DD is 7.5 weeks and sometimes she has days where she just doesn't seem to want to eat. She's not fussy but she will latch on, eat for a minute or two then slow down and pull off. She'll relatch/pull off repeatedly and kind of let the milk dribble out of her mouth instead of swallowing. She will do this for 30 min or more if I let her. Then if I put her down she starts sucking her hand like she's still starving. Most other days she is perfectly efficient and drains each breast in 5-7 min. What's her deal??
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The pulling on and off, milk dribbling, and disinterest in eating makes me wonder about tongue tie. Is that a possibility? My story about my experience is on here, as well as others, and there's a list of symptoms on either of these doctor's websites: Dr. Kotlow, DDS, (articles section on the left hand side) http://www.kiddsteeth.com. Dr. Ghaheri, ENT http://www.drghaheri.com.
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@erinpye: Actually when she was two days old the LC we visited suggested she might have a tongue tie and DH had one when he was a baby. But she has been gaining almost a pound a week and usually eats great except for doing this routine every few days. Is it possible she would be able to nurse normally most of the time with a tongue tie? I'll call the LC tomorrow and see what they say.
I'll add that she doesn't like taking a bottle either. Mostly just chews the nipple but will swallow it if I drip it into her mouth.
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@MrsHansen82: it's possible. Mine gained great with hers at first. She had a posterior tongue tie (with an upper lip tie), so it kept getting missed because it was harder to diagnose.
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@MrsHansen82: I agree with @erinpye: about posterior tongue tie and also have to wonder about lip tie. Both of my kids had the exact same "symptoms" and were gaining fine but they both had severe lip ties and posterior tongue ties. It really negatively affected my nursing relationship with my first but I luckily knew better for our second. I'd have her evaluated just to rule it out - you never know.
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@erinpye: @coopsmama: Thank so much! I'm now having a serious lightbulb moment! It seems she only does this routine when my milk is a little lower or isn't flowing as fiercely. Do maybe she can easily get it when the let down is more active. I just looked up symptoms and one is a clicking noise when nursing and she totally does that. It's like a loss of suction noise. Now I feel so bad because I was getting frustrated with her!
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@MrsHansen82: That makes sense! The ties make it hard for the baby to efficiently get milk out and I found with my first it caused him to get frustrated and give up. I did have oversupply (the fierce flowing you describe) the first few months (which some say is nature's way of ensuring they get enough despite the ties) and then my supply totally tanked around 4 months when it wasn't driven by hormones anymore. I didn't have that problem with DD because I had her ties clipped.
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@coopsmama: Yeah sometimes she will get fussy, suck for a minute, unlatch then scream that she's unlatched and repeat that for so long. I thought she was just too tired when she started that but now it's making sense! Poor thing!
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