Tongue Tie Support Thread?

[Wholelottalove]

I've noticed a lot of posters recently in this topic whose babies have tongue ties or possible tongue ties and thought it might be good to have a place to share information/stories/support.

Both my babies have had posterior tongue ties divided at 8 and 4 weeks and whilst I went on to feed DD happily for 10 months things are still not 100% with DS (now 10 weeks) although much better than they were. In my experience many HCPs do not recognise TT or the problems it can pose for BF in particular.

To kick off, here are a couple of links I found helpful:

Info for parents on Unicef website: www.babyfriendly.org.uk/items/resource_detail.asp?item=439

UK locations where tongue tie can be divided:
www.babyfriendly.org.uk/items/resource_detail.asp?item=440

NHS exaggerated latch leaflet (see page 10) this seems to help get a better latch:

www.sunderland.nhs.uk/admin/mopil/pdf/20060405104105.pdf

Kellymom page on tongue tie:

www.kellymom.com/babyconcerns/bfhelp-tonguetie.html

Please feel free to add your resources/experiences/questions/comments. :)

Today has been much better - she actually seems to be going 1.5-2 hrs between feeds . Prior to wednesday, it has just been one long 12 week feed (or so it seems). Latch on the right is still sore and it's really difficult to get her mouth to open wide enough but we're persevering.

I saw the BF co-ordinator today. She took one look at DD and said that she looks lovely and healthy, in proportion and not to worry, despite dropping 3 centiles. She also said to stop the ebm top ups that we have been doing for the past week and to just concentrate on bf, which I am pleased about......a much happier day for us both

LauraRose. We were referred last friday, the LC called me on monday and we got 'snipped' on wednesday. I hoping to see an improvement (I think I already have!)but I am very familiar with the cycle....hope you get your referral soon.

WLL It's so difficult anyway without another DC to think of! My poor DS is so good really and thinks mommy is just a milk maker as it's all I seem to do. I'm not sure what your options are but I have nearly resorted to formula several times but you're right - it is such a faff and so much easier to bf!

CJMommy it's great to hear you've had a better day. Hopefully things will continue to improve. As your DD's tongue tie was snipped at about the same time as my DS's, you may find, as I did, that things will shortly appear to slip backwards a bit with feeding. Fear not - it's probably just the 4 month growth spurt, and it will pass.

The good news is that your DD's mouth will grow along with the rest of her, further improving her ability to latch.

LauraRose Congratulations on your new son :) If the midwife didn't give you an idea of referal times, just give her a call and ask. It sounds like you've had a hard time so far. Well done for persevering - I know how difficult it must be, and you've done amazingly well to get this far :)

Is there someone who could take over a night feed for you to give you a bit of a break? I expressed one feed a day so that my husband could feed my DS during the night, which gave me a bit of extra sleep, and gave my nipples a break. I would also recommend a sling during the day. It may help your DS settle for a little longer, and you can have your hands free to get on with things.

I really hope your DS gets seen soon.

WLL Growth spurt for you too maybe? Again, maybe a sling would help. I don't know if it was just coincidental, but when I started using a sling, DS seemed to sleep a bit longer, so was going longer between feeds. Then when he did feed, it was for a bit longer than 5 mins as he was hungry. My LC showed me how to finger feed DS using a syringe and feeding tube taped to my finger, as it was closer to bf than a bottle. My HV was horrified when she found out, but it worked for us. She said it was a choking hazard as the milk was forced into DS's mouth. I tried to explain that I wasn't actually depressing the syringe, and that he was sucking the milk out on his own, but she had stopped listening. It may be worth asking about it though.

I wish MN had a little medal smiley - I found it hard enough and I only had DS to worry about. You're doing it with a DD to care for too!

Hi, just wanted to add my story. Have posted on other threads about this but thought anyone reading this one might like to know - my 20 week DD put on weight fine for first 3 months (EBF) but feeding was always a struggle, especially in first few weeks where I would literally cry at every feed. Had midwives, bf counsellors and HV watch me feed and although I kept saying, 'there's a clicking noise, doesn't that mean TT?' no one listened. At 4 months she was starting to lose weight and being very fussy on the breast, pulling off and crying and not going back on although obviously still hungry. A local bf group gave me the number of an infant feeding specialist who listened very carefully on the phone for about half an hour and then saw us a few days later. Within a minute of watching me feed she said, 'there's a clicking sound, must be a TT' and when DD had finished, she had a quick look and hey presto, the posterior TT was diagnosed. She said she didn't think there was much point in referring for s snip at this stage as we'd made it so far, but I disagreed and got a referral from my GP the next day. 2 weeks later we were seen at Southampton General and they were horrified at my story and couldn't believe it hadn't been picked up sooner. One of the bf counsellor ladies there said she saw the TT as soon as my DD smiled at her (little charmer that she is. DD, not the bf lady...) They spent a long time talking to us and assured us that there was no downside to having the snip. DD would probably take a few days to relearn how to use her tongue but they had seen many cases just like ours with no issues.. DD was taken, wrapped up and had the snip with a pair of blunt scissors. She
was away from us for a max of 5 minutes. When she came back she
was fine, no crying and the nurses said she'd been very brave (there
was a single tear in the corner of her eye... :( ). She latched on straightaway and fed for a few minutes. I have to admit I was expecting a miracle as it has always been uncomfortable for me to bf, but although not a huge difference at that point, over the past few days I have definitely noticed that she has been taking more without getting tired. (it's now 4 days post snip) Hoping it will continue to improve - DD has never been able to stay on the latch on her own so I have always had to feed 2 handed - holding the boob in her mouth. Hoping that one day I might actually be able to sit with her in the crook of my arm feeding one handed! (and that she might go longer at night.... )
Anyway, sorry for long post, just wanted to add my story and reiterate that if you suspect TT just keep banging on about it till someone listens. Also that it's 6 months before they have to do a GA and even then it's decided on a case by case basis. Good luck to everyone out there with similar stories :)

Thanks for adding your story Dreemagurl.

Yep, I'd also definitely reiterate to everyone that if a TT is suspected you bang on about it too until something is done. I know it's hard when you're the tired mum and we all trust in the HCPs around us who are supposed to be doing their jobs, but it sounds like they are too often missed or dismissed.

Grrr, you know I'm still fuming about it? Was speaking to a pregnant friend today and she recently attended an antenatal class on BFing and they seemed to cover a lot, including problems such as TTs. They seemed to reassure people that this would be checked for straight away, but my friend piped up with my story saying that "Errr, my mate didn't get it diagnosed and it wasn't done until 8 weeks...". Why am I so mad about this still?

Well, saw the GP today - it's policy to be referred to them if 3 centiles dropped. She basically told me that despite her looking wll, she will have to refer her to a paediatrician for failure to thrive if she does not gain significantly this week.

We had a really good weekend WRT feeding - now going two hourly as opposed to constant. However, today appears to be the start of 12 week growth spurt time so it has been pretty much continuous for the last 6 hours. Great isn't it, you finally start to feel like you're getting somewhere then you get a bloody growth spurt!! The GP didn't help by saying that she should be going a lot longer than 2 hours between feeds - I thought we were doing ok too .

Part of me now wants to stop bf . It just seems like a never ending rollercoaster. I'm neglecting my poor DS (3)and snappy with DH. .......think I need a x

theborrower I understand why you're still mad. i appear to be getting more angry about it too - I just feel that we've gone through 8 weeks more difficult feeding if I had been listened to when I first asked about TT. I could now be at a point where bf was lovely and easy and not the worry and drain it is now!!

Hey ho! Will probably feel better tomorrow.

CJMommy have a - I'm having one right now

I'm mad because the first 2 months of her life were so difficult - I keep thinking "What if?", and how perhaps we could have been saved 2 months of misery. What if they had realised she was breech when I was pregnant and not only when I was in labour and then needing an EMCS? (I keep hearing that EMCS can make BFing difficult). What if the midwives had snipped her TT when she was in hospital? (several midwives said she had one, but they all disagreed on whether it was an issue or not).

And also what if I'd kept on trying for much longer after the TT snip?

I'm mad because I felt/feel so let down, and mad because other people are going through it too! There are clearly too many people getting missed.

By the time we got to 8 weeks (when TT was snipped) I thought "We're supposed to have BFing established right now, it's supposed to be easy by now" but we were only getting started. My friends seemed to have the hang of it, but I was in this crazy world of topping up and expressing. I couldn't face 8 more weeks of it, so stopped trying to BF as much and cut back to twice a day on the breast and FF rest of time.

And I'm sad that we didn't have the BF experience I wanted/thought we'd have when I was pregnant.

Incidentally, DD has now stopped taking the breast completely - our mini BFs have dwindled, and at 7 and a half months we have now officially stopped :( Although I've also got to say, somewhat relieved. Not sure why.

WLL my DD also has a pinchy latch, three weeks after having her TT snipped. Do you think it is a habit that they got into when feeding with a Tongue tie? I'm at a loss as to how to stop her doing it.

DD has a pinchy latch too but it has eased slghtly. I can live with it knowing that she is now getting more milk, is more settled and the 12 week cluster feed has ended! I find that her latch improves with the duration of the feed. Now I just need to wait and see if she gains any more weight - friday is D day!!

Hi everyone - so glad I found this thread and thought I would share my experience and also ask if anyone could give me a bit of help as I am now truly struggling with how to proceed with feeding.

I had my baby boy just over three weeks ago and had actually written in my birth plan (amongst other things!) that I wanted him checked for tongue tie as I must have read something about it while pregnant and it stayed with me. I also said that I didn't want my baby fed formula and wanted help to be able to breastfeed.

Anyway, in the delivery suits, literally as he came out and was screaming I saw that he had a little heart-shaped tongue and I said to the (3) doctors and (2) midwives that he had a tongue tie. I was pretty out of it and no-one really paid attention. That day I had to see a number of doctors (in fact around 4 paeds) as well as any number of midwives (I lost my last baby and was being carefully monitored) about various things and I told each one about the tongue tie and asked them to help me breastfeed.

I was repeatedly told that they didn't believe he had a tongue tie... but no-one could help me get him on the breast either. After around 12 hours of this, I was being told (more and more firmly) that my baby needed to be fed formula (which for various reasons I did not want to do). I finally gave in as we had been trying all day (different things, I also rang some helplines, was trying to track down a lactation expert), his blood sugar was falling (he is a very big boy) and I also didn't seem to have anything to give him. He would not go on the breast at this point at all.

Three days later we met a lactation consultant who said straight away that he had a tongue tie. We had it snipped the next day (by the lactation consultant who is also a midwife and is trained to do this) but he still wouldn't take the breast. Meanwhile I am starting to pump but not getting much (around 8-10 pumps a day and maybe 50 slowly increasing to 100ml in total over the day). The LC thinks that he still has some tongue tie so snips a little more a few days late. He takes a couple of days to recover from this each time (he was taking the Breastflow bottles but reverted to the NUK teats we had from hospital which were clearly easier to suck from).

Meanwhile he is thriving on the formula and putting on weight etc. and very happy on it... and I am desperately pumping, taking fenugreek and blessed thistle, and now, for a week Domperidone, and last Thursday he finally breastfeeds.

However, his latch is a bit pinchy (but I can bear that) but I was giving him a bit of formula before giving him the breast (otherwise he would get upset, screaming etc.) but he seems to fall almost to sleep as soon as he has the (breast) nipple in his mouth and does about 7 sucks and rests for a moment or tow and then another 7 sucks and takes ages.

The LC asked me not to give him formula first, so I tried again on Monday afternoon and he did take the breast... but he then proceeded to feed FOR 7 HOURS STRAIGHT and was still hungry and crying at the end of it (I stopped him) so I did give him formula as I was actually going nuts by this point. He then did the same thing yesterday and once again, after 6 hours I gave in and gave him some formula.

If he has had some formula he will leave the breast himself after about 15-30 mins and he will also sleep afterwards. Otherwise it is endless, endless sucking and he won't sleep (unless a nap on me) presumably because he is hungry.

I also worried that he was going to get dehydrated as yesterday I had less wet nappies than usual and he didn't poo (another reason I gave him some formula).

I suppose I asking whether there is light at the tunnel and whether at nearly 4 weeks my supply (and his ability to feed effectively) are ever going to match up when he is huge, as I am getting pretty low from the relentless of it all and wonder at what point I accept that formula is going to be the only way forward for us...

Hi Lucy101

Sounds like you have really been through the mill. I can't believe that not one of all those docs and midwives didn't listen to you when you saw he had a tongue tie, particularly if it was immediately obvious to a Lactation consultant and you were having clear problems getting him on the breast

I don't think I can offer advice, but I wanted to bump this thread for you - it may be worth starting another thread looking for a way forward or sending a private message to tiktok who is a trained BFing Counsellor who posts a lot on this board - she knows what she's talking about and should be able to offer some advice or point you in the right direction. It sounds like you need a clear plan with the feeding.

hope that helps.

Hi all,
Thought I would share my experience of posterior tongue tie, now that we have had the snip and BFing is all fine (finally). Hope it will be helpful for someone as at the time I was desperate for help and had never heard of tongue tie and had no idea it might be why we were having problems.
DD is my 2nd child, so luckily I knew that the problems I was having breastfeeding were not normal. The first week wasn't so bad, painful, but bearable and I kept thinking it would get better, but it only got worse. It got to the point where I was in tears with the pain at each feed and I could tell DD was getting frustrated too. These are the symptoms we had:
-baby not able to latch properly - going on and off constantly
-lots of clicking noise and chomping
-excrutiating pain in nipples and breast during and after feeding
-baby not satisfied after feeding - feeds only ended when I had to wrench her off as couldn't take the pain any more or when she fell asleep with exhaustion, only to awake in hunger a few minutes later
-very windy baby
-hardly any dirty nappies
-nipple would come out compressed with a white ridge
DD was gaining weight ok, so no-one was really interested in my pain, plus it was Xmas/New Year, so everyone was on holiday. We were dismissed by the MW - HV and GP were uninterested, breastfeeding counsellor from hospital suggested trying feeding in rugby ball position and having a hot bath. Infant feeding specialist from hospital when I finally got her on the phone just told me to get anti-biotics from GP for mastitis.
In desperation paid fortune for lactation consultant who diagnosed posterior tongue tie and thrush. Inefficient feeding was also causing blocked ducts. Went to GP to get referral for dividing TT and treatment for thrush (which he gave bad advice on and we ended up having to go back and get treatment again as it got into the milk ducts and was agony - only got this sorted on advice from Breastfeeding Nework). Referral for any NHS clinic in London was several weeks so in the end paid £80 to see Mr Graham I Smith at Kingston Hospital and get seen more quickly (grahamismith.com/about.html). Procedure itself was done at 4 wks and was quick and apparently easy. Feeding didn't really improve for about 2 weeks (though was made worse by continuing thrush problems). I coudn't cope and was determined to start FFing, but then DD refused to feed from bottle. So we persevered and within 3 wks of the snip everything was pretty much normal.
DD now over 3mths and doing fine.

Thought I'd update (and bump the thread for anyone else who might need it)
DS started to have a few problems feeding at about 4/5 weeks - I was having some pain when he fed, he would fuss around.
HV told me to see the dr to get a referral.
The Dr was awful. Really dismissive of the problem, and didn't believe I could feel that DS feeds differently to my other dc. He also felt that it was a non-issue that I couldn't really relax when feeding - I have to concentrate on ds's latch and the position of my boob.
Saw the paed. today who was lovely. First thing he asked me was if DS feeds differently to my others. Told me DS has a significant TT, and has referred us to the maxillo facial clinic to see the consultant who will decide whether to snip it.

This has made me feel that maybe there is a need for more TT recognition in brand new babies. All the cases in this thread, and several people I know in RL all had problems that could have been sorted before it even was a problem iyswim.
Is there anything I (or anyone else) can do to raise awareness of this? (I'm aware that in the scheme of things, this isn't a huge issue, but how many people stopped bfing, and how many are struggling right now, when it could be checked for routinely and problems prevented right from the start)

Hi everyone,
CJMommy, WLL & Browneyesblue thanks for your messages.

I was told on Monday 21st our appointment will be 31st March - I was so desperate I offered to come to the hospital & wait but they said that's not allowed :( we are counting the nights to our appointment - still feeding all the time (plus 4 x 90ml top ups a day - hoping to borrow a breast pump from NCT to get my supply up). Hes has so little sleep (and me too) - only 2x 1/2 hr naps since 7am. Nights are really hard - he'll go in his crib for maybe 1&1/2 - 2 hrs, then I can't get him to go back down after - in desperation I've done so co-sleeping but hate how scared it makes me feel. I have so many hopes pinned on this Thursday so its reassuring to hear how things have improved for you Amcamc.

Lucy101 - I feel for you - my little boy is quite big too (8lb11oz at birth) and he could feed all morning or afternoon from me and still be hungry for formula - he gets so frustrated at the breast sometimes - arching his back, pushing off his fists so he's nowhere near my nipple - he aslo sometimes wakes and cries for a feed, then is asleep after a few sucks so I think he just wants the comfort - I hate to admit it but one of our best nights was co-sleeping when he could have access to the nipple all night - didn't have to give formula at all that night. I'm also worried about dehydration - I'm always checking his fontanelle & nappy counting. The midwife told me to do 45mins on breast 1, then 15 or o on breast 2 then top up, but the NCT breastfeeding counsellor said as I'm feeding so often just keep swapping as the first milk comes easily and will settle him, and he will get the hind milk due to frequency of feeds. I'm having some small breakthroughs after I started massaging my breasts after each feed (from Aptamil website!) e.g. let down on non feeding breast, lots of swallowing noises, milk even running out his mouth (I needed a breast pad the other day and was so happy I cried!!). THe NCT breastfeeding counsellor has been a godsend - maybe try your local branch? They've also lent me a supplimenter system (and bottle & 2 tubes that tape to your breasts) so you can give a top up and still get breast stimulation.

Love to everyone - hope life gets a bit easier xx

faverolles - I'm thinking of writing to my hospital - my care was otherwise excellent so perhaps they could update staff in identifying tongue tie? My hospital have just taken on the breastfeeding guidelines so might be open to these kind of changes. If you start a petition I'll definitely sign it x

Has anyone had a TT snipped in Yorkshire/Derbyshire? I think my DS has a TT and the MWs here told me when they checked that they don't snip them here. I know this from experience as my DD had a bad TT and they refused 7 years ago, saying that TT made no difference to bf. I'm going to get him weighed tomorrow and will ask again (for the 5th or 6th time) for them to look but I'm not expecting a great response.

I think he has TT because he's 7 weeks and has never been able to put his tongue over his lip. He can get it over his bottom gum, but that's it. When he cries it's heart shaped with a notch in the middle, and th erest of the time the tip is flat. He's also losing his latch a lot (this seems to be getting worse) and it sounds like a bit of air getting in as he tries to grab on again. (like a straw at the bottom of a drinking glass iyswim). My nipples are both sore, and have been since he was born. There's no blisters or cracks, but they get that lipstick tip shape after a feed, and get bruised and pink.

He's a generally happy baby, gaining well at the last check so the problem is with me not him, and the responses I've got have ranged from "well they don't snip them here anyway" to "is it bearable?" (if it is then carry on!) with a general dismissal as the latch is good.

Does this sound like TT? I'm working myself up about it and have almost convinced myself that it's in my imagination as the MWs have said no TT (although not convincingly) and everyone who's checked says the latch is good (including a LC). Sorry for going on, but this is now really getting to me :(

Hi bitingfairy

It does sound a lot like tongue tie - the description of your nipples and the shape of your DS's tongue seem to fit exactly.

I don't know first hand of anywhere in your area, but I found this article which said that they had families which travelled to their clinic from Derbyshire.

A list of locations (including the one in the article) can be found here, but it is by no means exhaustive, so maybe someone else will know somewhere closer.

Alternatively, try one of the helpline numbers listed above, or contacting La Leche League. I have heard tell of tongue tie being diagnosed by its symptoms over the phone, but they also may be able to find somewhere local to be seen. Just because one LC hasn't spotted a tongue tie, doesn't mean another might not find it.

I'm sorry to hear you are having such a hard time of it. The only real advice I can think of is to just keep pushing - make a real bloody nuisance of yourself. I know that this is easier said than done when you are struggling on though - but you've done fantastically to get this far.

Hi there - and thank you to LauraRose78 and theborrower for their replies. I have been AWOL as working so hard to try and make some feeding progress (managing to give just an evening formula feed now)... but it is very slow going... and extremely painful... and my baby seems to be slipping a little down the percentiles so I am going to also post over in the general breastfeeding forum about that as theborrower suggests (thank you!).

I guess one of the problems with TT is that fixing that is only the beginning of a lot of these feeding journeys - I thought that my problems would be solved by having it snipped but we have had more problems thrown up (and I guess they all interact and then supply becomes an issue etc.)

Am off to call some more helplines too!

I wished I have known what I've known nor read this message broad... here's my sad story...

My DS was born with posterior tongue tie and like so many stories posted here, the pediatrician, various MWs, HVs, BFC,GP has failed to diagnosed it and the worst thing was the MN we hired for four weeks not only failed to spot it, she insisted on putting DS on feeding routine and would not allow me to feed him even when he was crying. I would used to wake up in the morning and she would tell me DS was very "unsettled" from 11pm -1pm and that she called it the "difficult hour" that every baby has. Being a first time parents with no prior childcare experience, my husband and I believed her. She came recommended from an agency (initial M.Y based in London) and she had strong references!!! DS did not catch up to his birth rate until Week 4 and was bone thin and still she would suggest that I had small frame and that my DS was never going to be big. DS was also feeding on my breasts for an hour or more and often would only stop when he falls asleep and would cry non-stop whenever he wasn?t asleep. There were times when he would not sleep at all during the day! She also advised me not to pump, even when my breasts were engorged, the whole time she was there, stating that I ?won?t get much anyway?.

It wasn?t until Week 6, a friend of mine suggested I pump to see how much milk I have and it?s then that I realised I only had 1 oz of milk to offer when he was requiring 4 oz and that was the day I started FF. Week 7, another friend suggested that I see a lactation consultant and finally the mystery of my son being ?unsettled? was resolved, the lactation consultant took one look underneath DS tongue and declared that he was 60% tongue tied. She then recommended me to see a wonderful tongue tie specialist, Ann Dobson, who came in few days after who was fantastic and I would recommend her to anyone whose DS/DD has TT.

But by then, as I learned from Ann that breast milk is established in the first four weeks and due to the fact that my breast was not stimulated as a result of DS?s TT, the milk has dried up. And despite following her advice in take high dosage of fenugreek and even Domperidone (drug whose side effects is lactation) and pumped eight times a day, the milk never came back.
Even now, no matter how hard I tried to put the incident behind me, I am left with anger and sorrow. There are many times I would find myself in tears, cursing myself not following my instinct to feed and not standing up to the maternity nurse. I have subsequently reported her to the agency and requested a refund but they refused and suggested that I should have complained at the time and that they would have done something about it. If I only knew at the time I would! As to MN, I also emailed her and though she admitted to her failure to spot the TT, she reckoned I was ?a little harsh?! She never been a mother and obviously has no idea what it is like to have DS malnourished and screamed for 6 weeks. Nor does she realise how devastating it is for me not being able to give my son my breast milk and have to put him on FF despite my wish.

As to the hospital, I called them to lodge a complaint and the MW that answered the phone first said it takes 2 to 3 days before TT can be diagnosed, to which I answered a friend of mine had her baby TT diagnosed at birth. And then she goes on to say 30% of babies that were born in that hospital are TT and their pediatricians simply don?t have time to check them all, to which I reputed and said say it took my lactation consultant one minute! I am waiting for their pediatrician consultant to contact me to formalise the complaint. I just wished that hospitals and pediatricians would include TT as a routine check, especially when they are the ones who preach on the benefits of BF!

Just love how old is your baby now x

Justlove - Sorry to hear about your experiences. Please try not to beat yourself up, you did the best you could with the resources and support available to you at the time and that's all we can ever do. Hindsight is a wonderful thing - there's things I regret and wish I'd done differently after the births of both of mine.

Maternity nannies ought to have up to date awareness of breastfeeding and issues like TT just like any other professional involved in newborn babies' care.

I think in some hospitals like Bristol, they DO check for TT and snip very early on. There just isn't the consistency across the UK.

Hope you can move forwards from this and enjoy your lovely little boy.

I bf DD to 6 months (was unusual in that I was only 16yo when I had her, 13 yrs ago). I bf DS1 to 6 months. However, DS2, I only bf for 4 weeks, then mix fed for another 8 weeks, gave up totally when he was 12 weeks old. Was just soooo much harder bf him, he was literally on me 24/7. He was late talking, and it wasn't until he was 3.6yo, and undergoing SALT that his TT was dxd. It didn't get snipped by that point though, I made the decision not to.

Fast forward 7 years, and I have DS3. Try bf again, knowing last time wasn't my fault. Felt really difficult again, like with DS2, and I KNEW he had a TT too. MW said as my nipples weren't cracked or bleeding, that it couldn't be a TT. Asked for a second opinion from another mw, who looked and said he had a TT. Sent me to the local consultant when DS3 was 6 wks old, but he couldn't snip it, as DS3's was posterior, and he only does anterior TT's. Got referred to a consultant in London, he snipped it when DS3 was 10 weeks old, and BF has gone from strength to strength. DS3 is now 6months old...and for the first time, I'm not giving up at 6 months!

My son's tongue tie was snipped at 11 weeks. For the first week after, the nipple pain actually got worse. I think it was because his mouth felt weird for him - his latch deteriorated. It was a relief when we got back to the level we'd been at before the snip, and I resigned myself to it not having helped.

But then it very gradually started to get better, and now 3 weeks after it was done feeding is improved. It's not perfect, but the horrible chomping sensation and bruising pain is gone. I had a brilliant moment yesterday when I got up from the sofa with him still attached, walked into the kitchen to get my coffee, and sat back down again with him feeding happily- something I'd never have been able to do 2 weeks ago when the slightest change of position was uncomfortable.

There does seem to be some difference of opinion amongst the experts about the importance of tongue tie. I'm in Oxford, and have had a lot of help from the absolutely brilliant breastfeeding clinic at the John Radcliffe hospital. The advisors there are fantastic and gave me a lot of help with latching, but it's clear that they are reluctant to diagnose tongue tie. When I spoke to them about it, they said they feel it's a bit of a buzz-word at the moment, and that any problems with breastfeeding are automatically put down to a physical problem with the baby, rather than giving a mother help and support, and that tongue tie divisions often don't make any difference to feeding. But once I'd had it diagnosed (privately by a lactation consultant) they did say it was worth getting it done, because it's such a simple procedure, even if it doesn't help you've not really lost anything. I'm very glad I did - it seems to have helped us.

mooshy1970 - my son is going to be 4 months old this Sunday. yay!

Wholelottalove - Thanks for the kind and supportive words, they mean a lot to me. I spoke to my neighbour today and she said to me that there are a lot of hard lessons to learn being a mother, she went through a few herself, again due to poor inconsistent advice from doctors and professionals alike. Somehow, it made me feel better.

Bumping for Mamakath