Posterior tongue tie?

[SoupDragon]

I'm expressing for DD and supplementing with formula, as she's never been able to latch successfully. We discovered today that the reason for this is probably a posterior tongue tie.

She is 10 1/2 weeks old and the lactation consultant we saw said she wouldn't rate the chances of DD learning to latch even if the tie was cut - she said it might help, but is quite likely not to. She is gaining weight appropriately and developing normally.

Given that, neither me or my husband are happy to go ahead with the procedure - the LC warned us that if we had it done, she would have pain for a few days, and that doesn't seem fair to us if it's not likely to help her. (I understand this is not always the case and having a tongue tie released has saved many breastfeeding relationships). I feel like I'd be causing her pain in a futile attempt to satisfy my desire to bf her, which doesn't feel right at all

So I'm going to continue expressing and trying to build my supply - I'm currently pumping 16 oz per day, and DD eats 27-30 oz. I'm also going to keep trying her at the breast, as she still knows what she needs to do, and I'm hoping with time the tie might stretch or not impede her so much.

I just wanted to hear from others who have experienced this type of tongue tie - did you have it cut? If so when, and what happened? If your LO couldn't latch, could they do it afterwards? Did you leave it alone, and what happened? Any experiences at all would be helpful to me!

 

[Rachel89]

I recommend you joining the tongue/lip tie group on facebook there is a lot of information there and having a tongue and or a lip tie doesn't only effect breastfeeding, but it can also cause speech problems, neck problems, eating issues, snoring, how the teeth look (on each other so to speak etc.) headeaches and other symptoms as an adult as well.

I would definitely look into it and join the group and of course if you and your spouse do decide to still not have it done then that is up to you and there is nothing wrong with that either! Just hoping to give you some more info since this is something that is underdiagnosed and most people do not know of all the things ties can cause.

 

[SoupDragon]

Hi Rachel, thanks for replying, I didn't think anyone would!

The LC did tell me that tongue ties can cause other problems but that she and the consultant she works with don't advocate having them cut in anticipation of those problems - they would deal with it at the first signs that something was affected, but not before, unless it was cut to aid bf.

I will have a look at the facebook group, definitely - forewarned is forearmed and all that, and if we read as much as possible, we will have a better idea of what to look for if it starts affecting anything else, so we can then get it seen to quickly, if we still decide not to do it now.

 

[krulci]

I hesitate to post a response as my BFing experiences have all been less than positive, but DS and DD both have tongue ties that impaired their latch. DD hasn't had hers released, yet, but will if we can't make BFing work in the next week. DS had his released - twice - but by a pediatrician who claimed to be knowledgeable and definitely was not!! Unfortunately, I didn't know that at the time.

For us, the release helped DS bottle feed (milk was pouring out of his mouth because of the tie impairing his swallowing) but never got him back to the breast. The revision simply wasn't aggressive enough to make a substantial difference. That being said, DS had his done at 6 weeks and 4+ months. He breastfed immediately after the first clip and was only whimpery for a few hours after the second time. It killed me to see the procedure being done and imagining his pain, but he seemed perfectly fine once it was over! Hope that helps you decide either way.

 

[noon_child]

It's a difficult one. Some babies can suffer what appears to be a quite severe tie and have absolutely no issue feeding, others a tie that is so difficult to spot except by real experts and yet feeding is not going well. So the question always is "Is the tongue tie the problem?"

From my own experience I had a lot of the symptoms that my LO had tongue tie:

Slipping back off the nipple during feeds
Mishapen nipples after feeds
Pain during the whole feed (getting worse as it went on)
Poor (and at times static) weight gain
Used her gums instead of tongue while sucking

But not others:
Never struggled to feed from bottles
Poo and wee output really good
Could stick out her tongue well

The consultant I saw couldn't find a tie so I had to try other things (everything and anything), one of which was supplementing with formula to get her to gain weight when weight gain stopped. Who knows whether there was a tongue tie BUT I can say at 10 weeks things started turning around, and by week 11 feeding was pain free and by 15 weeks no-one was concerned by her weight anymore. I don't know what changed (other than her getting a bigger mouth) but I would say that what you are doing now is keeping her healthy and happy then you aren't doing anything wrong. Your idea of continuing to try her on the breast is a natural urge and it isn't wrong of you and who knows, it might just click.

Have you tried biological nursing? I saw a video of a woman latching her 3month old, who had been on bottles of ebm since birth, using this method and it was amazing.

 

[SoupDragon]

Thanks Krulci and noon_child

Krulci - I worry about that, yes, that we'd have it done and it'd make no difference or have to be repeated. She takes a bottle fine, but we had to go on to medium flow teats at 3 weeks old because she had a hard time getting anything out of a slow flow teat.

noon_child, I hadn't heard of biological nurturing, I googled it and it's really interesting. I'll do some more reading tomorrow, but when we were in the hospital, she seemed to 'get it' a bit better when she was just plastered across my front (as this approach advocates), rather than in a 'hold' as such. I remember when we were being moved from the ward into a single room, I had to cover her with a blanket because she was laid across me trying to feed and my boobs were everywhere, but I didn't want to interrupt her and risk breaking her train of thought I think I'll try this approach more, rather than wrestling her into one of the traditiional holds! I'm really glad it worked out for you in the end