Breastfeeding issues--tongue tie, thick nipples

[jammers77]

I'm beside myself with frustration. I had my LO a week ago, and he's tongue tied. My other two were, too, and the doctor determined that my little guy doesn't need to be clipped. It's not keeping him from latching on now that my milk came in, but before my milk came in, he would not latch on. I pumped to bring in my milk (colostrum wouldn't collect via pumping), but in the meantime I had to give him formula. My milk came in two days ago, and he's been able to latch on. But now I'm trying to catch up to the formula, and I'm failing miserably.

However, my nipples are thick and short. My right nipple is almost completely flat, but it produces the most milk and he's able to latch on after some struggle. Because my nipples are thick, it's hard to get enough into his mouth. From what it appears, he gets all of the nipple into his mouth, up to the aereola. After the initial latch-on, I don't have any pain.

After he's latched on though, he takes about 8 sucks and swallows, then takes a several second break. His eyes get droopy right away. I strip him, tickle him, talk to him, etc. but he still just has such few swallows. We end up having nursing sessions of over an hour, which is exhausting.

I'm also trying to pump, but once I'm done pumping, he's starving again and there's nothing for me to give him. I have no idea what to do, and I feel like I'm losing the battle. Does anyone have any tips? Is there hope for me?

 

[luna_19]

We had problems getting Devyn to eat in the beginning. What I did was work on getting him to latch and eat for about 20 minutes per feed (depending on how tired/patient we were both feeling) them I would pump and feed what I pumped. It was exhausting and the entire feeding took over an hour to start with but eventually he got better at bf. He started with only eating from one side and I would work on offering that other side for a few minutes every feed then switching to the side he liked. I would pump that first aide every other feed but just saved the milk since he was eating fine at that point. One day he finally latched on to that other side and we've been doing great ever since. It was super frustrating but if you stick with it it will get much better.

We did add formula for a few days in the beginning before I was pumping enough. The thing with formula is that it fills them up and makes them super sleepy which makes bf more difficult.

As for your nipple I also have one that is flat and wide (that side he didn't like at first) and the lc I saw told me to roll it and get it to stick up as much as possible before trying to get him to latch and that seemed to help. You may also want to get a second opinion on the tongue tie if you feel like it is interfering. Good luck

 

[luna_19]

Oh and a cold cloth is great for keeping him awake. It took us two weeks to get everything sorted out but only a few days of eating well to get him to be less sleepy

 

[rachelleigh]

I could've written this same story! I'm having pretty much the exact problem... We have had several opinions in the tongue tie and hopefully will be seeing a specialist this week. Our LO is 9 days old... I am a FTM and assumed BF would be a cinch... We've been to the lactation clinic 4 times. We started with feeding hand expressed colostrum with a spoon, then pumped colostrum fed through syringe and tiny tube that went into a nipple shield, then pumped milk in a bottle... I start the feedings with nursing (using nipple shields since he has so much trouble latching, especially on the right side which has "shy" nipple) and he nurses for ages with lots of breaks, not a ton of swallowing and usually keeps dozing off. I then feed him pumped milk from a bottle, then pump for 10 minutes. I keep the pumped milk in the fridge until the next feeding. The whole process is so time consuming and exhausting... I just want to be able to breastfeed my baby naturally. Was not prepared for how challenging it would be.

I'm hoping we get our appointment with the specialist this week (on a waiting list) and get her opinion on the tongue tie. She'll perform the frenotomy if she thinks it's necessary.

How are things going for you now?? Hope it's gotten easier!

 

[Care76]

Definitely get a second opinion on the tongue tie. Just because milk comes in doesn't mean you don't have supply and latch issues. There is a facebook group, Tongue Ties Babies Support Group and the have a list of providers that are very good at diagnosing and properly releasing them. We had my LO's TT done and it wasn't done far enough and we still ad so many issues. But it is all resolved now.

As for your nipples I agree with what another poster said about rolling them first. Good luck!