Help= problems bf-PTT clipped at 4 wks no improvement

[Jard32]

Am having problems and am at the end of my tether. DD diagnosed with ptt at 4 weeks and we have had it snipped a week ago. Been to craniosacral therapist and chiropractor and still no improvemnent. Seen several bf councillors, lacation consultant etc and have tried every position going but feeding causes pain which continues throbbing even when not feeding. dd does not latch properly- her mouth closes on nipple and clamps on. Was your experience similar and at what point did it get better? I can't express as my nips hurt so much, and i really don't want to use formula- just wish i knew when things would improve as it feels like they never will. Thanks for reading xx

[sc2987]

My daughter's PTT was cut at 10 weeks, it improved to some extent immediately but did take a while for her to completely get the hang of a new way of feeding (maybe a month). But sometimes they need another snip, so you could get them to check it's been done properly.

Could be thrush though, if pain continues after feeding?

[Wholelottalove]

Your poor thing, sounds like you've been going through it. Both my DC had PTT, one snipped at about 10 weeks and one at 3 weeks. Both times feeding improved initially and was then up and down for a couple of weeks. With DC2 it took until about 10 weeks for things to really settle down. I am still feeding him now at 7 months and his latch has never been perfect, but just a tiny bit uncomfy rather than painful IYSWIM.
I second checking for thrush if a lot of pain after feeds, but I did get quite a bit of pain and blanching after feeds too which wasn't thrush. I did find some things helped like exaggerated latch technique and doing some exercises with DC1 to help her open her mouth wider. Sorry, got to run, search for thread called tongue tie support thread from the beginning of this year, has some more info on it. Good luck.

[suzikettles]

Ds had a very bad latch and nothing really ever improved it. I saw bf counsellors (they were able to position him so it didn't hurt actually, but I was never able to do it myself). I bought every gadget going, I read every book/webpage I could find and watched every video.

Thing is, I bf until ds was 14 months. The latch didn't improve, but the pain did. Ds just got bigger I think, so his mouth got better, so it all just worked in the end.

I'm not going to lie to you, he was 16 weeks before it was completely a non-issue, but it was never as bad as those early weeks.

Please do persevere at improving the latch. There's no reason to think that you can't find some simple positioning improvement which will fix things. But I'm here as proof that sometimes things can get better all on their own with time.

Consider learning to hand express rather than using a pump - it's kinder on damaged nipples.

[lucy101]

Hi there - my baby's TT was snipped on day 5 and then again on day 10.... but BF still hurt (but gradually got easier) until he was 10 weeks old (and like Suzikettles I read/tried everything saw LC's etc.). My baby wouldn't breastfeed at all until 3 weeks so we have come a very long way (although mix feed as I have genuine supply problems too).

I think in some cases TT has knock on effects with muscles/how much they can open their mouths/shape of palate etc. and these get slowly better as time passes and they get bigger and stronger.

Meanwhile I found the Ameda hydrogels a godsend for healing and had to hire a Medela Symphony as I couldn't express anything (and it was painful too) with any other pump.

I bet it will come good in the end for you but it is miserable while it lasts I know.

[Jard32]

thanks for all your posts. We had the tt snipped again yesterday, as it was still there. Her mouth is v small so gape not wide even before she shuts down. I just hope things improve in time- but time moves very slowly to me whilst they this young. I have also ordered a medela supplementing system to add some hand expressed milk into the feed, and poss some formula. It;s hard to know what's the best way forward, eg ff only, mix, use bottles, stop bf altogether etc Obviously once she is bigger she will be better, but she doesn't really suck enough out of me at the mo so don't see how she will get bigger!! x