Barb posted her experience with her own child who clicked while nursing the
first several weeks, with no ill effect. I also usually take the "if it
ain't broke, don't fix it" approach, except that my experience with my
fourth child turned out differently.

Eric clicked from birth- not horribly, but with some frequency. I had no
nipple pain, and he thrived in the early weeks and months, as did my first
three children. At the time I was an LLL Leader, and I consulted with an
IBCLC and a CLC, both of whom could find nothing wrong. One thing I now also
note in retrospect was that Eric also fell off the breast easily when I
moved around.

Every thing seemed otherwise fine, until the second half of the first year
when Eric slowly became failure to thrive, literally dropping two standard
deviations on the growth chart. I was a busy mom, but that just didn't seem
to account for it all. I "lost" a good part of my milk supply during mos
6-12, though Eric continued to nurse nevertheless for 2 1/2 years. He did
not start to really put on weight until he was more established on solids,
after 12 mos. I am sorry to say that I had a far too cavalier attitude about
his slow weight gain and did not do much in intervention.

It was not until I took an Anatomy class when Eric was 4 that I gleaned some
clues as to the problem. While we students were doing oral exams on each
other, my instructor, an MD, commented about my bifurcated uvula, which Eric
also has. She told me that she was taught to look for a cleft of soft palate
tissues whenever this split is seen. Well, Eric was never dx'd with a soft
tissue cleft, but I continue to suspect that there is something at least
mild there that has escaped the eye.

And of more interest............ I have bilateral minor clefts in my hard
palate that are not visible normally. In addition, I have an unusually
shaped palate. At conference this summer, a couple of my colleagues who
attended the cleft palate sessions took a look at my palate and identified
what they believe to be a "notch" that is supposedly indicative of soft
tissue cleft problems. It would not surprise me at all if Eric and I share
some mild genetic abnormalities. Did not cause my mother problems with
breastfeeding (though she only nursed me 6 mos), but perhaps these were the
cause of my breastfeeding problems with Eric. I have no definitive proof,
but the associations are cause for consideration.

In summary, though clicking could conceivably mean nothing at all, I believe
that it can at times indicate subtle issues that may be problematic down the
road. In Eric's case, I believe he thrived in the early days because I tend
to have a very abundant supply, which probably sustained  him despite his
struggle to maintain suction at breast. It was over time that my supply,
improperly stimulated, dwindled to the point of inadequacy.

Lisa Marasco

             ***********************************************
The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html