breastmilk running out baby's nose

[jasper]

My friend's bf baby is 4 weeks old, and healthy. When feeding quite a lot of milk drips out his nose.
He does not seem to have a cleft or hole in his palate ( although it is hard to get a good look)
Is this ok?

[fortyplus]

It does sound odd, but our mouth/throat and nasal passages are linked so it's almost certainly nothing to worry about and certainly not a sign of any physical abnormality.
But it's clearly making her nervous or she wouldn't have asked you to look to see if her baby has a cleft palate!
Tell her to mention it to her HV or GP so that they can put her mind at rest.

[Chandra]

I would have that checked, as much as interconnected they are having liquids on the nasal passage is painful at the least.

[jasper]

she had a paediatrician look at him the other day. He just said "yes that's odd isn't it?" ! he could not get a decent look at his palate.

[ZamMummy]

My DS had a similar thing, though not while feeding. He was quite pukey, not projectile just posseting, I think because have big breasts and a fast let down which it took him a couple of months to get the hang of.

Every time he brought up milk, it came out of his nose as well as or more than his mouth. He still does it now (nearly 6mo) but only very occasionally. It's never bothered him at all.

Interestingly(?) whenever I am sick it always comes out of my nose too (YUK!) which I thought happened to everyone but apparently not. So maybe some bizarre inherited thing!

[Beanfrog]

She could try feeding in a more upright position, gravity might help.

[PrettyCandles]

My babies have all occasionally vomited while bfing, but didn't unlatch, so the vomit came out of thelr noses. I wonder whether, if it's a regular thing for her, the baby hasn't yet sorted out co-ordinating his breathing, suvcking and swallowing.

[jasper]

Thank you all for your replies.
Yes I remember my babies vomitting out their noses.
This is quite different.
He has a steady dripping leak from his nose the whole time he is feeding. My friend has to but a towel under him to catch the drips.

It happens no matter what the feeding position is.

Does anyone else have any thoughts?

[NotQuiteCockney]

Is he otherwise ok? Is he gaining weight, healthy and happy? I'm guessing so, you say he's healthy ...

I'm not sure breastmilk in the nose would hurt, tbh. Is it bugging him?

I'd think some sort of structural abnormality would be the obvious explanation. But it's obviously not a severe one, or he'd have problems bf (bf with a cleft palate is quite hard, from what I know). I'd try to get him seen by a specialist to figure out what's going on, but it doesn't sound that worrisome tbh ...

[marthamoo]

Ds1 used to have this when I fed him lying down (I mean, me lying down - like in bed). It was as you describe - a steady drip, drip, drip out of his nostril the whole time he was feeding. But it was only when I lay down to feed - all other positions were fine. It didn't bother him, btw - but it freaked me out.
I took him to my GP who checked him for cleft palate/some kind of mouth/nose malformation (that was her first suggestion - though she said she'd never heard of it happening before) but there was nothing wrong. So I just stopped feeding him in that position.

I'd get your friend to ask her GP for a referral - as it's happening every time he feeds.

[bctmum]

It's to do with the structure of the mouth and that babys breath through their nose & feed at the sametime. Get your doc to check the inside of the mouth. bf with the head higher than the tum should help. Let us know what happens at the docs.

[3andnomore]

I just wanted to say, that bm leaking out of nose will not be painful....I have a cleft lip and palate and I tend to sometimes squirt things through my nose, which is unpleasant but deifnately not painful!
Also, the advice for a snotty Baby forinstance, if bf is, to squirt some bm up hteir nose instead of nosedrops!
But it is a bit odd that this happens, and I think if the GP she saw couldn't see then she should try to either see a different one "OR" to get referred to a ENT specialist or something like that!