Tips For Nursing With a Tongue Tie

[MrsStutler]

My 3 week old daughter has been seen by her pediatrician and an ear, nose, throat doctor who both confirmed she has a very short frenulum. The pediatrician referred us to the ENT who said it shouldn't affect anything right now and he wants to see her in a year, if it's still short they will use laughing gas to sedate her and cut it. I have spoken with our local WIC lactation consultant and she won't clip them and really wasn't much help. My daughter eats almost constantly (2 or more times an hour) which I think is because she is getting tired nursing and can't get enough in one feeding before she is tuckered out and she has a hard time latching then staying latched. Her tongue doesn't cover her bottom gum so she chomps on me. I'm in a lot of pain because of her shallow latch. I have blisters and cracks, and have gone through two tubes of lansinoh in 2 weeks just trying to keep the damage under control.

Since my daughter is gaining weight none of the doctors/LCs seem to think it's a huge problem. She is growing great but I think that's because I'm so committed to nursing her around the clock. I get the feeling I am just supposed to deal with it.

Any tips for making the best out of this? I've tried pulling down on her chin to widen the latch but it doesn't help, it actually seems to make it worse.

 

[Scottish]

My boy also has tongue tie although his latch on me is good he to feeds constantly. He is always wanting fed but is gaining weight. I have a clinic appointment on next Tuesday to see doctor about it. Sorry I don't have much advice but I will be stalking here to see if others have experiance in this. X

 

[MrsWhy]

Hi, I'm from the UK so things may be different here but my son had a tongue tie when he was born 6 years ago. As I was breast feeding they snipped it at 6 weeks due to how much pain I was in trying to get him to feed (he again was putting weight on through round the clock feeding).

I did try feeding him using the rugby ball method - that is havin baby's head towards the breast but their body positioned to be against your side rather than across your front.

I would seriously push to have the tongue tie snipped as it took 10 seconds to do and then he just latched straight on.

Hope you get some help soon xx

 

[DaisyAnne]

Oh my, I remember how painful it was! I wouldn't have lasted without getting the tongue clipped. Could you see another ENT? Tell them how painful it is? I know some doctors/LCs insist it isn't necessary, but I haven't talked to one person who had their baby's tongue clipped that regretted it. It helps so much, and is over before you know it. It helps with other things late like speech and stuff, too, I think, but it definitely helped us breastfeed!

 

[brownie929]

My son also had quite a severe tongue tie. It was clipped when he was 3 days old. I honestly don't think I would have been able to continue with breastfeeding otherwise as I was in tears every time I fed him.
Good luck with things

 

[chevy4by]

Good luck, mine never did latch. She is almost 5mos now and I pump and feed. She did have hers clipped at 2weeks. I tried to BF after that and even went to a lactation consultant. It seems that the baby remembers the 1st 24 hours when I tried to get her to BF. any time I tried after the repair, she would just scream, and still does to this day ( I try every now and then ). She has to have her tongue cut again, but this time under general anesthesia, and she will need stitches .

 

[DaisyAnne]

Good luck, mine never did latch. She is almost 5mos now and I pump and feed. She did have hers clipped at 2weeks. I tried to BF after that and even went to a lactation consultant. It seems that the baby remembers the 1st 24 hours when I tried to get her to BF. any time I tried after the repair, she would just scream, and still does to this day ( I try every now and then ). She has to have her tongue cut again, but this time under general anesthesia, and she will need stitches .

This is what my baby did, he would pull away and scream before I could even attempt to latch him even after his tongue was clipped. I'm sorry seeing the lactation consultant didn't help! I went to an LC and that is the only reason I can still feed him now, it was so difficult.