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Infant feeding

I think DS3 might have a tongue tie - need advice

5 replies

loueytb3 · 17/06/2011 12:48

DS3 is now 2 weeks old and we are still having a nightmare with bfing. He was 1 month premature and very little although he is piling the weight on through a combination of FF and bottles of expressed BM. We have been trying to get him to bf, he has a good suck and will occasionally latch on but it's painful. He gets frustrated very quickly and even when I get him to latch on he gives up very quickly and starts screaming blue murder. I started using nipple shields a couple of days ago and he will now feed for 20-25 mins on one side and 5-10 mins on the other. However, it is still quite painful at times even with the shields on. I had a look in his mouth yesterday and thought he might have a tongue tie - midwife came this morning and wasn't sure and said go to the GP. She also said they dont tend to treat tongue tie anymore. it's not right at the front of his tongue but you can see the frenulum - I don't know if thats normal. He also has some other symptoms listed including frequent hiccoughs and he chews on the nipple. I have noticed when I've managed to get him to feed without the nipple shields that my nipple is lipstick shaped.

DS1 has a tongue tie which was undiagnosed until he was 2.5 and they refused to snip it then. Bfing him was also painful and in hindsight this was probably due to the TT. I don't want to go through this again - what is the best route to get someone to say whether or not DS3 has a TT and if so to get it snipped?

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crikeybadger · 17/06/2011 12:53

Hi there,
sorry you're still having problems and pain. Sad

Have a look at this and see if it helps.

I think with some GPs you'll need to make a fuss to get tt snipped, but it's certainly not the case that they don't cut them anymore. If you are in pain then it needs to be cut.

You could go down the private route if NHS is unhelpful.

hth

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sc2987 · 17/06/2011 13:27

If it's a posterior tie you might have problems finding anyone who can diagnose it and understand that although it doesn't look that bad, it causes significant problems. So make sure you get someone very experienced to look at him.

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TittyBojangles · 17/06/2011 16:57

And simply not true that they don't treat them anymore. If it is impacting on his feeding so its causing you pain or effecting his weight gain (which presumably it would be if you weren't doing the top ups) then it needs snipping. Your GP should be able to refer you to someone but it does seem that the availability of this service depends on whereabouts in the country you are. Can you say? There may well be a MNetter localish to you that knows of TT snipping availability. I knoe some mw's or lc's do it, my DS was referred to the local hospital and the ENT cons snipped it with NO probs, but I think we are lucky in where we live

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loueytb3 · 17/06/2011 20:05

Crikey - thanks for the link, there are several things on the list that DS3 does. We could go private, he should be covered under my medical insurance but I think we have to try nhs first. Last time, GP was happy to refer DS1 but paeds wouldnt do anything about it, partly because he was much older by that point.

Sc2987 - I would assume that you can't see a posterior tie? I can definitely see something towards the front of his tongue.

Titty - we're in NW london, there seem to be a few lactation consultants around who will treat TT but I'm unsure about how much it would cost. Not sure they would be covered by private medical insurance (whereas a paed would be). Ann Dobson is one name I've come across in other threads.

I tried a bf without topping up earlier and he fed for a total of 35 mins but within 1 hour was crying for more food and downed a bottle of 40ml. I also tried giving him the left side without the shield on after he had a long feed on the right side, thinking he would be less frantic. He wouldn't latch on and got very frustrated very quickly. Put the shield on and he latched on first time.

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loueytb3 · 27/06/2011 11:25

Update - I managed to get a private LC who was experienced in tongue tie to come and see me last week to see whether he did have a tongue tie or whether it was something I was doing wrong. She confirmed that I was right, he did have a tongue tie and it was causing the pain I had with feeding him (and affecting how much milk he could get out). She snipped there and then and he fed afterwards (with nipple shields) and no pain! Since then, we have been experimenting with different positions (still can't master cradle hold) and have been slowly upping the number of feeds where he bf's. Saturday night I bf'd him during the middle of the night and he was zonked afterwards so I decided not to top him and see what happened - he went 3.5 hrs until the next feed Shock. Did the same again at the next feed and he went nearly 4 hours. We got through Sunday with only 2 small top-ups and one bottle of EBM at 10pm. Each feed is taking 40 minutes - 1 hr but I know that will get quicker.

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