I've no idea where else to post this, hoping someone can help...
Backstory: DS and I struggled in a big way with breastfeeding - I was absolutely certain (and still am) that his latch was in some way incorrect. I was in searing pain every time he came to the breast, to the point where a midwife commented 'your shoulders are at your ears', and pushed them down because I was braced so hard. I had cracked, split and bleeding nipples after only two days. His latch was checked by two midwives, two auxiliaries, and a lactation consultant, all of whom suggested techniques but said it was basically fine. The lactation consultant checked quickly in his mouth too. He dropped an alarming amount of weight on top of already being in SCBU, we ended up mixed feeding for the first few months and then when my supply petered out, having never really gotten off the ground as a result of all of the above, he was formula fed. I found all of this a bit sad, but he is healthy and thriving - something he wasn't in the early days.
Cut to yesterday evening. He is now nine months old, standing and crawling around - a typically active little boy. He was crawling over to reach something, lifted both his hands at the same time and so knocked his chin off the floor, not hard but enough to frighten him and it was probably a little sore. Of course, he wailed and I soothed him - I saw a tiny dot of blood on his lip and thought 'oh no, he's bitten his tongue/lip' but I couldn't see any evidence of any cut in his mouth and he soothed quickly. Today he has been more vocal than he ever has been, and is sticking his tongue right out (something he has never really done beyond his lip) and seems to be revelling in showing it to me!
Am I being totally mad, or could he have split a tongue tie when he knocked his chin? I have long suspected there was something off with his feeding, and at mealtimes he didn't always find it easy to manipulate food (can do it easier now there are a few teeth!) What, if anything, should I do about it?
Any help appreciated, or even just 
and 
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Infant feeding
Tongue tie?
cloggal · 16/03/2014 14:55
We managed to EBF, but it was mostly because nobody actually bothered to find out how we were doing. I was pretty much left to it in the hospital and I had a different MW every day at home because mine was on holiday and all they just brushed me off when I said he was feeding all the time, saying that new babies feed a lot.
By day 10 or so, he was still 12% below birth weight, and I have no idea how low his weight actually dropped. He took about a month to regain birth weight which again they weren't bothered about.
I do think that if they had paid more attention, somebody might have said we had to top up which would certainly have caused problems, so sort of in a way, our EBF was saved by lack of decent care!!
I think they were oblivious of the problems because I wasn't sore. Sheer good luck really that it wasn't sore because I know I could not have handled the pain that I hear from some mothers of tied babies. 
The whole situation is just a bit shite really. 
There are even some docs who believe that tongue tie does not interfere with feeding 
Nickyeds, the diagnosis and snip aside - I could have written that post. We were topping up very early on and even that was frowned upon, but because his latch was 'perfect' no one had any other ideas
As I say though, as much as I'm sure it did cost us ebf, I made peace with my decision quite early on when I saw how much weight he'd lost and how poorly he was. You've gotta do what you've gotta do... And that's why I keep well away from most bf v ff threads, it's just not that simple sometimes!
That's awful Nicky.
I'm pretty sad MN don't think this is campaign-worthy, it affects a fair amount of us, and given the heavy BF promotion (which I'm in support of, but which can make people like me feel really rotten, sometimes because of ties!!) surely this is a good fit? I think this could really help BF numbers not to mention awful stories like yours Maw and others on that thread :(
I'm not surprised to hear that nobody looked at it as a baby.
Sad but true - most HCPs are woefully underinformed about ties and the problems they can cause. At best, you might get one who knows about the effects on feeding and speech, but very few have in depth and accurate knowledge. Also, many "judge" the severity of the tie on how it looks. Appearance is irrelevant. It is all about how the tongue functions.
I had to dig and dig to find information to help ds1. All the docs poo pooed me when I said that his problems were related to his ties and high palate. I had to seek out people who understood. What really annoyed me was that we saw one specialist for gastro stuff, another for ENT problems plus the audiologist, a dietician for his fussy eating, a general paed for his anaemia, dentist re palate etc etc. No joined up thinking
He's 8yo now and was revised and got a brace around a year and a half ago. He is a different child. Every single problem has been resolved.
Also, look out for things that you would never have dreamed were related to tongue tie:
-gastric problems
-speech problems
-poor sleeping
-difficulty with chewing and swallowing, fussiness with food
-ENT problems
-dental problems (too early yet, although his palate shape could be affected)
DS1 had undiagnosed ties until he was around 6yo. He has been through the wringer (and me!) because of it. His whole orofacial structure was affected by it which had a massive impact on his overall health. Nobody ever checked for tongue tie, and I'd never heard of it back then, but I'm sure his would have been missed because he had great lift in his tongue and could stick it out really far. It was the back of his tongue that was tied down.
Of course, as with anything, there is a great variation in the problems that ties can cause, ranging from virtually none, to those that I list above. You need to bear in mind that although the rip seems to have helped him stick his tongue out, the frenulum may still be tight, or there could be a posterior tie as well. And yes, ties are highly hereditary. Both my DSs have them, but DS2 only has a fraction of the problems that DS1 had.
And btw, yes I can believe the 9hrs feeding DS1 often would spend up to 16hours out of 24 trying to feed. We were lucky though, he didn't hurt me when he fed and he went of to nurse for years (and years) after the baby stage.
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Update - took him to see the HV and instead saw GP - he does have a bit of tongue tie, his frenelum is tight and there was a little tear in it, so that explains the blood.
DS is absolutely fine so doctor was keen to stress he didn't need it snipped, but that we should keep an eye out for any problems. It does make me a bit that it wasn't picked up before, perhaps BF would have been a much better and nicer experience for us both, but at least now we know! Thanks for all the reassurance! He is sticking his (now very long!) tongue out now...
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