Clicking noise when breastfeeding

[Penny321]

Hi,
My daughter is 4 weeks old. Feeding has been a struggle from the beginning and for the first few days getting her to latch at all was difficult. With perseverance she was eventually able to latch but made a clicking noise when feeding, my nipple was lipstick shaped after a feed, she was windy and fussy, kept losing her latch. She was diagnosed with a posterior tongue tie which we had cut privately at 10 days old. I was led to believe that the tongue tie division would have an immediate effect on feeding but while my LO is able to open her mouth wider, she is still making the clicking noise and gulping in air. I have had several midwives and health visitors check my positioning and latch and they all say it’s fine. I had the health visitor out again yesterday as she has been getting increasing fussy to feed and I keep trying to take her off and rematch to stop her gulping down air. Again she said the latch etc is all perfect and she thought she was making the clicking noise with her lips against her her. She retains a seal around my breast and my nipple stays in shape after the feed. It’s not painful to feed her and she’s gaining weight, has plenty of wet and dirty nappies even though she will only feed for 10 mins then it’s like she’s fed up with struggling and gives up. The health visitor said just let her click which I have been trying and she does seem to be feeding better. Has anyone else experienced this? The sound is dreadful while I’m feeding but if she’s getting what she needs and it’s not painful then should I just leave her be? Thanks for any advice!

No experience but I just read something about this on a Facebook breastfeeding support group! I think they suggested that it could mean she still had tongue tie so is it worth checking that again? Look at breast feeding yummy mummies on Facebook; really helpful ladies in that group. Hopefully someone more knowledgeable will be able to come and help you soon x

If it's not hurting you, and you're not getting damage, I'd say let her be instead of trying to "fix" the latch all the time.
Just keep an eye on her output, is she still doing lots of wet nappies every day? This is how you know she's getting enough milk.
My little boy had a tongue tie frenectomy (anterior), and he can now latch well on the left but we're still struggling on the right without a nipple shield, he keeps coming off and losing grip, I keep squealing in pain, the right nipple is just a different shape to my left.
I saw a lactation consultant who set my mind at ease about using the nipple shields as long as I needed to.

Have you seen a lactation consultant?

Also at my mother's group there's been a few with similar issues but slightly older. They've had some of the issues resolved as their babies got older and grew bigger mouths.

I had exactly this problem; expected the clicking noise to stop after tongue tie was sorted and it didn’t. Not straight away, anyway. I think it took DD a while to get used to feeding properly when she no longer had tongue tie, and the clicking disappeared after a few weeks. I’m still EBF at 8 months with no issues at all, after a rocky first few weeks. I found La Leche League really helpful over the phone.

Make sure the tongue tie didn't heal itself. My niece had a tongue tie and my sister had to stick her finger in her mouth to break it up each day for a week or two, to make sure it didn't heal back.

Dd had no tongue tie at all and we’re still breastfeeding at 2, and for about 3/4 months she clicked every time she fed when she was wee. It just stopped one day! So I think sometimes it can just be one of those things and isn’t an issue.

If it’s not painful, she’s gaining weight and having good nappies I honestly wouldn’t worry. If you do start having issues then definitely get checked over again.

We're you given exercises? We were told to encourage her to poke her tongue out and to get some damp rolled up cotton wool and poke it under her tongue for a couple of mins at a time. The idea being that it would help to stop the tongue tie reattaching, but we're also told that it could do so anyway. We were also told that after tt being cut it doesn't always make a difference straight away (although the dr said that it should do within a week) or more rarely not at all.

Sounds like either the tt has reattached, or possibly only worked in part, or possibly she's still not worked it out yet, hence the clicking. We had ours done on the NHS but were looking into private due to time delays. Both nhs and private said to come back (for free) for reassessment if there were still issues. I would definitely give them a call.

Thanks for your messages. It’s good to know others have experienced the same thing which has righted itself eventually. My main problem at the moment is that some feeds she comes on and off at the start with the clicking and gulps down air so she won’t continue. I think I have a really forceful letdown which doesn’t help her!

If it’s a fast let down, you can express a bit off before a feed until you feel letdown and then pop dd on after then. I used to hand express into a muslin, or when dd settled a bit more into routine with her feeds I’d time a quick express with the medela just before she was really hungry.

www.kellymom.com

This website is a godsend, I don’t think I read anything for the first 3 months! It covers most questions I think I had really well.

Fast letdown is exactly what I came on to say. No pain is good though do have her checked re: tongue tie again - my little clicker needed hers releasing twice. It was the letdown which caused the clicking though

We are still going at 9 months, DD never had tongue tie or any real issues but we also had clicking for quite a while. It seemed to stop around the time my supply settled.

I had the exact same thing!!!

Eventually a lovely woman from an infant feeding team came to my home and helped with the flipple technique.. Which kinda helped but not loads.

The most valuable thing she said was the as she gets bigger and older her mouth will her bigger and she will just eventually get better and stop clicking. I wasn't in pain and she was gaining weight so I just had patience and eventually she did stop clicking. She doesn't still do it when she's dream feeding sometimes but generally it's 100% better 😁

Thank you all for your responses. It’s good to know we’re not the only ones! The health visitor yesterday checked her tongue and said it’s not tied anymore. Hoping it just gets better as she gets bigger! X