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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

Upper lip tie - problems with choking on solids?

11 replies

CardyMow · 22/01/2012 01:42

DS3 had a posterior TT snipped at 10 weeks. He also has a very severe upper lip tie, that I am trying to get the medical profession to sort out. (Can't afford to go private).

I can't give him ANYTHING from a bottle, as the teat collapses in, falls in the bottle, and drenches him. A beaker he just can't get a grip onto to suck from.

He has BIG problems with solid food. He chokes on his food, struggles with chewing, needs his food chopped to morsels small enough to swallow without chewing. He has dropped in weight by more than a centile line in the last 8-12 weeks.

Could this be connected to the upper lip tie? DS3 is 51 weeks old now, and I have been trying to get an appointment with the local consultant to even LOOK at the upper lip tie since he was 16 weeks old. The HV has sent two referrals, the BF counsellor has sent one, and the GP has sent a referral. The HV has also said she will chase up an appointment.

It is also affecting his speech, and he dribbles terribly. Even when he's not teething. Pools of it, like a St. Bernard. Grin.

I'm tired of BF. I'm tired of being unable to EVER get more than 1.5hrs break at a time. Is this fixable when the NHS won't take me seriously, and I can't afford to go private? Is the upper lip tie the reason for him not putting any weight on and choking on his solid food if it is bigger than 3mm square cubes?

By this age, I could happily give 2/3 of my older dc a sandwich and they would happily much it. (The other had UNDIAGNOSED TT, and I was still spoon-feeding him milk until 15 months when he could manage a bottle. It was put down to his totally unrelated muscle problems/disablity).

Even with a banana - I have to pick off tiny bits to put in DS3's mouth, he can't even manage a slice of banana without choking. And I hadn't linked it to the upper lip tie because it seemed 'normal' to me after my experiences with DS2.

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becsparkel · 22/01/2012 03:16

Sorry, I don't have the answers. DS has a LT and had a PTT (just been snipped) but he's not on solids yet. There is a really good support group on Facebook though, if you search for Tongue Tie Babies, you should find it. Lip tie is a hot topic!

CardyMow · 25/01/2012 01:16

Bump.

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TruthSweet · 25/01/2012 19:25

HuntyCat - Are you anywhere near Exeter or Manchester or Kingston? There is a Max-Fac unit in Exeter that has done one (!), Mr Sheenan in Manchester does Lip ties and Graham I Smith in Kingston Hospital apparently does them too.

I have got this info off of a bfing helpers email group, not that I have personal experience with them performing LT/TT snips - I hope it helps.

CardyMow · 25/01/2012 19:28

Nope, I am in Essex. On the border with Suffolk, not the London side of Essex. Though I can just about get to London, it takes up an entire day AND I have to get 2 babysitters. Can't afford private treatment at the moment though - I'm a Lone Parent on benefits.

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TruthSweet · 25/01/2012 19:42

Rats, I was hoping one would be local to you. Would you like me to put a call out for a more local practioner on the bfing helpers group (if there is one)?

CardyMow · 25/01/2012 23:00

Maybe, if you could. If there is one.

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TruthSweet · 26/01/2012 08:33

I'll just give the location not your circs. or any specifics if that's okay?

ThisIsYourSong · 26/01/2012 08:48

Hi, DS also had a posterior tongue tie snipped at 3 months. Have you seen the Analytical Armadillo site? She has a lot of info about TT - I am guessing you have but just in case...

They think the problem with TT and gagging is that the back of the tongue desensitises the mouth, and if the tongue is tied it can't do that. Anyway what you need is a speech and language referral and they will give you some palate desensitisation exercises - although goodness knows how long that will take.

DS is 10 months and still gags on lots of things. Well everything except really smooth purees. We're just taking it very slowly and he is getting better (I just got so sick of cleaning up puke every day, every meal that I just decided to stick with what he could eat - so good on you for trying solid bits!). The only tip I have is that when he starts to gag, give him some water to wash it down - doesn't always work but a lot of the time does.

He drinks well out of an NUK starter bottle, which is more like a beaker and also a straw cup. Doesn't gag on either of those but still won't take milk out of a cup, either formula or EBM.

I totally know where you are coming from, its exhausting and I feel like the BF will never end, taking a bottle will never happen and I'll never be able to get out of the house for a decent period of time without the baby.

CardyMow · 26/01/2012 08:58

I've tried every cup AND beaker on the market. DS3 still ends up soaked. I am starting to worry that I will still be BF'ing when he's 7yo. Considering I would have been happy to stop when he was 6mo...He is 1yo now, and still BF fully.

As for a SALT - Not a bloody hope in my PCT. Even totally non-verbal dc can't get a single appointment before 4/5yo. Believe me. I have been there with DS2. And that's when he was put on the waiting list at 18mo. TO be found to have an undiagnosed TT. Which was why I had ended up spoon-feeding DS2 with no support. And giving up on BM at 3mo. And why he was non-verbal.

At least it helped me to know what I was looking for when DS3 was born...

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ThisIsYourSong · 26/01/2012 09:23

Ah drinking without getting soaked! doesn't happen in this house either. Am now worried about his speech as I think we'll be spoon feeding for a long long time, although he makes a lot of noise!

Have you googled desensitisation exercises? Which is basically what the S&L therapist will give you.

Sorry things are so rough, surely they can speed things up due to the absence of weight gain Sad

CardyMow · 26/01/2012 09:28

God knows. I've to get him wieghed in 2 weeks time, and if he hasn't put enough on, then maybe the HV will try to do something. Will try to google the exercises.

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