Tongue tie help

[pixxi]

Does anyone have any experience of this? I think my little guy has tongue tie. His tongue matches pictures I've found online, he makes the clicking sound at the breast (mainly during let down) and my nipple always comes out a strange shape when he's finished. I don't have any discomfort when he's feeding and he's putting on weight really well so I'm not too concerned, but he has been suffering really, really badly with wind and I'm convinced he's gulping it down every time he breaks the seal.

Is this likely and if so, what can I do to minimise it? I'm off to see the health visitor and lactation consultant next week but would like to do what I can in the meantime.

 

[noon_child]

I think the fact that he is putting on weight and clicking during letdown suggest that you might have an abundance of milk. While this is not a bad thing, it may mean that health professionals are less inclined to think the TT needs treating. However when your supply settles down and he can't get his nutrition by just filling up on the letdown that squirts in to his mouth and he actually has to work for the milk, that may be the time that you see his weight gain slow/stop and you might start experiencing pain as he tries different (inadequate) techniques to remove the milk, like chomping.

Some people do feed TT babies with minimal problems, some have lots of problems, so I think you just need to have a continuing dialogue with all concerned and weigh up the pros and cons.

 

[zmzerbe]

I decided to pop into the breastfeeding threads and this post definitely caught my attention.

September of 2013 I gave birth to my son and everything seemed like it was going great. He latched on kind of quickly, but not for very long after birth. He didn't actually feed until a few hours later. The nurses were fine with him feeding in the hospital and I wasn't in more pain than I thought I should be in, I assumed it was just painful nipples like you read about/imagine.

My son had been born at 6lbs 12oz and by the time we left the hospital he had dropped down to 6lbs 3 oz and I had very regular weight checks with the pedi until he finally started gaining weight when my milk came in at 5 or so days postpartum. The weight checks stopped and she basically said, "see you at his 2 month visit."

He never seemed to give me any hint that he wasn't getting enough food or anything like that, he suffered from gas regularly, but other than that he seemed happy and healthy. He was still pretty tiny though. I also noticed that when he cried his tongue looked weird, but I was a ftm so what did I know?

We had his 2 month well visit right before we went to visit my mom in Vermont for thanksgiving. He had only weighed 7lbs 14oz, but was doing great in every other category concerning his health. The doctor suggested to supplement with some formula and see how that would go. I started doing this but reluctantly. He still seemed to feed just fine and even though my pumping output was low I assumed that I was still giving him enough during his feedings.

I talked to my mom about this and she looked in his mouth and said to me, "he has a tongue tie... A pretty bad one at that." I had never heard the term and none of the nurses or lactation consultants had ever brought this up to me either. Right after we got home, I made an appointment with the LC and she watched him nurse and take a bottle and she agreed that he definitely had a tongue tie, no doubts about it and that it needed to be corrected or he could have issues with eating solid food, learning how to talk, etc.

Forward to three months and finally we got an appointment for the doctor to have the tie snipped. He had finally gained enough weight to fit loosely into 3 month clothing at this point with the help of formula. He was in and out of the appointment in 10 minutes, didn't cry or flinch in the slightest.

Since that day though, he refused to nurse. I'm not sure at this point if my supply had dried up too much and he wasn't willing to work for it, if maybe nursing was too different at that point or what. He could have also turned into a 'lazy eater' as the doctor called it which basically meant he just simply didn't want the boob anymore after being introduced to the bottle.

Anyways, I know this was long and drawn out, but I just wanted to share my story with you so you could have someone else's experience with a tongue tie. If you are concerned definitely make an appointment sooner than later with a Lactation Consultant to get everything figured out. My son had weight problems from the very beginning because of the tongue tie and since your baby eats just fine as of right now, it seems like he is effective enough to get what he needs. If your supply seems good and baby keeps gaining weight, I wouldn't be too concerned. Have baby looked at JUST in case however because an LC might have a different opinion than myself.

Good luck! Nursing a tongue tied baby is very stressful!

 

[_Meep_]

Mine had a posterior tie that went undiagnosed until she was 4 months old. She clicked, constantly had a swollen belly full of gas, and struggled with my flow.

By 8 weeks she was refusing to feed at all. I was convinced she had a tongue tie, but was repeatedly told she was fine as she was putting on weight and not causing me any pain. I was told it was just a phase. I was told that because she could poke her tongue out, it was normal.

After five practically back-to-back nursing strikes, and weeks of dreamfeeding to keep my daughter's weight up, I decided to see an IBCLC who also happened to be a tongue tie specialist. I picked her because one of the things she claimed to be trained to do was posterior tie diagnosis and revision. Even before we went, I was 100% sure we were going to come out of there with a diagnosis.

Straight away she told us that N had a sub-mucosal posterior tie - meaning it was at the back, and hidden underneath her mucous membrane. Two weeks later we had it clipped.

We had one more tiny strike, and since then, nothing. She doesn't click or splutter on my let-downs any more. She feeds - any time, anywhere. Her latch will never be great, but it doesn't matter. She's happy to nurse and that's enough for me.

Please please ask about posterior tie and if whoever you see seems clueless, go somewhere else. I would hate to think of someone else going through what we did.

Our baby was a chilled baby to begin with, possibly due to a late-stage epidural, that meant she was totally zoned out and mostly asleep for the first few weeks. Once she came out of her daze a bit, I think she quickly made the connection between feeding and gas discomfort, choking, etc. And so she just stopped bothering.

It was devastating.

One thing you could try that helped us during her recovery and period of re-learning (while she was essentially still using her tongue wrong - it took a while for her to get the hang of it) was to feed lying down side by side together in bed - that helped her cope with my flow a bit while she got used to swallowing quickly, something she hadn't been able to do before. We did that from the time of the revision up until she was about 10 months old.

Now we feed sitting up. And I could cry writing that, because it means so much to me.

Please let us know how you get on.

 

[pixxi]

Thanks everyone for sharing your experiences, some useful stuff there. I took LO to be weighed on Monday and the health visitor had a look at his tongue and confirmed he has a classic front tie. We've been referred to a specialist who we are seeing next week and I'm seeing a lactation consultant tomorrow so between them hopefully things will improve

 

[_Meep_]

Aw poor little guy. At least now you know what's going on, and it's so easily treated. Are you going to get it clipped?

 

[pixxi]

I'm not sure. I think if they confirm it won't affect his speech and I can improve his latch then probably not. But I don't think we can carry on with the amount of gas he's getting from the air he's gulping in... if that can only be reduced by snipping then we'll probably go ahead.

 

[_Meep_]

The specialist I saw told me there was no way to tell how it would affect her in the future as it is very hard to gauge how elastic the tie is and what parts/functions (if any) are impaired by the tether.

In the end I concluded that since a tie is essentially a defect and isn't supposed to be there, that it was best to get rid of it. But of course, we were experiencing a lot of difficulty with the strikes, and I would have done almost anything to make that stop.

It was over in seconds. Good luck, whatever you choose.

 

[noon_child]

It's a much easier procedure now (over in seconds, done while awake, no recovery time etc.) than later. Friend of mine's DD had to have it done at 6yrs due to speech issues and needed a general anaesthetic.

 

[zmzerbe]

As said above, it takes seconds. My MIL came with me to the appointment and the doctor asked if I wanted to be in the room or step out and I was so emotional that I had to step out of the room. I was called in after about 30 seconds saying it was done, he didn't cry, he didn't flinch or anything.

 

[_Meep_]

I didn't stay in the room for my girl's either - I was scared and couldn't stand it so my partner stayed. They called me back in after about thirty seconds. She cried for at most two minutes.

 

[pixxi]

Thanks everyone, its good to hear first person accounts! I definitely think I'll wait outside if we get it done....seems like one of those things where I'll be more upset than the baby!

 

[_Meep_]

Definitely lol. I had tears in my eyes long before I heard the wail that meant it had happened!

 

[pixxi]

Just a quick update for those who replied - we went to the tongue tie clinic today and they said that it was basically 100% tied which I was quite shocked about. They were impressed that we'd managed breastfeeding without any real problems but advised we have the procedure done, so we did. I'm so relieved that it wasn't gory and he was fine afterwards and fed straight away. Only question now is to what extent did you have to 'retrain' your baby to feed after their tongue was freed? I know it's early days but he's still keeping his mouth quite small.

 

[_Meep_]

We never did anything to retrain our girl after her posterior tie was cut. It just slowly got better. To be honest though, it took six months before we were comfortably able to feed anywhere and in any position. :/ She was on the older side when she had her tie revised though.

I feel like she learnt on her own that certain methods of feeding worked better than others through trial and error. If there are things you can do to encourage a better latch for your baby (I never looked into it much) then by all means try it! If my kid is anything to go by, then babies are quite aware when something works better and will learn once they've done it a few times.

 

[zmzerbe]

I wish I could help with that question because at the time of my son getting his tie corrected, he was mostly formula fed at that point and was started to nurse strike. He became a lazy eater when introduced to the supplementing formula and my supply plummeted

 

[yazzy]

My little boy is nearly 5 weeks and finally diagnosed with a posterior tongue tie. I've been expressing and bottle feeding but still latching him on every day but we are getting it snipped on Friday. I'm now expressing loads in the hope I keep a good milk supply until then in the hope I can go back to just breastfeeding. It was just too painful before.

 

[_Meep_]

At 5 weeks your supply might not have regulated fully yet to producing milk on a supply and demand basis. Your body may well still be producing enough milk to feed twins or multiples like it often does in the beginning. Keep on pumping!

Ours had her posterior tie cut at a massive 4.5 months and everything is fine now - we are still going strong at 15.5 months, so there is definitely hope.

 

[CoralInGold]

I just want to say thank you for all the imformation I'm hoping to breastfeed my little one & everyone's posts have really helped to understand the signs of tounge ties & what to do xx

 

[yazzy]

Thanks Meep that gives me hope. I express 4oz for each bottle he has which is about 7 per day. I am also now latching him on as much as possible throughout the day/night to help with supply until our appointment tomorrow. I would be beyond happy if he can latch properly after its sorted. I've known all along something wasnt right so it was good to finally get an answer.