Is she latched on properly??? Does it matter???

[mimicakey]

My baby is 4 weeks old, gaining weight really well, pooing and weeing plenty but I'm still not sure she's latching on properly all the time.

A lot of the time she'll sort of smack her lips or tongue with each suck, so it would appear she's not latched on properly, is that right? Some of the time, she'll get on and the whole sucking motion will be completely silent, which I assume is a good latch? I try to get it right by taking her off and starting again but she gets stressed out after a couple of times and starts writhing round like a fish, so that doesn't help anyone! She also gets quite windy but not all the time and not necessarily when she's been smacking her lips.

So my questions are:

1. Is her wind caused by this not-quite-right latching?
2. Should I keep hoiking her off until she's sucking silently?
3. Should I not really worry about it seeing as she's gaining weight, pooing and weeing? (this is all the health visitor asks when I mention it)
4. I've just read that doing one side per feed can reduce wind, is that true?

Very interested to know what you think and your stories if you've had a similar issue.

Thank you, mimi x

[moondog]

Hi Mimi

The conclusions I drew from a very difficult time b/feeding (to begin with) and lots of problems with colic was that whatever you do,it generally makes no difference at all.

Sorry!

However, if the baby is putting weight on ,then things are happening as they should. Sometimes they do fuss at the breast,so if you feel the latch is not right, break the seal with your little finger and try again. You get to know when they are sucking deeply by looking at their neck just below their ears 9and slightly forward.) However, it's imprtant to reemeber that sometimes they just suck for comfort and that is fine too.

Cogratulations btw.

[moondog]

Psycho, I know nowt about this stuff really.
Just struggled through it myself.

[mimicakey]

Thanks moondog and psychobabble - very helpful. I suspect you're right moondog.

Good point Psychobabble - should have said yes I'm comfortable, no problems at all with my nipples.

[moondog]

Brill that the old nips are holding up!

[mimicakey]

don't you just love how much you talk about nipples with strangers these days!

[missbumpy]

Hi Mimi,

I have exactly the same problem. My DD has had trouble latching on since day 1 and she's now 11 weeks. She does the lip smacking noise too. Not always but sometimes. I've been to see a b/f counsellor and she said that it was a sign that the baby wasn't latched on properly and was taking in a lot of wind...but then she couldn't identify what was wrong with the latch because I was doing everything you're supposed to and the position was correct .

Anyway, my DD is gaining weight and creating lots of wet nappies etc so I'm not too worried about it. The only thing I'd say is to keep an eye on whether your nips are sore or not because you don't want a poor latch leading to sore nips/mastitis/cracked nips etc. Trust me!

Good luck.

[mimicakey]

Thanks missbumpy. Do you find she has a bout of wind at similar times of day? My dd seems to be fine all day until she feeds around 8 ish.

[morocco]

any chance you could have oversupply of milk? does she do lots of writhing round after starting to feed? there's more info about it on kellymom somewhere. i had this with dd and she often made a clicky noise when feeding. no wind though. sounds like you and she are doing pretty well if she's gaining weight and your nips are ok as well

[missbumpy]

Sorry Mimi, my DD seems to be generally windy ! No specific time of day.

That's interesting Morrocco. My DD writhes around a lot at the moment. I was worried maybe it was because I don't have enough milk but maybe it's the opposite problem. I'm going to look it up on Kellymom.

[DaphneHarvey]

If no nips pain then latch is probably fine.

My two dcs did lots of alarming things whilst bfeeding, including snarling and shaking heads whilst nips in mouth (but then they were both extra large and probably trying to get as much milk as poss), plus had colic, but I did bfeed them both for a decent length of time.

So long as dd gaining weight and you aren't uncomfortable then am sure all is probably well.

Honestly, if there was a serious problem with her latch, you would know about it!!!