If you feel confused or worried about whether your baby has a deep or shallow latch during breastfeeding (or chestfeeding)—if it’s your fault or what it means for your baby—you’re not alone.

Feeding babies can be so confusing. Understanding the difference between a deep vs shallow latch, whether it matters, and what it means for your baby is no exception..

Prefer a video? Check out the one above! It’s about 8 minutes long, and when you’re done, you’ll know exactly what a good latch looks like (and why it matters).

Prefer to read? Keep scrolling for everything we cover—plus a few extras.

Shallow vs. Deep Latch Explained

On the surface, the difference between a deep versus a shallow latch seems pretty straightforward.

• A shallow latch means your baby mostly has just your nipple inside their mouth.
• A deep latch means they’ve got your nipple plus some of your breast or chest tissue inside their mouth.

But in reality, it’s more confusing than that. A breastfeeding latch isn’t like a light switch where it’s either deep or shallow. Instead, it’s a spectrum—on one end, there’s a very deep latch, and on the other, a very shallow latch. Most babies fall somewhere in the middle.

It’s just information—a clue that something inside your baby’s mouth isn’t working as well as it could in that moment. And that’s okay! Your baby doesn’t need a perfect latch every time they feed.

And that’s what makes it tricky, because trying to figure out exactly what kind of latch your baby has can lead to a lot of second-guessing. You might find yourself wondering if your baby’s latch is shallow enough that it’s going to cause problems—or if you’re adding stress over something that doesn’t actually matter.

When you’re not sure what’s going on, it’s easy to feel stuck. And when you feel stuck, it’s really hard to trust yourself—and even harder to enjoy feeding time.

Causes of a Deep vs. Shallow Latch

The causes of a deep versus shallow latch are one of my favorite things to talk about—because it’s something a lot of parents think is their fault. They feel like they just don’t know how to latch their baby “the right way.”

And while it’s definitely true that how you hold, support, and position your baby before and during latching makes a difference in helping them get the best latch they can, whether your baby has a deep latch or shallow latch is about much more than just how you hold them or what position you’re using.

How deep or shallow your baby’s latch is, in any given feed, is really just their way of communicating how well all the muscles in their mouth are working together.

It’s really important to reframe your baby’s latch as less about something you do, and more about something that happens after you’ve set your baby up for success. Then, instead of blaming yourself for doing something wrong, you can get curious about what you might try differently—or why your baby keeps getting a shallow latch no matter what you do.

Three Key Factors

• Positioning – How your baby is positioned during feeding is crucial. A good position helps your baby take in more breast tissue and ensures their mouth opens wide enough to latch deeply.
• Mouth Opening (Gape) – For a deep latch, your baby needs to open their mouth wide enough to take in a good amount of tissue. The width of their mouth opening—or “gape”—determines how deep the latch can be.
• Muscle Coordination – How well your baby’s tongue and mouth muscles work together is another key factor in whether the latch is deep or shallow. Babies need to use their tongue, jaw, and lips effectively to create a good latch.

When a Shallow Latch Matters

When your baby has the deepest latch they can, it makes feeding easier for them. The more tissue your baby has inside their mouth, the more easily they can use the muscles in their tongue and mouth. When they can use all their feeding muscles well, they create a vacuum that helps milk flow from your body into theirs.

This makes feeding more efficient, effective, and comfortable.

But when your baby only has your nipple in their mouth, many of those muscles can’t make contact with your tissue to help remove milk. Their ability to use their tongue to create the vacuum becomes limited. Instead, they have to suck to make a vacuum—and that’s much harder.

Just like when you try to drink a thick milkshake through a straw and your mouth muscles get tired, your baby’s mouth muscles can feel tired too.

And instead of distributing the force from their strong jaw muscles on your less sensitive chest tissue, that force gets focused on your very sensitive nipple.

This can cause a whole lot of pain and damage, and it can make it harder for your baby to remove milk—kind of like if you were pinching that same straw you were trying to drink through.

A shallow latch also makes it harder for their lips to form a solid seal with your tissue. This allows air to flow into their mouth, which makes the vacuum less effective—just like a straw doesn’t work well if it has a hole in it. It can also cause them to swallow extra air, which can lead to them being more gassy and uncomfortable.

When You Should Pay Attention

• It causes pain. If you feel soreness or discomfort during breastfeeding or chestfeeding, that could mean a shallow latch—especially if it feels like your nipple is being sucked on without enough areola in your baby’s mouth.
• It affects milk transfer. If your baby’s latch is shallow, they may not be able to transfer milk efficiently, which could affect their weight gain and your milk supply.
• It happens all the time. If no matter what you do, your baby has a shallow latch, that’s a sign things may not be working as well as they can.

When a Shallow Latch Doesn’t Matter

Not every latch has to be your baby’s best latch. Sometimes your baby wakes up frantic and hungry, and you just want to get your nipple into their mouth as fast as you possibly can.

It’s OK to do that.

I call this the “in case of emergency, break glass” latch.

This is a wonderful tool to have in your toolbox because, in the real world, babies don’t behave like textbooks. And the reality is—some feedings are just hard.

When you use the “emergency” latch, it’s going to be shallow—and that’s OK. You knew it was going to be shallow, and you picked it anyway.

A shallow latch is a problem if you’re doing everything you can to help your baby get a good latch, and no matter what you do—they still end up shallow.

A Shallow Latch Is Okay When

• It’s not hurting you…and
• Your baby is getting the calories they need to grow and thrive…and
• You can feel they’re draining your breasts or chest after feeding…and

If these things are true, that shallow latch is just a puzzle to solve when you’re ready.

Things That Make Latches Shallow or Deep

How deep or shallow your baby’s latch ends up is really a reflection of how well their feeding muscles are working—and how easy feeding is for them.

But there are a few things that can make it harder for those muscles to work well. And that’s why just “getting” a deep latch isn’t always simple. You have to address the reason why it’s not deep first.

What Gets in the Way?

• Hunger – When your baby is hungry and frantic, that usually leads to tension.
• Tension – Tension makes it harder for your baby’s muscles to move easily.
• Comfort – Discomfort during feeding can lead to more stress and tension.
• Movement – If your baby can’t move their body symmetrically and easily, it can lead to tension and discomfort.

Helping Your Baby

If you notice that your baby consistently has a shallow latch, there are a few things you can try to help them get a latch that’s deeper and more efficient.

• Feed earlier: Feeding your baby when they show early signs they’re ready to eat can help them stay relaxed and make it easier for them to get their deepest latch.
• Experiment with positioning: Try different feeding positions to see if one makes it easier for your baby to get a deeper latch—whether you’re breastfeeding or chestfeeding.
• Encourage a wide open mouth: Make sure your baby’s chin is planted, and let them use their own reflexes as often as possible to help them get a deep latch when nursing.
• Seek support: If your baby continues to get a shallow latch no matter what you do, reach out to a qualified lactation consultant to help you get to the root of why it’s happening.

Confidently Moving Forward

The most important thing to remember is that your baby’s latch is not a reflection of how good of a parent you are, or how good you are at feeding them. It’s just information—about how well they’re using all of their feeding muscles in that moment.

And unless it’s hurting you or keeping your baby from getting the calories they need, a shallow latch is simply an opportunity. It’s a chance to experiment, make small adjustments, and figure out what works best for you and your baby.

When you figure it out, their latch will tell you.

Nobody has ever latched your baby with your anatomy before—and it’s okay not to know how to do everything just right in the beginning. Latching and feeding your baby is a learning experience. And if you can’t figure it out on your own, there are lots of amazing professionals who can help you get it just right—whatever that looks like for you.