Short stubby Tongue and bf???

[LalaDipsey]

I have 6 wk old b/g twins. Ds is happily bf and born 6lb whereas dd was 4lb2 and in hospital I wasn't allowed to bf her as she was so small. My plan was to bf her as I desperately want to. I have been expressing 2 feeds/day for her and the rest is ff. HV and bf counsellor have been telling me to get her weight up by btl feeding until she is strong enough to bf. As she has gotten bigger, bf hasn't got any easier for her so she was referred to a paediatric surgeon who we saw y'day who said she was physically incapable of bf due to a posterior tongue tie and a very short stubby tongue. He divided the tongue tie and said if it was just that he would give a 95% chance of successfully bf, but that babies with tongues like hers only have a 60% chance of bf.
Does anyone have any experience or advice on dealing with this?
Thankyou
Lala

Try contacting Milk Matters for advice on this or calling one of the national bfing helplines or an IBCLC

I would say if the posterior TT has been divided her tongue 'should' be able to move more, if the division was deep enough (I have heard of some divisions being a bit on the skimpy side and not freeing enough tissue from under the tongue).

I hope you can get the help you need to get your DD back on to bfing.

Thankyou. She did have a tongue tie at birth which was divided on day 2 but, you're right, as we found out y'day it hadn't been done fully
Lala

So she has had her TT divided twice now? Has that helped at all with bfing?

You could try co-bathing/re-birthing (this does sound like hippy-woo nonsense but it really can work though not guaranteed) - this is where mum lies reclined in a deep, warm but not too hot bath and her partner/mum/other responsible adult hands her baby, baby is then placed in the water (head above water level at all times!) and on mum's stomach with her gently stroking baby and keeping baby warm with the water.

Baby should start to crawl up to the breast (probably left hand side but not a given), mum can gently guide baby to the breast (not picking up and plonking on but sort of herding slightly) and baby should be able to self-attach though they may bob on the breast for a while or do kitten paws (kneading) for a little while - having milk on the nipple may help too as may putting a little milk on their hands so they can follow the smell (newborn babies lick and sniff their hands to taste/smell the amniotic fluid which smells very similar to the colostrum so they then track the smell to the nipple).

Post feed baby is taken off mum while she gets out of the bath and then you can snuggle in bed together with your other twin and get some skin to skin time!

Definitely get hold of Milk Matters, they are the experts and Charlie is lovely - good luck.

I really sympathise. I've posted on here about DS's TT and our problems. I found this petition, so if anyone has a moment...I hope things improve for you soon.
www.gopetition.com/petitions/midwives-to-diagnose-and-treat-tongue-tie.html

Thankyou for your responses - I have gladly signed the petition.
Bathing with her sounds lovely - I will do it when possible (toddler and twin d's sleeping at some point!)
Will try and rub it but sounds hard - have been told to keep her Tongue moving as much as possible.
Went to a bf cafe today - bee told to persevere for a couple of weeks to see if she can feed so am hoping she will
Thanks