Ann Dobson lactation consultant, any experiences?

[Victoria2002]

I'm tempted to hire her, she seems very experienced but is expensive, she also seems to be highly qualified for tongue-tie but I don't think that's the problem here. I was recommended Katherine Fisher and Sarah Brown but neither are available for home visits. I tried the health visitors and NHS support group but am still struggling so just looking for experiences of Ann Dobson or any other tips for London-based Lactation consultants who visit?

I use/d Katie fisher who is excellent and became like a second mum to me when I was having lots of problems.

She did DS TT, helped with with his reflux, reassured me when he choked on his own vomit & stopped breathing. She's been amazing & has often seen/spoken to me for free. I saw her monthly for a while just to build my confidence & it made a huge difference. I know her & Ann refer to ea h other, so I would say its worth it

What problems are you having?

I saw her with DS who had 90% tongue tie and couldn't latch. She was fab. She did the frenulotomy herself (gave me the scissors as a souvenir!) then spent an hour with me showing me and helping me to latch him on. He had some other problems and she wrote a very comprehensive referral letter which I took to a cranial osteopath to iron him out( he was very squashed - big baby, back to back, 2/5 engaged from 34 weeks and never got further)

I highly recommend her

DS is nearly two now and FINE

I highly recommend Ann Dobson - used her when I was really desperate and she was fantastic. I have since had some friends who used her and also had great experiences.

Thanks for all the replies. Our problem WAS oversupply/over-active let-down. (Him gulping and looking offended and pulling away from the breast, 10 explosive poo's per day...) THEN the past 2 weeks DS 8Wks has had a really blocked nose and had his vaccinations and was constipated (because I tried giving him hungry baby formula a couple of evening I think-oops!). For these two weeks he's been feeding badly, never feeding for longer than 6 mins at a time (he never fed for more that 20 though EVER, normally has about 3 X 5-10 min feed with a little break in-between, every 3 hours-ish). He cries so much when I feed him his behaviour almost reminds me of reflux, except he doesn't do it on the bottle. I have been expressing a bottle for each evening after a few really fractious evenings.He'll drink about 120ml over an hour from his evening bottle. Now suddenly my milk supply has settled down I'm really confused as to if that's just the settling I was wishing for, or if he's feeding so little that the supply has dropped. Because of the jabs and his cold I'm finding it hard to read his cues and am stressing that he's in pain or unhappy. He's gained weight well through all this.

My DS has never fed for LO her than 20 mins either & will only take one side per feed. They do become more efficient feeders & by 9-10 weeks he could polish a boob off in 3-5 mins flat. Worried me at the time but around 12-14 weeks all the other babies caught up.

Have you been to any of the BFing cafes or le leche league meetings? Free advice & I've found them really helpful

It could possibly be tongue tie from what you describe.

List of symptoms in this doc

Does any of it sound like your ds?

Ann Dobson is brilliant, she helped us a great deal, a helpful, lovely woman.

Thank you mawbroon, I thought the NHS breastfeeding support staff we've seen would've noticed if it was tongue-tie but there are some symptoms on this list that match our problems. I guess that's even more reason to see Ann.

Victoria2002, well you would think that NHS staff would notice a tongue tie, but sadly there are very few of them who understand about tongue tie.

There are a few who think they know about tongue tie and they are the ones people on this thread have had dealings with.

Sad but true.

Ann Dobson clipped DD's tongue-tie (posterior, missed by multiple NHS BF staff). I thought she was very professional.

Have just seen Ann Dobson today absolutely worth every penny , she picked up that my DS was favouring the right side of his head/ body and had very tense muscles accurately determining he was in an awkward position in the womb( he was breech and then transverse for a long time ) this together with a tongue tie makes it almost impossible for him to feed well, I did give up breast feeding and am now bottle feeding , he feeds very frequently and poorly only taking small amounts - not one health professional in 8 weeks has picked up what she did. We are seeing her and osteopath in her clinic in London on fri to begin treatment . I urge anyone having feeding difficulties to seek help from Ann don't suffer in silence

Yes Ann Dobson did my DD's tt and was great. We're in Leeds but she was us in Halifax. DD was 3mo at the time, was having to bottle feed EBM it was so painful for me to BF. I was having to ICE afterward!! Since the procedure, DD has EBF and is now 15mo. I agree that Ann was very professional and reassuring. The procedure was super fast and the baby was so happy to nurse afterward.

Hi Guys,
I see that this is a very old Thread but still felt tempted to post my comments here as I got Ann Dobson's details from here and decided to get my son's tongue tie treated from her looking at some positive reviews last week... My experience has been totally bad I've found her to be very unprofessional and perhaps a bit racist as well. We were told by her that we can't stay in the room while she does the treatment as per policy so we complied, my wife is a professional nurse and was crying and requested if she could stay but was refused, she charged ?200 for the procedure and call us for followup charged at ?100 when we turn up for followup we saw a white women coming out of treatment room with her baby who was allowed to stay in during the treatment, when Asked Ann she said the lady was a scientist and she made an exception for her as she wanted to see the procedure from a medical point of view utter nonsense and unconvincing reason. Also after spending ?300 on the treatment there is no improvement in feeding habbits of my son infact it has gone worse, the NHS consultant told us its a posterior one and she was not sure if treatment will be of any help but Ann told us confidently that procedure should be done... I regret the decision to get my son's treatment done by her, so anyone looking to hire her should think twice and perhaps look elsewhere...

Sorry to hear you've both had a difficult experience. I have never met Ann Dobson so can't comment on her personally, but the only thing I would say is that when my Dd's posterior tongue tie was cut by the NHS at 12 weeks, it took about a month for me to see an improvement in feeding. I hope this might be the case for you too, and that you will eventually see some benefit.

So glad I saw a more recent review of Ann Dobson. Was going to call re my sons tongue tie. Hes 6 weeks and the breast feeding cafe i attend just diagnosed posterior tongue tie. The thing is hes gaining weight really well, plenty of wet nappies and im not sore but he feeds for aaaages over hr each time and frequently. The breastfeeding cafe say this is too long for his age and he not an efficient feeder. Also he only latches with aid of nipple shield, this could also be because of tongue tie but I am trying to get him weaned of it. He will occasionally feed without it but not for long, but theres definitely progress. So in two minds about this tounge tie. As hes gaining weight then I guess if it aint broken don't fix it or will it benifit him later in life? Is it normal to still be having long feeds after 6 weeks? All babies are so different! Shorter feeds would be nice as im up most of the night and constantly feeding in day. Hes definitely getting enough out of the breast, I can see in the shield also hes so greedy and spews up excess. Also the snip won't guarantee quicker feeds. I Feel I should leave him be and just man up and take the long feeds as hes still young. Any advice? Ive wittered on alot!

I joined mumsnet only because I wanted to say that my granddaughter has had to have this operation repeated after attending this clinic. The colic, sore nipples etc and poor feeding returned fairly quickly and this possibly could have been avoided by proper aftercare advice and a third follow-up. Try the NHS even if you do have to wait or London tongue tie clinic in Croydon. At 3 months after the repeat procedure my grand-daughter will have to be fed 3 hourly for the next month + 2 gel massages a day. If she hadn't gone to an alternative surgery she may have had to have a general for this procedure at 6 months.

Hi,
this seems like a very old thread, but I feel that I should add to it. I have two daughters, 3.5yrs and 1.5yrs old - both have had their tongue tie snipped by Ann.
I am sorry to see some contrasting reviews. I am not sure about the "not in the room thing / racist thinng" - it seems rather strange and not the person that I have met. We are a mixed couple and I certainly never felt that either of us was mistreated nor did she ask us to be away during the operation. In fact I was holding the baby (though I closed my eyes, could not watch) :)

With my first daughter TT was diagnosed after a few weeks. By then my nipples had cracked, were bleeding and BF was atrociously painful, I also developed thrush on the nipples. Indescribably painful!

After the operation DD managed to latch on properly, but due to thrush and cracks it took another 6-8weeks for everything to heal and BF to become natural and not be sore. Without the operation I would have just given up.

When second DD was born, i knew something was not right and texted Ann. She was at ours the same day and found that she also had a tongue tie. Snipped it and immediately she was less tense and incredibly able to latch on and suckle without any discomfort. And it has been like that for the past 19months.

I cannot recommend Ann highly enough to anyone who needs help with a tongue tie.

Best,
Gaia

Another comment on an old thread but I was Ann Dobson today and had a really bad experience with her. DM me if you want more information but I walked away feeling inadequate and like I didn't matter at all. I really would not recommend her.

So sorry you’ve had a bad experience fancy. Do you want to tell us a bit more about the problems you are experiencing?

Just to add to this old thread, as people will read it, Ann has been helping out with my baby since he was a week old and she has been utterly fantastic. She cut his tongue tie, has done a lot of cranial work on him with visible results and has continued to visit and support us at home through the pandemic. I can’t recommend her enough and I felt the need to comment as the issues mentioned in the negative reviews do not tally with my experience at all. I was present and holding my baby’s head during the tongue division and for all cranial treatments, and I’ve found Ann to be nothing but friendly, supportive and professional.