Niggling breastfeeding questions

[californiagirl]

OK, so I'm a paranoid new mother (4 weeks tomorrow). But I have three "is this normal?" questions. First, there's the projectile vomiting thing. She's only done it three times, several days apart, and she's eating, pooping, peeing, growing, etc., so I'm rationally convinced that it's nothing horrible, but the fact that almost every place that mentions it says it means pyloric stenosis and surgery makes me nervous. It's been 4 days since the last time, so they're getting further apart, not closer together.

Second, there's the whooping. She can make this whooping noise while feeding. Both while swallowing, and between swallows (although they sound different, one being on the exhale and the other on the inhale). It doesn't seem to distress her, although she does it most often when she was crying before she started to feed. But it sounds even worse than when she makes Tasmanian devil growling noises while eating. Do other babies do this?

And finally, she foams at the mouth. More like somebody with a mouthful of soap than like a rabid dog; fairly large bubbles. Is this normal?

Aside from these little oddities, she's only moderately fussy and spitty, despite my having to change clothes twice before breakfast (she peed on me before I fed her, and spat up on me after...)

[JeniN]

Congratulations Californiagirl- not sure enough to comment on the first two because DD wasn't very vomity and didn't make much noise feeding, but the foaming we did have. It's weird, but apparently very common (I've heard of other babes doing it too).

[bluebear]

Dd does the foaming mouth and occasional growly feed - no whoops though. And according to my mum I often prejectile vomited - so much so, she covered her feeding chair in plastic, I'm 32...quite normal ...no surgery required.
Just mention it to the HV the next time you get her weighed.

[suedonim]

The whoopy thing sounds familiar to me. I associated it with gulping in of milk/air and never regarded it as anything but normal. Hth!

[SoupDragon]

DS1 & 2 were both noisy feeders. More of a glugging sound though! DS1 used to be spectacularly sick too. I think Pyloric stenosis thingy is much more dramatic and regular than what you are describing.

[kiwisbird]

If is was PS boy you would know, my Sil's son had it, wow...green spew awful... very miserable failing to thrive scremaing unhappy baby...
My dd did the daily spew often hitting walls, no idea which feed it was it just happened, she grew out of it with solids at 6-7 mths.. She always hiccuping and possetting little milk patches everywhere. She is brill now though!
My son was noisy feeder, soundd like rabid dog at times, snuffling for truffles like a pig...
Hmmm don't know about the foaming though!

[aloha]

I once wrote a card to friend with a new baby saying everything is normal' and I mean it. If she's well and healthy, then, yes, it is normal. She doesn't need surgery! I think the growling noises are the baby equivalent of a purr. And all babies make a mess of your clothes. That's why my wardrobe is now Primark rather than Prada (not that it was ever very Prada and also due to going up two dress sizes due to motherhood )

[toddlerbob]

Okay the vomit thing - If she's happy then its a laundry problem, not a feeding problem.

The whooping - thank goodness I've found someone else. My ds was amazingly loud with this. It's something to do with the position of the voice box and goes away on its own. One day I just noticed it had stopped.

When does she foam at the mouth?

[mears]

My first ds did the whooping thing. It was so funny because I would be trying to feed discretely and everyone would turn round to see where the noise (and it was loud) was coming from. Vomiting is normal the way you describe it. Just means that you have to replace it with another feed! Bubble blowing is normal too. Welcome to paranoid motherhood

[californiagirl]

Thank you for all the reassurance.

I wasn't alarmed by her messing up my clothes while I was wearing them and holding her. It was when she messed up my clothes despite the fact that DH was holding her a foot away that I started to worry (also sulk -- he only had to change his shirt, but when she did it to me, twice, I had to change every stitch I was wearing as well as the pillowcase on a pillow she was nowhere near at the time).

But it sounds like all this is normal, which is good. Since we went to the pediatrician for her one week visit, and the ped described the symptoms of infant mastitis and said it was very rare, and the next day I thought she had them and decided that I was being neurotic, and 6 hours later it was clear she did and we had to go to the after-hours clinic and feed her antibiotics for 10 days and do two follow-up visits and people kept saying cheerily that it was good she didn't look sick so they didn't need to hospitalize her (and the woman in the pharmacy asked for a birthdate on the prescription and then said "And she's sick already?" which made me feel like the worst mother in the world even though three separate doctors said it wasn't our fault)... anyway, since then I've been slightly more paranoid then before.