Lip ties

[SellyMevs]

Is anyone here familiar with lip ties? My DS had a posterior tongue tie which was snipped, but he never was able to latch and has started clicking when feeding again. He's 9 weeks old and had it snipped 3 weeks ago.

I can upload photos if you need? I heard it can affect feeding etc. We are still breastfeeding but slowly increasing formula due to cows milk protein allergy and very poor weight gain.

DS2 had one. It was very obvious as he couldn't flange his lip when feeding. If you stick your finger under his top lip you'll be able to feel if there's a tie quite easily. Good luck.

What do they do for lip ties? I heard they are reluctant to do anything because they don't believe it affects feeding?

What do they do for lip ties? I heard they are reluctant to do anything because they don't believe it affects feeding?

I went privately to Dr Levinkind. tbh it was not the magic bullet I hoped it would be although it did improve the milk transfer issues (retained some pain during bf). I've heard very mixed stories about whether snips are recommended or not. Noone around here was willing to do it which is why we went private. Luckily have the money for it, but it might be possible to ask your gp for a referral?

We are on the verge of switching to formula now.. but he's never latched painlessly without a shield. We were trying our hardest to keep going after his tongue tie was done but with the CMPA and his poor weight gain we've slowly been increasing his formula top ups. It was hard keeping up with the amount of time he spends breastfeeding because his milk transfer was so poor. I'm just finding it hard to give up and wondering if there is a solution.... but it may never solve things!

My DS was born with TT which was snipped when he was 5 days old. He still had huge problems feeding yet the HV wouldn't believe me that feeds were lasting up to 6hours (and the latch was more a lunge and bite).

I recently discovered DS has LT - and quite bad. The skin 'thread' is quite thick and runs all the way down the gum and under the pallet.

We finally got a consultant appointment yet were told there is "...absolutely no evidence TT or LT affects feeding". Yeah right, tell my poor boobs that.

Unless you have a fabulous doctor I'd say cut the waiting time and look to go private. Unfortunaly my OH believed the consultant so we have left the LT as is but I am closely monitoring things now his teeth are through.

The acid test as to whether it's a tie or a normal frenulum is whether it's causing issues for bf (have a look at the analytical armadillo and the leaky boob web pages for more discussion on the subject). There are some other things that a tie can cause, such as a big gap between the front teeth which may need to be corrected later.

I would tend to say that if you can get a quick appointment for the snip, then do it. If it's going to take weeks then it sounds like you might struggle to keep bf going that long. God luck with whatever you decide to do. We've carried on since the correction but I have to say that at 14 months DC's latch is distinctly toothy and I don't think it will ever be totally discomfort free

If he has cmpa are you using Allergy formula?

My dd had lip tie and it was a nightmare. I had to wind after each feed as she'd taken down so much air. Not until we were on solids did it improve :(

No one in Wales knows anything about lip tie. I too went to DR Levinkind and had it lasered off. It was very expensive. Breastfeeding went on better afterwards but the posterior tt was also done at the same time so I cannot separate the effects of the procedure. I was told positively, by the tt specialist who cut ds's anterior tt at four days old, that he did NOT have a posterior tie, Dr Levinkind clearly pointed it out to us. SO even professionals do not always manage to diagnose.

I can't believe people are still being told there is no evidence tt or lip tie affects feeding! FFS.

He's on Nutramigen for formula feeds and I'm dairy free. He does take in a lot of air with feeds and cries when we try and burp him.

His dribbling was significantly better after the tongue tie snip! I used to have to put a muslin under his cheek when feeding. But his latch is still shallow. Unfortunately his weight dropping to the 2nd centile means we can't keep waiting to see if it improves. He has so much going on! He gets weighed every 2 weeks and I was going to use that to gauge the formula increase so if we stop it'll be very gradual. I love our sofa time too much! It's just frustrating he's such a slow feeder.

We had our daughters posterior tongue tie and lip tie lasered by John Roberts in Huddersfield at about 5 weeks. I think there has been some re growth/re attachment but totally pain free breast feeding now at coming up to 8 months.

Hi Selly, I'm sorry to hear that the feeding has not improved enough after the snip. I am in the same boat, I think my DS had his posterior tie snipped around the same time. At the support group I went to last week, there was someone who didn't see an improvement until 6 weeks after the snip was done (which was at 6 weeks). I am going to keep doing the tongue exercises until then, and keep up some kind of milk supply by expressing, in the hope that he will eventually feed properly again.

DS had a full TT, lip tie and CMPA, so I feel your pain!

The TT was snipped which helped and we left the lip tie. His top lip used to turn white when feeding but he grew out if it. By 10-12 weeks his mouth was bigger and it breastfeeding was much, much easier.

He had a massive gap in his front teeth when they first came through, as the lip tie when right to the bottom of the gums but it's closed as now he has a full set.

I found the CMPA was the cause of DS's poor weight gain rather than the feeding, which is common. His weight was up and down for the first year until I really got on top of it. Are you eliminating soy too? 40% of CMPA baby are allergic to soy as the proteins are similar.