Tongue Tie snipped - now won't feed at all!

[Chuckaluck]

Hi all, wondered if anyone can help me. My 3 week old had her tongue tie snipped this morning after it was spotted by a health visitor. It wasn't the worst seen but as we had been having some issues with her latching on, I was advised this would make things easier for her and me. She now won't latch in at all. I suppose she needs to re-learn what to do. I have been trying to feed her but she keeps screaming and in the end, I have had to express and give her a bottle.

Feel awful to have inflicted such pain on her and all for what appears to be nothing. Thinking I will have to give up breast feeding now if she can't latch on at all. Anyone got any ideas or can help me??

I was told by my LC that this could happen (because as you say of the need to relearn) and that it could take a few days to re learn. I didn't have this problem so can't offer any practical advice sorry but just to let you know it's not unheard of for this to happen and it should not be permanent, at least from what I was told.

Thanks minipie, I have been trying to get her on without getting too stressed but so far nothing. I have expressed 9iz milk so far. Should I express every time I would normally feed her so not to damage my supply - especially if its going to take a few days for her to re-learn?

In answer to your question, yes I would express to keep up supply if she's not feeding. If you were feeding her every 2 hours, express every 2, if you were feeding her every 4 hours, express every 4.

Please, please don't panic. My DD2 had a very tight TT snipped when she was 17 days old. I was hopeful it would improve things immediately but in the short term it made things much worse. I couldn't get her to latch at all for about 3 days and resorted to expressing/bottle feeding so she was not starving/dehydrated. HOWEVER, it did get easier and though BF was never a walk in the park for us, I continued until she was 12 months old

Several things helped me:

1. The Breastfeeding Network were bloody marvelous. Rang their helpline in tears. They calmed me down over the phone and then sent a volunteer out to see me the next day. Please do call their helpline if you're upset.

2. Don't panic. Your baby WILL latch again. But she has to learn how to use her 'new' tongue. It might take a while but she should get the hang of it in a few days.

3. Continue to try to get your baby to latch but NOT if it is making you both upset. Try giving her a bit from a bottle so she isn't frantic and then have a go. Or you could try stripping you both off, having some skin-to-skin and laying her across your breast. You may find that she makes her own way to your nipple.

4. having a bath together can be relaxing and create a calm atmosphere in which to re-learn breastfeeding.

The best advice I can give you is to please try not to get stressed as this will stress your baby. I made this mistake and DH came home to find both me and baby sobbing hysterically.

So. Try to latch her when you are both calm and if she can't (not won't, she's trying but she CAN'T ATM - she needs to learn) then give her some expressed milk from a bottle and then try again in a bit.

It will get better, I promise you. My baby had problems latching for at least a week but most babies seem to 'get it' much much faster than this - and even we got there in the end.

Good luck!

Some further thoughts:

If you are worried about possible breast/bottle confusion then you could also try cup feeding.

But if bottle feeding, check the position of her tongue. After the TT snip, my DD had a tendency to try and suck with her tongue over the teat/nipple instead of under it - which obviously wasn't very effective! It probably goes against conventional BF wisdom but once she'd got the hang of sucking a bottle properly, I found that helped us with BFing.

Remember that she is probably a bit sore ATM as well. Before my DD had her TT snipped, the GP prescribed calpol to take if needed. If you are worried she is in pain, then see your GP ASAP as liquid paracetamol can be taken by very small babies but a GP will need to see her and weigh her to work out a safe dose.