To give up breastfeeding once the tongue tie is cut?

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ive just had my second child (5days pp) and my milk supply is basically 0, he has lost 8.4% body weight. He has a tongue tie that we are hopefully getting cut on Monday, but they will only cut it if we are breastfeeding until then.

i feel so down but really don’t want to triple feed. With my eldest child my breast got engorged and leaked loads and I had a proper let down, but this time I never got engorged or leaked, the milk is white so I assume it’s not colostrum anymore. Is there any reason why my milk didn’t come in properly this time?

sorry for the ramble, feeling very hormonal

It’s still so early! It can take longer than five days, especially if not being stimulated properly due to the tongue tie

Sorry you’re having a tough time OP. It may be that because baby can’t feed properly, your supply isn’t receiving the signal to increase? Day 5 is also very early. I know milk usually comes in by then but not always. Why don’t you see how it goes after the tongue tie is cut? Feeding might improve and you might enjoy it. Just take it day by day. But if it’s all too much, switch to formula. Baby will be just fine. You are doing a great job.

8.4% loss while nursing with a tongue tie is definitely not “basically zero”. remember it’s normally for babies to drop up to 10% of their birth weight, never mind with a tongue tie!

My little one had to get his cut, we were able to get it done at a week old. His latch improved straight away, after a week I noticed a huge difference.

congratulations on your little one. Take care of yourself

I was exactly the same, I worried about my DDs weight loss (9%ish) and i put so much pressure on myself. I told myself that my milk supply must be low as I never leaked or felt engorged and the midwife visits showing slow progress really got me down. I pumped like a mad woman in between breast feeds to try and increase my supply and got so disheartened when i felt like i wasnt getting enough out. I persevered through it and I am so glad I did. Shes now nearly 11 months and thriving! I just wanted to let you know, that you are not alone and I felt all the pressure and the lows of breastfeeding but in the end it was worth it!

I was the same with my dd. Tongue tie appointment was when she was 2 weeks old. Wouldn’t do it unless I was breastfeeding. I had given up at that point as my nipples were extremely sore and bleeding. Told the I was still breastfeeding and they cut it.

How do you know that your milk supply is zero?

8% is a normal loss for day 5

Also, we went private for our little one. It was around £250 - incase the nhs are being funny buggers with you.

It's ok to quit. See how you go.
My second had tongue tie and it hurt so much to feed her. Got it cut and the problems persisted. Battled on. Realised much much later it was actually thrush. It was hard to believe that this was missed by the lead breastfeeding nurse who I do feel was an expert. The GP wanted to prescribe for thrush without testing, as it was more cost effective to do that and I refused, so maybe it was my fault too.
Such a minefield! But as previous posters have said, it can work out but take it one day at a time.

Congratulations on your baby.

My DS had severe tongue tie which wasn't spotted till he was about a week old. He was losing so much weight that I had to give him formula as well as trying to bf as the hospital pretty much insisted on this.

Why are they insisting on him being bf to get the tongue tie sorted? If it is severe, it is likely to cause him various problems with speech and dental health as he gets older.

In DS's case, he was a different boy (feeding- and happiness-wise) once the tongue tie was fixed although we never got back to exclusive bf. I would definitely give it a try after the snip, but don't stress about it.

My starving wee newborn is now a strapping 15 year old of about 5 ft 9!

Congratulations, and good luck!

I can't help with the tongue tie advice.

My older one was v small when born, couldn't breastfeed, was cup fed in hospital. I desperately wanted to breastfeed, expressed every 2 hrs, bottle fed every 3 hrs (partly ebf, part formula). Looking back now, it was crazy that I even thought about it.

She is now mid-teens, has McDonalds, fizzy drinks, competes internationally at her chosen sport, academic, untidy, irritating, bright, has plenty freinds, opinionated... just as amazing and frustrating and brilliant as everyone else's child.

The decisions you make now are just as important as ghe decisions you will make when she's 2 or 3 or 4 or 5, or.... you get the idea.

What I'm trying to say, is that you need sleep, rest, attempt to enjoy your lovely baby, and in the big wide glorious expanse of life the 8.4% drop in weight won't matter.

If the tongue tie isn't cut, you're probably going to have issues with formula feeding too. Plus breastfeeding is fairly useful feedback for you to know if it has worked properly or if it's reattached (one of mine had an almost 100% tie and it needed to be done three times!). So I would try and keep going for at least the week afterwards if I were you. It should be a whole lot easier if it's done properly.

Hope you’re ok, OP. Do try not to worry about it if you can.

Get the TT cut, mixed feed if you’d like to and just keep putting baby to the breast. If you do a few breastfeeds at night your supply will still go up hugely. Try nipple shields to protect your nipples if it’s sore to feed.

Did you lose a lot of blood at birth? That can really negatively affect supply. Do try not to let this dominate your thoughts though - it’s not worth it. Your mental health matters more. Fed is best.

My DC is 5 weeks old, we mixed feed (mostly formula) and after getting TT cut I breastfeed her a few times a day using a shield. Don’t worry at all if you can’t EBF.

We got the tongue tie cut and had to use nipple shields for a few weeks because DS1 couldn’t handle the boob without getting stressed out because of the tongue tie stopping him from feeding before. It was a long journey but worthwhile. We fed for 18 months in the end. You do what feels right for you though but if you are keen on breastfeeding, I would give it some time after the cut to see if it works for you.