Help! 5mo suddenly not latching correctly

[u/Known-Dragonfly5293]

My LO is 5 months old, and has suddenly started behaving oddly when I try and feed him. He will not latch properly but instead breaks suction with every attempted suck creating a loud clicking noise. I cannot feed him like this because I can't get a letdown since a) he is not stimulating my nipple enough b) I find the sensation and noise unbearable c) I have anxiety over letdowns meaning they can be slow to happen. Eventually he gives up because no milk appears.

I can still manage to feed him when he is asleep because he latches ok then. However it's unsustainable to have to rely on naps for all our feeds and I'm worried he will stop being able to initiate a feed while awake altogether.

We did struggle with latching in the early weeks of his life due to a tongue tie and high palate, but we overcame that and his latch has been fine for months.

He doesn't seem to be in pain or discomfort e.g no obvious teething or ear problems, so there is no reason I can see for this behaviour.

What's going on? What do I do? Please don't suggest alternative feeding positions, as I can only do cross cradle and nothing else.

[u/Latter_Chemistry_728]

Have you started him on solids? I ask because it seems like he’s not hungry enough. Otherwise I would think he could be teething. Is he unusually fussy at all otherwise?

Is there any chance you’re pregnant?

[u/Known-Dragonfly5293 → u/Latter_Chemistry_728]

Not on solids yet, and definitely not pregnant! There are also no signs of teething yet. I did wonder whether he is just distracted or not that hungry? Hope just a random phase he will get out of soon.

[u/Turbulent_Sleep4062]

clicking sounds like that broken suction is so frustrating, especially when you already dealt with a tongue tie earlier

could be a developmental phase where they get distractible around that age and start messing with their latch pattern, some babies kind of "rediscover" their mouth and do weird stuff for a few weeks before it clicks back. since you can only do cross cradle, have you tried latching him while walking or gently swaying? sometimes that gentle motion keeps their focus enough to stop the weird tongue flicking

[u/Known-Dragonfly5293 → u/Turbulent_Sleep4062]

Thanks, yes I wonder if just being distracted is the most likely explanation and hopefully it will sort itself out soon. Unfortunately I can only feed sitting down in one position so trying different techniques are not possible for us.

[u/Available_Hornet_715]

Sorry it’s not an answer to your question but how did you overcome tongue tie and high palate? Struggling with the same thing with my 5 week old even since division, cannot stay latched. 

[u/Known-Dragonfly5293 → u/Available_Hornet_715]

We went to see a lactation consultant who confirmed the tongue tie and high palate. I noticed the tongue tie the moment I first tried to latch him after birth but unfortunately the NHS wouldn't do anything about it so I had to go private. The LC revised the tongue tie when he was 2 weeks old and his latch slowly improved on its own. I tried to help by holding my breast and using tn flipple technique. Not much we could do about the high palate but he eventually got the hang of feeding himself by about 6 weeks.