10 week old tongue tie problems

[CuriosityCola]

Ds's tongue tie was spotted in the hospital. I managed to keep breastfeeding with the use of nipple shields and was received to make it to the tongue tie specialist when he was just over a week old. It didn't seem to make any difference. Ds still wanted to feed ALL the time, but was told this was him making up for sleeping relatively well at night. Decided that sticking with nipple shields was fine if it meant that I could continue breastfeeding. Any attempt without caused ds to pull on and off and leave my nipple lipstick shaped and blanched.

At his most recent weigh in ds has dropped from 50th percentile to 2nd. He is 90th for height. Though he hasn't lost weight, just gained very slowly.

I have been told to express and top him up every three hours. I can't keep up with the expressing and he is refusing the bottle. We seen the specialist again and he snipped more of his tongue. Still no difference in feeding. Was told he is probably just not a good feeder.

I'm exhausted. He is feeding all the time, but not getting enough seemingly. I finally managed to get him to take a small amount of formula yesterday and now he has really smelly wind and is generally restless.

I don't know what to do for the best. Do I persevere with the formula? How often and much do I give if its formula instead of breast milk? Is this the end of breast feeding for me? I feel tremendous guilt as I fed my first with ease for a year.

Sorry this is such a ramble.

Am not an expert but didn't want your post to go unanswered.

Don't feel guilty! Know from experience how hard it is to feed a tongue tied baby and DD's tie was mild. You must be very determined.

Know you have seen a tongue tie expert to get the tie cut but have you seen a lactation consultant/bfc? The one I saw showed me an exaggerated latch that helped loads. (I had lipstick shaped blanched nipples too)

I also took DD to a cranial osteopath which seemed to help. I know opinion is divided as to whether they are just woo but I was willing to try everything by 10 weeks.

Have you tried feeding him in the bath? Random but helped us. FWIW DD dropped to 2nd centile too, at 11 months she is chunky!

Sorry if none of this is helpful. Here if you just want to rant too.

We saw a few people who I insisted that ds2 was fine. Then it was snipped. Then I saw top man , who said it hadn't been snipped properly. He snipped it again. Much better.
Are you sure it was snipped properly? It's not unheard of for it to grow back a tiny bit, and this the original snip to be almost useless. And thus would need doing again.
Agreed with suggestion of bf advisor. Get yourself to bf clinic and see what they have to say.
If the shields are mid-shapen, then clearly , all is not as it should be.

Thanks for your replies. They hadn't snipped it properly, so he has had it snipped twice. I just don't understand how he isn't gaining. I feel like I have plenty of milk and he feeds constantly. I think he might also be tongue tied on his top lip, but don't think they do anything for that.

Will look into getting a lactation consultant and booking us in for the cranial osteopathy (nothing to lose!). Only had a health visitor check latch and I didn't like the way she forced ds onto the boob.

Sorry I don't have time for a thorough response but have you also checked for lip tie?

Good luck

Think RL support (if it's good!) makes a massive difference. Can pm you a recommendation if you're in London.

Forgot to say, don't know if you've already tried breast compressions? This page might help too.

You must be knackered. Hope someone is bringing you food and helping take care of your older DC

OP, my heart goes out to you.
PLEASE do an extensive search on MN of the tongue tie , top lip, because it does it make a difference.
And hopefully MN will be able to help you in this.
Because you sure need it.
big hugs.

I think he might have a lip tie. Not sure what to do about it. Is it worth me trying to get a referral from the doctor (again)?! I'm in Scotland, but would travel if it meant things improved.

curiosity, well the good news if he does have a lip tie is that it's something that could quite easily be fixed, giving you and ds every chance to relearn a more settled way of feeding without so much discomfort for either of you.

I'm afraid I can only comment on the private route as I spotted my DD's grade IV lip tie at 14 months - it was never picked up by a professional. She has a mild posterior tongue tie too. We contacted Dr Malcolm Levinkind (in London I'm afraid) and he did a consult and the laser revision on the same day.

There is someone in Manchester I think who does laser revision, but I would ask for an urgent referral, and find out if there is a lactation consultant with any experience of ULT and TT nearby too. If you're going on the NHS route, take photos and any research you can find to support your case.

Try the facebook group for tongue and lip tie support - it's mostly north American but there's a lot of experience there.

Good luck.

Thank you for all the helpful messages. Flying to London isn't out of the question. Dh and I are going to make a plan of action tonight, so will let you all know how we get on.

I can only share my experience. so much sympathy for you.
fed dd for ten months.
Spotted Ds tongue tied myself and referred him myself to surgeon. I am a salt so they took my word for it. Snipped at seven weeks. still fed endlessly, dropped four centiles. We had so much help. From here, and from senior specialist breast feeding person. He just couldn't transfer milk.

I formula fed knowing we had done all we could. He's nearly four and strapping!

Shared experiences make me feel better. It's so frustrating knowing how good bf should be and then looking at this tiny frustrated baby. I have had a particularly tiring day today. Ds has only cat napped and wanted to be fed all day. It's like extreme cluster feeding . I feel like I am missing out on spending time with my other son too.

Malcolm Levinkind in London, or John Roberts at Cote Royd Dental Practice are the two who are doing laser revisions. They will also do upper lip ties if needed.

We went to John, but ds1 was almost 7yo, so a different experience to taking a baby.