Tongue tie division - aftermath

[JustPretending]

A question for anyone whose dc have been through this - How were the days afterwards? Was feeding painful (cracked nipples etc?) Was your dc out of sorts? Did you do the exercises, and most importantly, was the procedure a success? I just want to be mentally prepared for what's ahead. Having never managed a good latch, we're going into the procedure with already very sore cracked nipples & worried about what to expect. DC is 8 weeks old.

Everyone has a different experience. For me, latch didn't improve until a good couple of weeks after. It was still painful. I was expecting a huge amount is difference but it wasn't for us sadly.

Btw what kind of tie does your LO have?

There was am interesting interview with a women on ladys hour on BBC R4 some weeks ago about all the stress she had had before getting the diagnosis of tongue tiedness and how different it was afterwards.

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03vdx7t

Originally we were told posterior but during the clinic yesterday it was diagnosed as anterior.

We've had it snipped today & feeding seems improved - much less nipple pain than before, if not entirely pain free. Let-down hurts! Normal? DC only cried for a few short minutes & seems to be himself. Fingers crossed bf will continue to improve.

Have also been prescribed Novagel pads to wear inside my bra - pain killing / antibacterial - has anyone tried?

My LO had her tongue tie snipped about 6 weeks ago. I would say that was the beginning of the solution to our BFing problems, not a magic solution in and of itself. We had to relearn latch and positioning as we had got into some pretty bad habits (in only 3 weeks). In particular she needed to learn to open her mouth widely (and I needed to learn not to let her get away with not doing it!). We did the exercises but her TT has still grown back a little (only affecting her side to side movement, whereas before she couldn't move tongue side to side or up and down). The exercises aren't fun but worth it. And because of the work we did on latching I can now feed her pain free and we have agreed not to resnip it as it is a much bigger deal. We kept going back to the local BFing group for a few weeks after and the RL support was invaluable.

I assume if you have Novogel there is some nipple damage? I got on really well with the pads for about 5 days and then my supply massively increased and I leaked into the Novogel and I think it contributed towards me getting thrush and a strep infection so I would say be very careful about that. If they bubble away from the material backing you need to change them I think. I didn't because I only had 5 days supply and I wanted them to last! In the end I bought a more padded nursing bra and that also helped adding more layers between nipples and clothes rubbing which took the edge off the pain. If the pain gets better but then comes back then I would strongly recommend going to GP and getting a swab done to check (we had no outward signs of infection between us).

But it has all been worth while. I cried over virtually every feed pre tongue tie snip and couldn't imagine continuing to feed. My LO is now nearly 12 weeks old and EBF and it's (almost!) a joy to feed her. I would say if it doesn't feel better then seek help, either from BF group, clinic who snipped, GP or even a lactation consultant (which we did in the end). I battled on for a few weeks with the infections thinking it was just me who couldn't BF properly because the tie had been snipped and it was still painful to feed. Please don't make my mistake

Glad everything went well with the snip and best of luck for the coming weeks.

I did no "exercises" when either of mine had their tongue ties cut, and wasn't told to - what kind of exercises did you do?

I didn't do exercises. Asked the surgeon and he said no real evidence they make any difference.

DD's tie was cut at 16 weeks. For about 3-4 days there was no apparent difference. Then a bit of difference. Then by day 10 or so it was much better. Not 100% perfect but, say, 90% and not sore, whereas pre snip it had been say 30% and often very painful.

Made absolutely no difference to me at all. I am now expressing

We got it done at 7 weeks -- posterior tie, and I did the stretches and made sure she kept her tongue moving at least every 3 hours for the first 48 hrs after. Didn't stretch well enough at the start, and it started to heal back, but was able to rescue it.

We had an immediate difference -- switch from ~20-22hr nursing a day to more like 10-12hr. There was a backslide after about a week, as her tongue got tired of moving in the new way, and she went to back the compenstatory pattern she had learned before.. I had to take her off and relatch when I could feel the old movement (identified because it hurt!). It took about 3 weeks for her to completely switch to the new way of nursing.