Tongue Tie and almost giving up BF...help!

[AlmondFrangipani]

My DS is 3.5 weeks old. We started off BF exclusively really well and he has gained weight excellently (born 8lb 14oz and now 10lb 2oz). However over the past week I have been getting a lot of pain (bruised/burning nipples) when feeding, to the point I cant carry on without biting my hand or in tears. I got a lactation consultant to come and help as I am really determined to keep going. She checked my latch and said that it was great but she thinks he has mild tongue tie. We have been booked in to get this treated tomorrow but due to the bank holiday I have had to go almost a week with the pain. I have tried expressing (hand, manual and electronic) and cant get anything out so in desperation I started supplementing with formula to give my boobs a break and to make sure he was getting fed.

This helped a bit but now my DS who was a prolific feeder wont feed for very long at the boob and has got very restless and seems to be in gassy pain all the time. He seems to struggle a bit with the bottle making a lot of gulping noises and doesnt take the full measure they recommend. He was also sleeping for 4 hour stretches at night and is now waking up every hour to feed/be comforted due to wind pain.

Have I ruined everything? I feel so gutted that BF has gone this way and that the formula feeding seems to be having such a bad effect on him too. I am hoping the tongue tie will fix things and I can go back to exclusively BF but I am worried my supply had dropped too as I havent been able to express at the missed feeds . Any advice would be appreciated.

Hang in there. Hopefully once it's been snipped, he will latch on much better. Try to ensure he gets the breast at least a couple of times a day and try to pump even if you don't get much out to stimulate your supply. Have you tried hand expressing combined with the marmet technique (massage of boobs prior to expressing)? It really helps move the milk towards the nipple - I used when waiting for my DTs TTs to be snipped.

Obviously there is a chance that the formula may affect your supply and his ability to latch but it's not inevitably the end of bfing. My DTD also got VERY windfall at about 3 weeks and she was totally BF, so not necessarily due to the formula. I think they just start taking bigger volumes and their digestive systems grumble a bit.

You may have to have some mammoth feeding sessions post snip to get your supply up. Be prepared to go to bed for 3-4 days and just feed feed feed. Every 30 mins for parts of the day may not be unusual. It was utterly draining but worth it.

You may need to continue to mix feed for a few weeks too. I have heard that the best thing is to replace one full feed with formula rather than topping up after each feed. It's easier for your body to add an extra feed I later than to deal with constantly under supplying (which is what happens if you top up after every feed).

Good luck! I remember the pain only too well!

Can you try nipple shields to help you manage before the revision?

I would recommend getting some craniosacral therapy for baby as the tt may have caused things to go out of place which us why it was ok to start with.
Also consider anti colic bottles if you dont already have them as well as infacol and anti colic massage. Hopefully after tt is snipped everything will be fine.