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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

Posterior tongue tie and formula feeding

3 replies

Kerfuffled · 25/02/2014 14:21

Can anyone please talk to me about posterior tongue tie and formula feeding? DS is 11 weeks old and has had feeding problems since birth. Initially he found it difficult to suck, seemed unable to latch onto the bottle and was nearly readmitted due to losing 12.5% of his birth weight. He eventually started feeding better and putting on weight but then started becoming upset and bringing up large quantities of milk. His suction is still poor and it takes him at least 30 minutes to drink a bottle. He's also unable to hold a dummy in his mouth. We've had a number of GP and hospital visits and his milk was changed to Nutramigen and then Neocate. Things did improve for a while but seem to have reverted back again. He has also tried infant gaviscon which made him sick and has now been prescribed Ranitidine which I'm waiting on from the chemist.

Could this be due to an undiagnosed, posterior tongue tie? Most of the imformation on the internet is devoted to tongue ties and breastfeeding, I'm unsure as to whether it applies to formula feeding too.

OP posts:
JiltedJohnsJulie · 25/02/2014 17:52

Think it does affect ffing, weaning, speech and facial development. There more info here Smile

TheGreatHunt · 25/02/2014 17:54

Yes - go and see the HV and ask them to refer you to a tongue tie specialist if possible? It does apply to ff.

minipie · 25/02/2014 18:58

Yes it certainly can do. My DD had posterior TT, she was mostly BF but whenever she had a bottle she was awful at feeding - messy, not able to latch on and suck properly, took forever, windy etc. Also unable to suck on a dummy. All changed after her TT was eventually cut at 16 weeks - bottle technique became far better as well as her BF technique.

However be warned that many health professionals will not see TT as a problem for FF babies as it doesn't affect weight in the same way as it does for BF babies. For BF babies a TT usually leads to poor supply and weight loss, whereas for FF babies it doesn't lead to weight loss. However it can lead to long and frequent feeds, windiness and reflux (as well as possible longer term speech/feeding issues as Jilted says). Some TT clinics will not cut a TT unless you are breastfeeding. You may need to go private.

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