# clicking sound while nursing?



## calendulamama (Jun 22, 2005)

I am concerned about my 4 week old who has just developed this strange click as he sucks. It seems like his tongue is clicking against my nipple or maybe the roof of his mouth, but it is quite loud and iIcan see his little cheeks move as he does it. So far it isn't causing any nipple pain but i'm afraid it might.







Otherwise i think his latch is pretty good (though sometimes its hard to tell cause he does this crazy divebomb thing where he just opens wide and throws himself at the boob







) Does anyone have any experience with this? And how do you "train" a one month old not to do something? I tried breaking his latch when he does it but he just gets frustrated and I don't know if he knows how to stop doing it...

any advice?


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## wonderwahine (Apr 21, 2006)

usually when ds is clicking while nursing, he doesnt have a good latch. Make sure his mouth looks like a fish mouth around your nipple, and that theres a full seal, especially at the corner of the mouth. Other times he does it, hes comfort nursing.


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## ~Nikki~ (Aug 4, 2004)

Is the click sound kind of like how you would make a "kuh" of the letter K? (I hope that makes sense, lol). Often, the click is just the sound of the baby swallowing milk (a good sound, according to the nurses at my hospital). Have you ruled that out?


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## Pynki (Aug 19, 2002)

I hate to be the bearer of unwanted news, but I think clicking can be a sign of thrush.


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## TurboClaudia (Nov 18, 2003)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Pynki*
I hate to be the bearer of unwanted news, but I think clicking can be a sign of thrush.

i was going to post the same thing, pynki...

any signs of thrush in you, mama? pink nipples, pain during nursing (especially later in the day and at the end of nursings), cravings for sugary things or white flour/baked goods?

the theory behind the clicking noise being a sign of thrush is that the yeast combined with the mouth movements of nursing make the baby's mouth itch or tickle, and they break or adjust their latch to accomodate. the best way to approach iit is to break their latch as soon as you notice the click and relatch, being sure to get the bottom and top lips flared out over the nipple area and not curled under into their mouth.

treating thrush with citricidal grapefruit seed extract liquird topically on your nipples and in baby's mouth is minimally invasive and you can follow dr. jay gordon's protocol for thrush treatment at his website: www.drjaygordon.com

~claudia


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## calendulamama (Jun 22, 2005)

shoot.
thanks for all the words of wisdom, but I really don't want to hear the thush thing... not surprised really, he has had a yeasty diaper rash and i had lots of trouble with yeast during pregnancy, plus IV antibiotics during labour for Strep B... but I was holding my breath thinking somehow maybe I could avoid it...

thanks for the grapefruit seed extract tip and link- I would prefer to avoid whatever my dr would give me... but having taken grapefruit seed while travelling, I would have to say its the nastiest tasting stuff I've ever consumed!







... i'm a bit reluctant to put it in my baby's mouth, have you done this turboclaudia? ... now that you mention it my nipples are rather pink. darn darn darn...


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## TurboClaudia (Nov 18, 2003)

i did use it twice with our son. he was about 6 months old at the time. according to the protocol dr. jay gordon recommends, you dilute 10 drops of grapefruit seed extract to 1 oz of distilled water, and you use a cotton swab to apply it to baby's mouth. it's pretty dilute, but baby may still notice, so do it each time after nursing is dones so baby doesn't associate it with starting nursing and then refuse to latch. you can also taste test the diluted version yourself to see just how bad it is... we found the grapefruit seed extract WAY more effective than gentian violet (the other common thrush non-prescription remedy) and it was a whole lot LESS messy...









wishing you quick healing from the thrush, if that's what it is, and easy relatching when you hear the clicking noise.

and try to totally eliminate refined sugar and white flour products from your diet to take away the yeast food source. also wash your bras, reusable breast pads and clothing that comes in contact with your breasts in hot water and a white vinegar rinse, and don't wear any piece of clothing that comes in contact with your breasts more than one day. yeast is hardy stuff. if you are using disposable breast pads, toss them at the end of each day or whenever they get too wet.

~claudia


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## ndunn (Mar 22, 2006)

I notice my daughter clicks sometimes when the milk comes out really fast at the beginning and once it slows down after a few seconds she stops. Is that normal ?


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## perditafoster (Sep 30, 2003)

I second the thrush guess...as for the pp's question about clicking when letdown occurs, I went to a lactation doc when dd #2 was two weeks old because we had massive thrush. I was also worried that she wasn't latching on properly because she clicked and gulped and made horrid sounds the whole time she was nursing. The doc carefully watched me and said that dd was just an active nurser and was a big gulper. I didn't believe her and made her watch me again on the other side! DD #1 never made any weird noises. The doc assured me that her latch was perfect, she just made noises







Thrush is long gone for us but she still honks and slurps and gulps and flings her body around while nursing...she is also quite the fatty baby so I guess she is an active eater to keep her fat supply high!


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## Boobiemama (Oct 2, 2002)

My baby was doing that for awhile. She was like losing suction. It was annoying , not painful, but worrisome as she had some low weight gain in the beginning.
She outgrew that click and nurses fine now.


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## Incubator (May 11, 2006)

Our LC tried to tell us that the click was from tongue-tie. But I was awfully engorged at the time, and his pedi says he looks just fine. He's gaining well, and he still clicks some, but not as often as he used to.

My nipples are pink at the tips. Does thrush hurt? Mine don't really hurt, but compared to how bad it was when we started, I might just not notice really. I also had IV anibiotics during labor but wasn't too worried about thrush... hmmm...

And has anyone found a way to go braless without soaking anything within a foot of your boobs? Mine get awful sweaty but I hate going without my bra because it's the only thing that hold my pads on and keeps me from being a milk fountain... Literally, the right one sometimes looks like a waterhose on full-speed with a pinpoint hole in it. Sometimes it just lets loose with no warning and starts to sprinkle on everything close by...

Any thoughts? ds doesn't seem to have any trouble nursing during the day, wouldn't thrush cause him pain too? Is this maybe why he gets fussy and pops on and off the boobs at nighttime?


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## wonderwahine (Apr 21, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Incubator*
Our LC tried to tell us that the click was from tongue-tie. But I was awfully engorged at the time, and his pedi says he looks just fine. He's gaining well, and he still clicks some, but not as often as he used to.

My nipples are pink at the tips. Does thrush hurt? Mine don't really hurt, but compared to how bad it was when we started, I might just not notice really. I also had IV anibiotics during labor but wasn't too worried about thrush... hmmm...

And has anyone found a way to go braless without soaking anything within a foot of your boobs? Mine get awful sweaty but I hate going without my bra because it's the only thing that hold my pads on and keeps me from being a milk fountain... Literally, the right one sometimes looks like a waterhose on full-speed with a pinpoint hole in it. Sometimes it just lets loose with no warning and starts to sprinkle on everything close by...

Any thoughts? ds doesn't seem to have any trouble nursing during the day, wouldn't thrush cause him pain too? Is this maybe why he gets fussy and pops on and off the boobs at nighttime?

Ds clicked for a long time and at 8mths still does sometimes. My nipples are bright pink and I've never had thrush and neither has ds, except a bad diaper rash that turned to yeast.
I sympathise withthe leaking.......I still can't go braless at 8mths without the squirtfest. At night I have managed to go braless, but just put a hand towel over the breast not being sucked on lol








Ds took a long time to get a good latch at night, its the dark, and them being sleepy. Ds still pops on and off at night, i thinks its a comfort thing to. But if its at night before hes in bed, it might just be your supply is a little lower in the evening, and its not letting down as fast as he wants.....ds went through that stage and would pound my breast and pop on and off until it let down again, he usually did it in a growth spurt as well.


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## jillybeans (Mar 11, 2005)

i would def. check on all of the above mentioned ideas BUT

my daughter did the same thing. She didn't have thrush. She wasn't tongue-tied. She didn't have a bad latch. She was just a "clicker" and once i relaxed about it, she outgrew it! It made for some tough times though. Hang in there, as frustrating as it is, it WILL get better!

:bighug:


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## DQMama (Mar 21, 2006)

My daughter clicked for the first three months. I think I had an oversupply of milk in the beginning and she was gulping and breaking suction trying to accomodate the flow. I had never had latch problems with my son so this was new to me.

If it turns out to not be thrush, and if your nipples are not sore and he is gaining weight, I would not worry about it. One thing to try though, is to latch him so that his head is tilted back slightly. This is easiest in the football hold position. His chin should be touching your breast but his nose will not quite touch. This will put your nipple back farther in his mouth and may cut back on the clicking. Good luck!

Amy


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