Bf 5 day old: advice needed

[FrozenNorthPole]

DS (third baby, breastfed) seems to have a severe tongue tie at the bottom (I don't know what the technical term is) which we have been referred to have fixed next week at some point. Meanwhile I'm really concerned that my supply will suffer as he's not feeding effectively - I'm literally having to express milk into his mouth after he's tried to latch. He comes off easily, can't seem to maintain suction for very long and clicks / swallows air a lot. I'm not engorged as I would expect to be at this point - milk is still predominantly colostrum although opaque yellow rather than translucent.

Can anyone suggest:

• latching techniques / positions that might help?
• ways to keep up supply in the meantime, besides pumping?
• any way to help ensure that he gets enough nourishment e.g. syringe feeding, as I will not top up with formula but obviously won't let him starve, so have my own supply of frozen milk and also donor milk as a back-up?

Thanks in advance. We've done lots of skin to skin etc. and I'm feeding him as frequently as I can possibly manage, but we haven't yet had the first breastmilk poo after the meconium has left, and I'm beginning to panic ... !

Pumping is your best bet - is there a reason you're not keen?

Sorry, I wasn't clear! I'm fine with pumping but want to keep latching him as well so we don't lose the knack ... and I can't seem to find all the parts for my breastpump so have had to hand express so far. I completely agree that pumping will be needed too though. x

I'm surprised it's taking them so long to sort out his tonguetie - can you not march to the hospital tomorrow and get stroppy? In the meantime a syringe would probably be your best bet. Very hard though if you're manually expressing.

I agree with going back to the hospital

a little baby who cant physically eat needs help sooner than next week
it makes me SOOO cross that tounge tie can somehow not be treated as a priority

Well done, you sound like you are doing brilliantly, and it will all be worth it in the end.

have a go at this trick for latching on

There is an excellent tongue tie support group on Facebook. It is a closed group but you can ask to join. Look for Tongue Tied Babies Support Group.

When my DS was 4/5do we ended up cup feeding him for a few days. It may be a quicker (although messier) way to get enough milk into him than syringe feeding. You hold the cup so that baby can lap at the milk rather than pour it into their mouth. However, I don't know if being tongue-tied might be an issue for cup feeding?

Do you just need to find the bits for your pump, or are you going to need to order new ones? Is it worth picking up a cheap hand pump in the mean time? I know some people can get lots of milk by hand expressing, but I found it much easier with a pump.

I just wanted to update somewhat - we think that part of the tongue tie might actually have given way (there was a strand of skin right at the tip of the tongue) because DS can suddenly poke his tongue out a bit and the latch has become a little deeper. He's still gassy and has some reflux because he's still taking in air (clicking continues) but it's lessened a little. We had him weighed today and he'd gained 2oz since two days ago, so I'm feeling a lot less frantic about his feeding now. We're also finally seeing proper breastfed baby poo which is really reassuring. Thank you so much for your advice and ideas - we're still pushing to see the paediatrician about getting the tie completely cut as I know that the latch can get better, and we don't want the tie to cause any more problems further down the line.

Good to hear that things have improved a bit. Just beware that it is possible to have an anterior tie (closer to the tip of the tongue) and to have a posterior one behind it too. Make sure you ask about that.

DS1 had tt snipped a few months ago and I subsequently found out that only the anterior was done and there is a posterior one lurking in there too. grrr