 'everted' lip. This is a sign of a poor latch and therefore the incorrect statement about successful breastfeeding.

Concept Tested & Keywords

Concept Tested: Signs of correct breastfeeding latch/attachment
Stem keywords: breast feeding, teaching, incorrect statement
Lead-in keywords: incorrect
Negative lead-in flag: The question asks for the INCORRECT statement, which describes a sign of poor attachment.

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