sitting here feeding and crying!!!!

[slinkstah]

The midwife noticed my 5 day old baby was not latching on properly which would explain the bleeding nips and mastitis!
midwife said baby has tongue tie which is preventing him putting his tongue forward therefore stopping him latching on properley. she said go to the gp for a referral to the peads. she then said i must feed often for the mastitis and also try to express some.

i went to the gp and she agrreed baby has got tongue tie but said that unless baby is not putting on weight then it doesn't matter. i told her about him not latching on properley and causing masitis and sore nips and she said i should be careful about passing mastitis infection to my baby so if it gets too painful GIVE FORMULA!!!

who is right? who do i beleive? i really want to breastfeed but do not want my baby to get an infection.
he is not emptying my breasts properly and not getting enough milk with each feed therefore feeding for half hour then having 5 minute sleep and then feeding again!
has anyone got any advice?

[Pruni]

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[UniSarah]

good to hear you found someone to take you seriously., hope all goes well tomoz, big hug to you and your LO.
let us know horw it was some time.

[slinkstah]

Thankyou everyone for all the advice, after alot of research i have found a dr who will do the procedure tommorrow morning, he even said he would do it for free as he hates private!
so fingers crossed all will go well tommorrow morning and my baby will start feeding better and my boobs will recover and we will live happily ever after

[lazycow]

My ds (still beastfeeding at 18 months) has a tongue tie. tbh breastfeeding is still a bit painful now though nothing like it was in the early weeks. The problem is that tongue tie is dismissed by the health profession as causing no problems but I strongly believe it can in breastfeeding.

I have survived it but would not recommend it to anyone. Be strong about asking for it to be snipped. I eventually made a fuss when ds was 10 months old but was told babies older than 8 months old needed a general anaesthetic to do the snip and that they preferred to wait until a child was over 2 for that. I had thus missed the boat as I didn't want ds to have a general anaesthetic so young either. If he had had the snip done early it would have been very easy as it is quick and painless - the aneesthetic is needed to stop the babay wriggling/fighting while they do it (not a problem with a newborn).

Do insist on speaking to a doctor and getting the tongue snipped - Do not accept that you need to give him formula.

Nipple shields worked for me but I used them for several weeks and ds was latching pretty much OK and gaining weight - just causing me a great deal of pain. Also if your ds's tongue tie is quite a bad one they may interfer with the amount of milk he gets so they may not be the solution for you.

[cori]

Hi slink.
no advice re tongue tie,just wanted to wish you luck. See if there is breast feeding support group in you area, might be able to advise you i have used one out here and they were full of good advice.

[sweetheart]

slink,

My ds had a tt - we saw Mr Griffiths at So'ton hospital to get it snipped. Our doctor was reluctant to give referral (because apparently he's over his budget ) but after I demanded that we wanted it done he backed down.

In the meantime whilst waiting for the appointment, which took about 2-3 weeks to come through, I expressed my milk as my ds fed better from the bottle than he did from me (but still not brilliantly). It did mean though that dh could do some feeds so I could have a rest as I was finding constant feeding a huge emotional strain.

Once ds had his tounge snipped I went to see the breast feeding councellor at the hospital and she helped me get ds back to bf'ing. It took a few days and it was quite stessful but it was well worth it in the end.

Don't be bullied by your doctor - his advice is appaling. Go back and demand a referal!

[NotQuiteCockney]

slinkstah, you're doing an excellent job. Lots of tongue-tied babies don't latch at all. You may want to get some more help with BF after he gets it fixed, as he may have picked up bad habits, so to speak.

[racheeeee]

Good luck with it, just to reiterate, my ds had it done at 4.5 months and the pain was minimal. He had the bit done under his top lip, and also the under the tongue bit. I would liken the pain to having your ears pierced. There was a teensy amount of blood and he cried for a little while. He was able to eat from a bottle right away.

[slinkstah]

i rang my midwife and she told me not to have formula and not to listen to my doctor, i trust my midwife she was the one who spotted the tongue tied thing and it certainly looks like my baby cannot move his poor tongue forward at all. baby is birth weight at 5 days old thats progress thats why gp thinks there is no problem but i won't be able to bf much longer if i don't get this procedure done as its really becoming a struggle with him feeding constantly and soreness etc

i am gonna get dp to ring round tommorrow and see whether he can find someone who will do the procedure.
the baby blues has really kicked in today especially with all this.

[Pruni]

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[Pruni]

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[hewlettsdaughter]

The GP couldn't be getting mastitis confused with thrush, could she? (in terms of transmission I mean).

slinkstah, good luck with this. Hope you get the help you need.

[NotQuiteCockney]

I think the baby is gaining well.

Both my boys had tongue tie, DS2's was quite severe, at least, the GP, MW etc all noticed it. But he fed fine, and I had no nipple issues, so we have ignored it, and he is fine.

But there are certainly babies for whom a tongue tie is a real problem.

[VVVQV]

If baby is not thriving due to difficulties feeding, and its a result of tongue tie, surely that makes it a very urgent referral?

Or am i living in La La land with that assumption?

[vkone]

In Reading we have to go to Southampton for tongue-tie, it's absurd that you can't get this treated locally, esp. as it takes all of 10 mins to treat

[tiktok]

Correction and clarification - I was looking for a case study of where infection in the mother's breasts had affected the baby. That wasn't it! There are studies showing that bacterial infection can be passed from mother to baby via the breastmilk but at apparently sub-clinical levels in healthy mothers and babies....ie no one knows either of them have these infections until they're tested for them!
It's maybe this sort of thing that has confused the doctor.

[tiktok]

Correction - these mothers did not have clinical signs of mastitis.

[tiktok]

Good thinking about getting someone else to do the phoning round, Pruni.

Tongue tie doesn't always cause bf problems - in fact, there are degrees of tongue tie, and there are other factors involved, too.

I have helped babies with apparent tongue tie latch on better.

But where good, sensible and knowledgeable re-positioning help does not cure the soreness, then a snip (and it is easy) may help (not always instantly, BTW).

The midwife might be ok about informing this doctor that mastitis in a mother really does not normally pass to the baby - sometimes the baby has the same bug in his nose, and it's thought in these cases the baby has passed it to the mother. However, while the doctor is clearly inadequate, and unable to support breastfeeding, she is not making up the whole thing about mastitis transmission - here's a paper showing a study though there is no need to worry that this would be harmful in a healthy term baby.

[Pruni]

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[moondog]

OOh that will be useful Uni.
It is so draining looking for that sort of info immediately post birth and getting to grips with b/feeding.
You star!

[UniSarah]

just found the link i was looking for.
www.babyfriendly.org.uk/tonguetie.asp
includes a list of hospitals etc that will snip and other info.

[racheeeee]

My little boy was found to be tongue tied by a Lactation Counsellor in New York while we were there visiting families, we saw a doctor who performed the Frenotomy (which is the snip to cut the membrane) and we were told that it is genetic (my dad, the grandfather came with us to the doctors visit and he has the same tongue tie as my boy has.) Anyway, he had the quick procedure done and was right as rain within around 2 hours. This doctor in NY told me that Mr Griffiths was the best in the UK and was highly recommended. He is THE expert in the UK on tongue tie.

You might want to give him a call and find out more, it could solve your problems.

[UniSarah]

Tongue tie - round here ( Devon) you have to go to Bristol ( southmead) or Southampton ( consultant is Mr Griffiths or so i'm told) for a snip and get it done while they are still very young (under 12 wk). Try NCT experience register to find someone in your area whos gone through it with their nipper.

[moondog]

Silly bitch.

[Caligula]

And when you've recovered from all this and have the time and energy, write to your doctor informing her that she gave you wrong advice and could she kindly update her files so that she can give correct advice to other mothers in future.



If they don't bloody know, why don't they look it up or ask someone who does, instead of just saying the first thing that comes into their head?