tongue tie

[mcflumpy]

Think my DD has a tongue tie as her little tongue is starting to be a bit heart shaped, I'm guessing this is as a result of a tongue tie? Could this be the reason that one of my nipples is lip stick shaped after she feeds?

She is 12 weeks old and I've frequently had to resort to ff top ups (one a day) as my nips always end up sore, I think now I know the reason why. She has gained weight tremendously and I wonder whether it would be wrong to do anything about it at this stage as she's obviously adapted her latch to get milk. She is also very fussy on the breast sometimes which causes quite a bit of stress for both of us, could a tongue tie be the reason why?

[CarGirl]

Yes it is probably tongue tie, you shouldn't be in pain ask them to snip it. It takes seconds, one feed and it's all done and dusted.

[mcflumpy]

sorry one other question, she still takes in the region of an hour (sometimes longer) to feed, is this related or is this normal for a 12 week old? Our second feed of the day is always an epic!...

[CarGirl]

Don't know about that, it could be why it takes longer though as the latch isn't as efficient as it could be.

[Catilla]

Definitely worth getting checked out - but my understanding was that feeding was quite difficult with tongue tie - to the extent that they couldn't really stay latched.

My ds took about an hour to feed (prob 40 mins one side then some more after a break) until he was quite old.

Your soreness could be to do with the length of feeds? I remember that shape too, I think it can just be sucking for so long. Correct feeding involves squeezing the nipple up into the roof of their mouth with the tongue, so would make that shape. Is it just soreness or cracking/bleeding too? Have you used any cream? I found Lansinoh just fab, used it after every feed.

Take a look at www.drjacknewman.com for pics & videos on latch to help you check if there's anything else wrong there.

Good luck.

[CarGirl]

Catilla no that's not true. I had a 98th centile baby who regained her birth weight in less than a week all with tongue tie. There was absolutely no problem with her getting her milk it was just my nipples that suffered...........

[Eirlys]

It definetly sounds like tongue tie.

Are you anywhere near Southampton? If you want something done about it, try to get referred to Mr Mervyn Griffiths, a consultant who is the frenulotomy (snip) expert. As your baby is past a month old, midwives are less likely to deal with it now.

[FizzyLiz]

Definitely sounds like tongue tie. DD (4wks) had it. BF very sore with lipstick shaped nipple but no-one could explain why as latch looked good, until nursery nurse picked it up. Feeds also taking hour or more. Referred to local paed surgeon, quick snip and she went back to sleep before they handed her back to me. Had to wake her to feed. Things so much better now!

[MarsLady]

If you're in London then you want Mr Patel at Kings.

[thisisyesterday]

if it was tongue tie i wouldn't have expected the tongue to suddenly start to look heart-shaped. it always would have.
of course, it may be that you've only just noticed it.

anyway, it's prob worth getting it checked out just in case, at least then you know if it is tongue tie or not. i would recokmmend seeing a breastfeeding counsellor

[thisisyesterday]

list of tongue tie people

some you need to be referred to, others you can self-refer, so maybe worth ringing whoever is nearest you

[mcflumpy]

North of the border. I'll touch base with bf local support first get them to check her out. Have had my latch checked so many times wouldn't like to count how many people have seen my breasts, evrey time I'm told latch is good. Why don't they check for tongue ties in hospital if they know the mum is breast feeding?!....

[mcflumpy]

oh and thanks for the replies.