Clicking while BF and not opening mouth

dixielane

Does anyone elses babies "click" or "smack" their mouth when nursing? I heard it is when suction is broken, but my LO does this constantly when nursing. She is still getting a ton of milk, so I guess its not a big deal, just wondered if its normal.

 Also, how can I encourage her to open her mouth wider? She nurses fine once she's on it, and has a ferocious appetite -- she will headshake and root like crazy whenever the breast is presented to her and opens her mouth BIG the first latch on, but mid-way when she's gotten some milk in her tummy she will come off the breast for a break, and when I go to put her back on she only opens her mouth really small, and slurps the milk off my nipple instead of opening wide. I know shes still hungry because when I remove her from the breast she gets upset and keeps rooting around. So how do I open her mouth up?

CaitlinJ22

sounds like whats happening is your DD is taking her tongue and blocking the flow of milk to slow it down. Very smart, but it makes the latch slip and become more shallow. I had an over active letdown with DS--and this baby too--but with DS he would make that clicking noise too. I saw an LC and she told me what he was doing was trying to control the flow. It caused me some discomfort too, since the latch would slip and I would get sore. 

Try taking her off, spray into a towel and relatch.

GL!! 

dixielane

CaitlinJ22:

sounds like whats happening is your DD is taking her tongue and blocking the flow of milk to slow it down. Very smart, but it makes the latch slip and become more shallow. I had an over active letdown with DS--and this baby too--but with DS he would make that clicking noise too. I saw an LC and she told me what he was doing was trying to control the flow. It caused me some discomfort too, since the latch would slip and I would get sore. 

Try taking her off, spray into a towel and relatch.

GL!! 

Really, that sounds exactly like what it is. I KNOW I have to be drowning her, when I do unlatch her I can shoot milk several feet from like 5 different streams LOL And since she's started doing that, I have gotten somewhat sore because like you said, it makes her latch become shallow.

I just started taking breaks inbetween nursing to spray into a towel when I am letting down, or if she starts to get too excited I pull her off and let the milk stop flowing and dripping so much.

 

Thank you for your advice, i will keep doing it. I guess as long as I hear her swallowing and my milk is flowing strong I shouldnt worry about her not getting enough milk due to the clicking thing..

butterbeansmama

Harrison does the exact same thing and I do know that I have a pretty strong letdown. Half the time, it makes him choke, Poor baby. He does get alot more gas bubbles when he makes the smacking sound too.

KelsoXOXO

Your DD does the same exact things as mine! The clicking and smacking and not opening wide enough - it's all there. The clicking drives DF crazy haha (he feels bad that it bothers him so much). I've been wondering what this means too. And she'll open wide to latch on but ends up slipping to the end of my nipple.. she does the rooting around and shaking her head too. My nipples have definitely taken a beating..
Sorry I don't have anything to help but I just wanted to say I relate haha.