Tongue Tie Division... Latch worse than ever!

[Boatmum1]

Wonder if anyone can help...

5 days ago my 5 week old had a tongue tie snipped. Had it done privately on advice of MW and LC - as although bubs and I were doing okay- and he gained loads of weight- he was only feeding little and often, was/is v windy, and didn't have a great latch ...

5 days in from TT division, feeding (which Hadn't improved in the first few days post-division, but wasn't awful) has taken a real nosedive - baby is slipping off the boob (never done this before), won't open wide enough to create a good latch, and is barely exerting any effort to suck...

I have a bit of an oversupply issue, so he is getting enough milk for now (lots of wet and dirty nappies to show!) but worried that the TT division has ruined our (already ....not ideal) technique

Does anyone know/have experience whether this is likely just a rough patch as he re-learns? Or might there be a bigger problem?

Also any latching tips greatly appreciated!

Cheers

It takes a couple of weeks for them to re-learn, in my experience. The week after DD had it done, she barely gained any weight. The week after that, she gained 10 oz. We saw a cranial osteopath too. The idea is that a cranial massage can help free the muscles in the tongue, I think. It may have been coincidental, but it did seem to help DD.

Thanks GraceGrape - think baby needs to see an osteopath for tight diaphragm too - so will definitely give that a go ... Just frustrating to feel like we've replaced one set of problems with another- however temporarily!

We had an absolutely hideous 24 hrs a couple of days after division. But then things improved again, and we went straight from boob to cows milk around 13 months.

Hey OP, we had DDs tongue tie divided at under 2 weeks and her latch didn't improve to the point where I could feed without nipple shields consistently until around & weeks. I think initially their mouths can be sore. Were you given any information on massaging the wound and later stretching the scar tissue? Really worth it to make sure it heals correctly. And make sure you are feeding 3 hourly day and night for the first week to keep the tongue moving and stop the tie from reattaching. We did cranial osteopathy too, i found it a bit woo and it may have helped or may have just been coincidence but we had ours done through a charity so the cost was worth a shot! Good luck hope it gets better soon :)

It can take a couple of weeks for them to relearn how to suck etc. Keep trying. Also as they get older their wee mouths get bigger and stronger and matching becomes much easier anyway.

Take a look at Australian hold. If you've got over-supply it might be overwhelming for your baby, different holds can help.

Hi all -
Thanks for the advice... Today has been better- baby still extraordinarily windy and suffering with trapped wind - but latching better today and feeding longer. Hoping yesterday he was just v fired from a busy day and it made him struggle with his new feeding technique ...

Am not doing wound massage as read some pretty compelling scientific evidence that it doesn't necessarily mean TT won't recur and causes more trauma than a second division would - instead taking a more cautious approach (as recommend by practitioner) and lifting the tongue 4x daily if I haven't seen the baby do so on his own... May regret this later but couldn't bear to hurt DS with wound rubbing!

My own osteopath from my pregnancy also treats babies - and will make an appt for next week to see if she can help... Certainly can't hurt!

Thanks for the support all

I did the wound massage thing and it really wasn't that bad, but the lifting thing sounds good too, it's all about it not reattaching after all :) glad to hear its getting better, hope things continue to improve!

This happened with dd2. Tt cut at 2 weeks and she couldn't bf consistently after that. I expressed instead and tried bf daily which worked for at least one feed a day.

Dd1 had tt but it stretched around 3 months. I did often wished I had not got dd2 cut.