BFing & Tongue Tie

[greenMamaOwl]

Tomorrow we are taking our baby boy to an ENT Doctor, where they will fix his tongue tie.

It has been a rollercoaster with BFing the passed 3 weeks, and I truly hope this helps! His Ped. said this will most likely fix the problems we are having with breastfeeding.

Does anyone have any advice or personal experience with a baby who was tongue tied and had trouble breastfeeding (latching on)? Will this possibly fix the problem? I am just so determined to BF, ugh.

I really just want to get this over-with for our little guy, and move on, and hopefully finally be able to breastfeed with no problems!

[hpfgirl]

My baby is tt, but I think we were lucky. He was able to latch on well by day 2. Sorry - not much help.

[willownz]

Mine is tongue tied too and we only had latch problems for the first week. Once her mouth got bigger and she could open up large things went much better. My midwife was the only one to notice her tongue tie (it is very minor I didn't even notice). Breastfeeding hurt for the first 8 weeks but is all good now at 9 months.
Everyone I know who has them clipped say things improve.

[cupcakewright]

YOu may still need help as it has been a few week and baby has learned a pattern of nursing but it is the right thing to do! Good luck and hang in there!

[dr_comer]

I'd not know that my son was TT but he does have a short frenulum. In the first few weeks as I was desperate to find anything to make BF'ing "easier," I was ready to get his frenulum clipped. Our first pediatrician would only refer us to a surgeon to have it done. She said she did not think it would solve our BF problems. I had all the unpleasant things: bleeding nipples, mastitis, horrible latch on pain. Also my DS had reflux. Needless to say BF did not become enjoyable for me for about 3 months. We did not have his frenulum clipped and probably like the pp said, once his mouth got bigger it got better. Now at 11 months I'm glad I stuck with it. I know it's hard and I hope the clipping helps! GL

[greenMamaOwl]

Thanks for your in-put, Mamas!

We are going to see the ENT in a bit... hopefully we find some answers! Regardless, I am not giving up with BFing!

[Janine]

Originally Posted by cupcakewright YOu may still need help as it has been a few week and baby has learned a pattern of nursing but it is the right thing to do! Good luck and hang in there!

Yes! DS was tongue tied and had his tongue clipped at 2 weeks. But he doesn't know what to do with his tongue now. So definitely seek a LC if he is having trouble latching after. He may need some help re-learning how to latch. Good luck!

[fallaway]

DS had his tongue-tie fixed last week. He seems to suck a little harder? No dramatic difference though yet. His tongue is just now starting to get a normal shape (it pulled in at the center, like a W shape). I plan to see a consultant again about it, since he doesn't seem to be getting any more out of me than before, not noticeably anyway.

How did it go? I hope he's doing better!

[wildsissy]

Yes! I had my DD tongue clipped when she was 50 hours old exactly.. we had to track down an "old school" ped because nobody in the Chicagoland area will touch it without going to an ENT and our stupid HMO would have taken forever to get a referral.. in fact our regular ped told me WITH HIS HANDS ON HIS HIPS he would have "never allowed me to have done it" sighhh anyway.. it took all of 3 seconds, she cried becuase people were standing around her and holding her head/arms (she didn't even like to be swaddled at age) the ped clipped her, my husband watched and said a small bit of blood came out, the ped picked her up and put her right on my breat and she latched PERFECTLY!

but what I didn't know is they learn to suck in the womb so it still took her 5 weeks to get back to her birth weight because she wasn't transferring hindmilk very well at first.. now she's a champ and is in the 97th percentile for weight..