Not the yummy kind, either. The "I'm upset but can't cuss on MDC" kind 
There have been just a few things about Gavin's nursing that have been bothering me. I thought I was looking for problems where none existed just because of everything that happened with Connor. But finally today I took him to a lactation consultant I trust implicitly (she helped me with Connor in so many ways).
The good news--he's gaining well (although it's not quite as much as I expected it to be, he weighed 11-10 today at 4 weeks, weighed 10-10 on a different scale at 2 weeks old).
He took in 2 ounces during the session there (and that was after spitting up quite a bit, so he may have taken close to 3 ounces)
He had a big diaper blowout all over me, obviously his output is fine!
His latch looks good, tongue and lip placement is fine.
So what am I "fudging"? His freaking PALATE. Here's what she noticed:
He is "chomping" instead of suck/swallow/breathe pattern. He chomps until I get a let-down (lucky for him I get several in a feeding) then he just "accepts" the spray of milk. He is basically being sustained by my multiple let-downs.
He makes sort of a "clicking" sound from time to time. I noticed this, but thought it was flow-control, since I knew I had a strong let-down. But she suspected it was something else...so she checked his tongue. It looks good, probably not tied, but I have an appt for him with a dentist tomorrow anyway (one who is well-versed in tongue-tie). Then she checked his palate.
He has a bubble palate. Basically his hard palate (the roof of your mouth) has what looks like a "bubble", a big cave-like "hole" almost. He can't get the proper nipple placement in his mouth to extract milk efficiently. Failure to Thrive is often seen in this kind of palate problem, but again lucky for him I have a majorly abundant supply, he just has to be patient for a let-down then swallow. (that's why Connor was/is failure to thrive, he has a different palate problem and also has a swallowing disorder so despite my mega-boobs he couldn't take in enough. then he also had serious breathing issues and burned calories just trying to breathe)
I'm trying not to get to worried over this, I mean he is still doing well. But it is what's considered a "soft-marker" for the chromosomal syndrome Connor has. Gavin otherwise looks very "normal", so chances are he's perfectly fine, we'll just get him to a palate specialist to rule out a cleft, and we'll have to monitor weight gain very carefully. So I'm going to try not to get ahead of myself here. Calm, it's okay, he's okay, step-by-step I'll deal with this.
There have been just a few things about Gavin's nursing that have been bothering me. I thought I was looking for problems where none existed just because of everything that happened with Connor. But finally today I took him to a lactation consultant I trust implicitly (she helped me with Connor in so many ways).
The good news--he's gaining well (although it's not quite as much as I expected it to be, he weighed 11-10 today at 4 weeks, weighed 10-10 on a different scale at 2 weeks old).
He took in 2 ounces during the session there (and that was after spitting up quite a bit, so he may have taken close to 3 ounces)
He had a big diaper blowout all over me, obviously his output is fine!
His latch looks good, tongue and lip placement is fine.
So what am I "fudging"? His freaking PALATE. Here's what she noticed:
He is "chomping" instead of suck/swallow/breathe pattern. He chomps until I get a let-down (lucky for him I get several in a feeding) then he just "accepts" the spray of milk. He is basically being sustained by my multiple let-downs.
He makes sort of a "clicking" sound from time to time. I noticed this, but thought it was flow-control, since I knew I had a strong let-down. But she suspected it was something else...so she checked his tongue. It looks good, probably not tied, but I have an appt for him with a dentist tomorrow anyway (one who is well-versed in tongue-tie). Then she checked his palate.
He has a bubble palate. Basically his hard palate (the roof of your mouth) has what looks like a "bubble", a big cave-like "hole" almost. He can't get the proper nipple placement in his mouth to extract milk efficiently. Failure to Thrive is often seen in this kind of palate problem, but again lucky for him I have a majorly abundant supply, he just has to be patient for a let-down then swallow. (that's why Connor was/is failure to thrive, he has a different palate problem and also has a swallowing disorder so despite my mega-boobs he couldn't take in enough. then he also had serious breathing issues and burned calories just trying to breathe)
I'm trying not to get to worried over this, I mean he is still doing well. But it is what's considered a "soft-marker" for the chromosomal syndrome Connor has. Gavin otherwise looks very "normal", so chances are he's perfectly fine, we'll just get him to a palate specialist to rule out a cleft, and we'll have to monitor weight gain very carefully. So I'm going to try not to get ahead of myself here. Calm, it's okay, he's okay, step-by-step I'll deal with this.
