breastfeeding problem/s - poor latch and cold - any advice?!

[EnormousChangesAtTheLastMinute]

dd2 will be a month old on thursday and has been breastfed since birth. she was gaining weight well and for first couple of weeks had no problems other than usual soreness and an imperfect latch (which i was working on!)
but recently she seems to be very windy and has explosive, liquid poo. she rarely burps but cries and farts a lot - pooing and passing the wind seems to cause her pain.
could her poor latch be the problem? If we do manage a better latch she pulls away until she is nipple feeding and even when i manage what looks like a good latch she makes clicking sounds which i've been told is a sign of a poor latch.
She also has a habit of taking short and frequent feeds. Could this mean too much foremilk and not enough hind milk and could that inbalance also cause wind?
A complicating factor is she has a very snotty nose, whuch makes feeding difficult. i am trying usual saline drops, bulb nasal sucker thing, steam.... oh and have tried infacol too but didn't notice improvement.
if anyone can offer any advice i'd be very grateful!
i will try to see hv tomorrow and will ring helpline nct or something but just trying to cast my net wide - feel rotten for poor dd2.

when my ds had a cold and blocked nose when he was 2 monhs old, i used a drop of 'Olbas Oil' decongestant on my top when i was feeding him. This seemed to help him breathe, as it is obviously hard for him to feed and breathe at the same time. This seemed to help with him latching on properly, as he couldn't breathe through his nose before.
Hope this helps a bit. Hopefully when her cold improves, she will perfect her technique!
Good luck.

I was just about to write an identical post, EnormousChanges. Sorry for the hijack, therefore! I am having virtually identical problems with my 6 day old - clicking, pulling back to only feed off the nipple, making odd guinea-pig-esque noises when swallowing, stuffy nose and terrible wind, that makes him arch his back and scream until he farts it out.. I know he's swallowing air when he feeds - I can hear it sometimes - but I can't seem to find a way of helping him. He rarely opens his mouth really wide, but even when he does get what I think is a good latch, he still sucks in air. Or he lets go.
Sorry, this has turned into a bit of a sob story. But at least I know I'm not alone. And so do you.

ring helplines please. have you got numbers? they are on hunkermunker's profile.

thanks for the tip Hamkin and yes, will ring helplines Fishie.
sorry to hear you're going through the same trauma Frisbyrat. i don't know about you but we've had another long day and i'm gloomily anticipating another long night. sigh. if only the babies would read the breastfeeding books and leaflets...
let me know how you get on - esp if you find the magic sollution! meanwhile good luck tonight and yes, at least we're not alone (i wonder how many people have this problem - how do you get a baby to open wide?!)

my DD was a bit slow to get the hang of opening her mouth wide in the early days, and she struggled to latch on and was clicky and swallowing air.

It got steadily worse until about 12 weeks I was in a lot of pain. A course of thrush meds for both me and her have cleared toe problems up completely. I then had to work on her latch which had gotten really lazy, but at 16 weeks we're getting there.

I'm not saying either of you have thrush, but it is one possibility.

Can you access some local help, is there a baby cafe near by or a sure start childrens centre. They usually have a drop in BF group with a BF counsellor on hand.

I'm just coming out of the other side now, so can fully empathise with you.

If you keep this bumped tomorrow, I'm sure tiktok, hunker, moondog etc will be around to give advice.

You're both doing great jobs though

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Does your baby struggle to get a good latch because your milk flow seems fast, especially at the start of feeds?

Some babies do make clicking sounds because they're finding it hard to stay attached to a v milky nipple - could that be part of it?

If you have a strong letdown, it could be that that's causing the problem.

If this IS the case, try feeding off one side for several feeds in a row. Search Tiktok's name and one sided feeding for more info about it - she's better at explaining it than I am, cos she's trained and I'm just me saying stuff.

The numbers of the helplines are on my profile.

Also, don't worry overly about foremilk and hindmilk balance.

I have wondered about thrush so will investigate that.

i wonder if my let down is strong - i know this sounds silly but not sure how i tell. it's the only letdown i have any experience of, if you see what i mean...but she does cough sometimes at the breast.

i have tried using same breast for several feeds when she is feeding little and often in order to allow her to get some hindmilk (i think but no idea if this is correct/sensible) but ta for putting my mind at rest there - that's one thing i'll cross off the fretting list!

Feeling slightly less demoralised today so will try helplines, thanks for numbers. I'll do it now before the crying wears me down!

Thanks all for taking the time to post. it helps just to get it out of my head - mumsnet might just keep me sane!

Oooh, there's a baby cafe in kentish town! perfect! not too far and where grandad lives so maybe he can take dd1 while i take dd2 to caff. thanks so much for that Daisy - hadn't heard of baby cafe before. cheered me up!

hi there, probably not much help but my dd is 9 weeks and makes lots of clicking which i was worried about as ds never did it and was always told it was a poor latch. however, dd feeds really well and doesn't seem bothered by it. It is normal for the poo to be liquid and sometimes explosive - some babies just get rid of wind that way. You are probably right that you have a fast let down, which is what happens with me. Another thing to try is to take baby off for a few seconds once the let down comes and stop flow with your finger for a few seconds till it calms down, then put baby back on. DD also had a really snotty nose, often snotting out big bits onto me when feeding! I think they are still just getting rid of mucus etc from birth and it clears up spontaneously. I had started off fairly quickly going to both sides but went back to alternating single sided as I felt she was getting too much foremilk if i changed in the middle of a feed. I guess you have to see what is best for you. I couldn't feed off the same side more than one feed in a row as if i sometimes do by mistake i get really uncormartable.

ECATLM....I don't know if you know about Kellymom. It is a great website with lots of advice. It has been a bit of a lifeline for me the past few months.

I hope things get better soon and you get some help from the babe cafe.

Thanks Daisy - that's a really good site.
Frisbyrat if you read this the kellymom site has good ideas on 'clicking' and the nct counsellor i spoke to suggested moving the baby so she has to tilt her head back more to latch on. it's early days but i think it has improved things a little. my plan is to keep going and go to babycafe on monday if things still bad.

Has anyone come across using tea - rooibos, camomile or fennel to help colic and wind? it seems odd but maybe worth a try (small amount given with a dropper i guess) but i need to find out more.

Another one about to post a similar question...
No clicking as such but DS2 (3 weeks) was latching on quite well but suddenly can't maintain it and after the first go at each sitting cannot seem to latch on at all and slips off the whole time. He too has a cold and has had a bit of trouble breathing about the same time as the problems has started. Also I have been expressing quite a lot and therefore introducing a bottle into his life too. Perhaps it was a bit early to do so - is he confused now?

Re chamomile tea - I've used it with all 3 of mine after discovering that infacol is pants, made as usual then diluted to half strength with boiled water, they've all taken it off a spoon or from a little medicine pot no problem and it does seem to help.
Lisa X