Posterior Tongue tie

[WilliamItWasReallyNothing]

Ds is 3 weeks and bf has been hard going due to issues with cracked and very sore nipples. I've seen several BF councillors and taken support and help on positioning but I'm still sore and things don't seem to improving. Yesterday a BF councillor told me Ds has a posterior tongue tie and said this could be contributing/causing the problems.

Ds seems content between feeds and is gaining weight, plenty wet dirty nappies etc. The only issue is the pain I am experiencing. I'm confused and don't know whether it is worth having the TT divided or if I'm clutching a straws and the issues are just because I'm rubbish at BF:(

Has anyone had a similar experience and the latch improved following a Tongue tie division? Anyone had a DC Tongue tie divided and it made no improvement?

Thanks

Thanks to Ealing Kate from me too - I've made an appt at kingston so fingers crossed it will get sorted.

Hi William,

Just to let you know my DS has his posterior TT snipped on tues - bleeding stopped a minute or so after breastfeeding - he latched on v well straight after and appears to have no after effects.
we are still however struggling with BF and considering switching to FF - but that's a whole other thread (THRUSH! gggrrr)

hi william just briefly and have only skimmed thread but i've heard great things about getting TTs snipped, including a girl on my peer support training whose little boy fed TERRIBLY for weeks until his was spotted, she's had no pain or trouble since the procedure.
In our area it can only be done on the NHS in the first 13 weeks and after that only privately in Manchester... the reason i know this is because I think my DD2 has one but it's yet to be confirmed (she is nearly 9mo)
so worth checking out now before its too late
sorry if this has already been covered
and good luck! you aren't rubbish at bfing, it sounds like you are having bad luck - wishing you good bfing experiences to come with the consultation!

Hi William,

Just read your post and am in v similar situation myself. 3 week old, terrible pain with breastfeeding, lactation consultant suggested posterior tongue tie (and thrush). Have referral to see specialist but not for another 2 weeks (by which time feel like may no longer be breastfeeding). What was your experience with getting the tongue tie corrected in the end? Did it help?

I'm also in the same situation amcamc with 3 week old DS, a lot of nipple pain and suspected posterior TT. There was someone in Bristol who could have looked at it today but my PCT won't pay for me to go out of area and as the referral to local ENT at hospital (who I am told will probably refuse to snip posterior TT) can take weeks we have private appointment next Tues. If it isn't TT then I think we will really struggle as I am so sore.

Sorry can't help - we can always hold hands. FWIW DD had TT done at 8 weeks and by 10 weeks we were pain free and went on to BF for 10 months.

2 weeks is a long time to wait - can you afford £80 or so to be seen privately?

2 wks is for the private guy! NHS much longer.

How are you doing amcamc?

Had DS looked at today, significant posterior TT, had it divided and feeding immediately pain free! So pleased. Hang in there.

that's great news wholelottalove. we got a last minute cancellation yesterday. had posterior TT divided, but not seeing significant improvement yet.

Hey ancamc well 2 days in and DS did kind of regress to chomping so may have over-egged it with the 'everything pain free'!. things better but not perfect yet, also have a lot of nipple damage to heal. Definitely going in right direction though and can see the improved mobility in DS's tongue. I think it just takes them a while to learn to use it properly. Did you get exercises to do with your baby? They should help. I am anticipating two weeks to be totally sorted as that is how long it took with DD. Hang in there, it should start to get better soon.

What kind of exercises were you given? We weren't told anything like that.

I think the thing with a TT baby is they get used to restriced movement and sucking in one way, so the exercises are to help them use their tongue better.

1. Just sticking tongue out at baby to encourage them to copy you. Leave a pause to give them a chance to copy

1. Put finger into their mouth, pad down just behind their tongue-tip, rub in small circular motion maintaining contact with tongue. Massage tongue forward by increasing the circular movements. If baby tries to suck finger, turn it so nail down (make sure nail filed)

1. Stimulate top lip so mouth opens, then put fingertip on outside centre of lower gum ridge. Move finger to one side maintaining contact with the gum, lift off and return to central position. Idea is to get them to follow your finger with their tongue. Repeat three times to same quadrant then do other qudrants of mouth working on lower gums first.

I was told to do them when baby alert but obviously not hungry/upset and to make it into game. Have to admit to not having much luck with number 2 or 3 though yet but we are doing lots of 'open wide' and sticking our tongues out at him.

thanks very much for that - will give them a go

Good luck. HJw are you getting on? DS is doing well today after 24hrs of really chompy feeds, seems to be two steps forward and one back with him but still early days. He did however smile at me today :o

Same here really. Sometimes I think we're getting there and then I'll have a terrible feed with lots of clicking and chomping and awful pain afterwards too. Not sure I can put up with it much longer.

Hi
We have a beautiful baby boy who was born a month early but weighed 2.93kg/6.5lbs and had no problems.

We live in Spain and had very little support in the first few days with breastfeeding - until I found a great support group, who lent me a hospital grade machine and gave us lots of advice.

The first thing we were told by the support group was that our baby has a tongue-tie. Our consultant took photos and consulted with colleagues and concluded it is a submucosal grade 3 tongue-tie. We went to see a paediatrician who confirmed it was a more profound tie than those that are routinely operated on as part of the public healthcare system, and that we would need to go private to do the op, which involves aneasthesia and which we would need to travel to Madrid to do.
We will do anything we can to help our baby feed and to avoid possible problems with speech in the future. But at the same time don´t want to put him through an op unless it is necessary.

I am using nipple shields which help a lot and we thought that, although he is slow sucking, he was feeding well, his tongue can now extend more and we didn´t need to think about an op.

However, when we stopped supplementing (with pipette - my milk or formula) he stopped gaining weight so now we are back on supplementing - and expressing as I type...
Feeling really down that I can´t feed my baby properly and would appreciate any advice on tongue-tie and feeding.
We are English and could go to UK for op if it is availble there and we can find a good surgeon - any advice on that (or recommendations in Spain too?) would be great.
Thanks
Very tired and emotional mum.... x

Sorry you're going through this. My daughter had the same. How old is your son now? If you came here you wouldn't need a surgeon to do it but a lactation consultant. The person who did dd's specialised in posterior tt. The procedure took less than a minute at the lactation consultants home and cost £100. If you did come here Im sure you'd have no problem arranging to get it done.
Dd was 4 weeks when she had it done and it wasn't traumatic at all but I expected it to be. If your son is much older then I think it's more difficult. Have a browse through the other tt threads.
Remember, you're doing a wonderful job keep going :)