Clicking sound when feeding windy baby.

[GruffaloPants]

DD2 is nearly six weeks - 2 weeks corrected as she was slightly premature.

She was 7lb4 at birth at 36+3 and was 9lb when weighed a week or two ago - tracking 91st percentile for premature, or 50th if prematurity is disregarded seeing as she only just "qualifies".

She latched on shortly after birth and has never seemed to have a problem feeding - opens wide, lips flare, takes in plenty of breast, follows a varied sucking pattern, breast feels empty afterwards, no pain for me, good weight gain. So far, so good.

Two concerns, however. She makes a clicking noise most of the time while feeding, and her latch feels quite weak - it is easy to take her off. Everyone who has checked says her latch looks good but agrees the clicking sound is odd. I wouldn't mind, but she seems quite uncomfortable with wind after feeding a lot of the time - makes lots of grunting noises, seems tense, brings knees up. This seems to be relieved by winding, but she is hard to wind. I finished feeding her at 3am, tried winding her for 10-15 mins with only a little coming up, tried returning to bed but am up again as she was so restless. We use Infacol, which seems to help a lot of the time (but not now). No signs of lip or tongue tie, though I appreciate the latter can be hard to spot. DD1 had lip tie (undiagnosed but I am familiar with oral anatomy, always felt top lip was tied and BF was painful until the frenulum tore and bled, then it was fine).

DD2 also possets a lot more than my DD1 did, and also vomits a more substantial amount once every one or two days.

Apart from this she is a placid, settled baby (so far), tends to be easy to comfort and cries rarely.

Would appreciate any thoughts on the clicking, grunting and windiness, and what, if anything, I can do.

Have you tried to see if it's the same with bm in a bottle? Might be weak latch in which case the bottle may help.

Dd is 8 weeks born at 38+6 so not prem.

She usually clicks when feeding and has a loose latch but like your dd is feeding well, putting on loads of weight and it is pain free. Do you have quite a forceful let down? Hv and mw think it is that and the baby breaking the latch so as not to choke on the milk (which often happens anyway!). In doing this she is taking in air often which does make her more windy (usually farty haha). I find lying her on her back after a feed for 2 mins then winding her over my shoulder usually brings a burp up and keeping her upright for 10 mins after a feed reduces sickness and might bring up another burp

Just as a point of comfort I took dd to the doctors at 6 weeks as she was suddenly being hugely sick every day, copious amounts. This just stopped at 7 weeks and she's only been sick once since - don't know what occurred but it self corrected anyway..

All sounds totally normal to me and fits my situation exactly apart from being prem and i have no worries :)

This might be helpful for you kellymom.com/bf/concerns/child/clicking-when-nursing/

Who has her latch been checked by? Have you had a breastfeeding professional observe a feed?

Ds2 was a clicky feeder and quite windy with it. Sounds very similar to your dd although without the vomits. He grew out of it although I can't tell you when One of those things you notice when it's there but don't realise it's disappeared. Probably before 12wks though I would say.

Does her latch stay ok during the feed? DS2 would latch ok initially but gradually slip down the nipple as he fed and start clicking. He had a tongue tie that was snipped which greatly improved the pain of feeding but his latch was weak for a long time. It gradually improved as he got older and his muscles then got stronger. But he was clicky and windy for ages until that happened.

He was also a horrific grunter but grew out of this by about 12 weeks.

Thanks everyone. Good to know things can improve. I think I do have a strong letdown, she will pull off and get sprayed and I have to let the flow run off into a pad or it would go a good couple of feet. She often gulps and seems a bit frantic when feeding.

Latch stays the same throughout feeding. She tends to latch best if my breasts are fairly full.

Her latch has been observed by a midwife infant feeding advisor while still in hospital, and after that by midwives and health visitors. Not sure of anyone's qualifications. There is a NCT breastfeeding advisor drop in near me - would that be worth going to?

I had a very strong let down too and he just got better at dealing with that as he got older which really helped. But do no harm to go to the drop in. I found midwives very hit or miss with BF advice. One told me ds2's tongue tie wouldn't affect feeding and then we we went to get it snipped the guy said it was really quite severe.

Has she been checked for tongue tie? Apparently they don't routinely check for this now but it can cause a shallow latch and clicking sound, and consequently taking in a lot of air and making the wind worse. Do you get sore nipples? That would be another sign.

Sorry just saw that you've already ruled this out. The windy stage is annoying but as you know it does pass eventually. DS has been a proper grunter, it made it hard for us to sleep, but at 3mo now he's fine.