What are Elastic Nipples?
You’ve followed the flange measuring guides. You’ve read all the latch tips. But something still feels off—like your tissue doesn’t behave the way all the experts say it should. Maybe your nipple stretches far into the flange. Maybe latching feels hit or miss, even though you’re trying your best.
If any of that sounds familiar, you might have elastic nipples. This blog will walk you through what that means, how to tell if that’s what’s going on, and—most importantly—where to go next.
What are Elastic Nipples?
Elastic tissue is a completely normal variation in breast or chest anatomy. It just means that your tissue is softer, stretchier, and more mobile than average. Some people have firmer tissue that bounces back when pressed. Others—like you—might have tissue that ripples or shifts more dramatically when touched. That’s elastic tissue.
There’s no formal diagnosis for this. You won’t find it in a medical chart. But for feeding? It absolutely matters. Because softer tissue behaves differently when you are trying to latch your baby, when the tissue is inside of their mouth and when you are pumping—and that means a few things may not work the way the standard advice suggests.
How to Tell If You Have It
Most people figure this out through a mix of observation and experience. Here are three common signs:
1. Your nipple stretches while pumping
If your nipple travels deep into the flange tunnel—even past where it “should” stop—that’s often a sign of elastic tissue. It’s not a problem by itself, but it can make flange sizing more complicated.
If your nipple stretches more than half the length of the tube or "neck" inside your pump flange, that's a good indication you either have a pump that's too big or you have elastic tissue.
2. Your tissue ripples when touched
Try gently pressing on your chest tissue. If the movement ripples across your body or feels like jello, that’s a strong clue your tissue is elastic. Firmer tissue tends to spring back without that ripple effect.
3. Your tissue is highly mobile
If you can pinch the tissue behind the edge of your areola and use it to move your tissue side to side comfortably and easily, that’s another signal. Elastic tissue tends to slide and shift more than firmer tissue.
Gentle Reminder: Elastic tissue isn’t related to breast size. You can have elastic tissue whether you’re small-chested, full-chested, or anywhere in between. It’s all about how the tissue behaves—not how much you have.
Why It Matters
If elastic tissue sounds like what you’re experiencing, you don’t need to change everything. But it’s worth checking two key areas that are often affected, so that you can know what modifications you may need to make to make feeding work better for your body.
Elastic Tissue and Pumping
When you have elastic tissue, it can make your pump fit very confusing, especially if you follow the standard sizing advice, or even use the exact match size for your flange.
When you pump, your nipple stretches, and how far it stretches can vary with how elastic your individual tissue happens to be. You’ll likely need to measure, test, and even re-test to find the size that actually works with your body.
Elastic Tissue and Latching
When you have elastic tissue, especially if you have large AND elastic tissue, it can make positioning and feeding harder, and can make you feel like you are doing something wrong, when the truth is just that you have trickier anatomy to work with.
It's not that you are doing it wrong - you just need to be more of an expert at something you haven't had a lot of practice doing in the first place.
Elastic tissue can make certain positions difficult, especially the laid-back or "koala" position, because you can't easily see your anatomy, and your nipples may point out or down, instead of forward.
If it seems hard, that's because it is! And, a lot of professionals don't have a ton of experience supporting anatomy like yours, so their standard advice may not work for you. The good news is that it's absolutely possible to get into a comfortable position; it just may take some creativity and experimentation.
I'll be making a blog to help those of you with elastic tissue get a better latch in the near future, but my favorite hack with tricky tissue is my "Two Finger Lift" which uses your fingers to move your nipple to where you need it to be.
You don't have to lift your tissue, compress it, or put anything inside your baby's mouth. You just need to get your nipple in a place where it is easily accessible, and position your baby to cue them to open wide and help them forward to latch on.
Elastic Tissue and Feeding
When you have elastic tissue, it's harder for your baby to get (and keep) a deep latch because when they close their mouth to feed, your tissue shifts a bit in their mouth, too. This means that they may end up with a shallower latch than what they started with, especially if your baby isn't opening their mouth super widely before they latch on.
Making sure their latching reflexes are working well can help you make sure that they are getting as deep of a latch as they can.
If you have elastic tissue and flat nipples, that can add another layer of complications to something already tricky, because it can be harder for your baby to get that initial cue to feed. Here’s a blog with tips on how to get your baby latching if that sounds like your situation.
Your Body is Amazing Too
Elastic tissue doesn’t mean something is wrong. It just means your body needs a slightly different approach—whether that’s a smaller flange size, a modified latch, or simply more hands-on support while positioning your baby.
With a few tweaks, most people with elastic tissue go on to have comfortable, joyful feeding experiences. You can too. It might not look textbook—and that’s okay. What matters most is what works for your body and your baby.
And if you’re still not sure what’s going on, keep exploring. Ask questions. Watch videos. Follow your gut. This is your feeding journey—and you get to shape how it unfolds.
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