Tongue tie

[user1492004902]

How soon after the tongue release procedure should I feel the difference? If it doesn’t happen right away and baby still has latching issues, does it mean it didn’t work or is it normal to take a couple of days?
Are there any exercises I can do with the baby to encourage him to use his tongue better?

My EBF baby is 2 weeks old. We had problems with latching from the start - I practiced and practiced following the advice from the midwives and the lactation consultant, and would get him to latch on in what seemed like the correct way. He was feeding and gaining weight, but he’d chomp down on my nipples and distort them, which was excruciatingly painful. I’ve been using nipple shields for the past 10 days or so, it basically kept us going with breastfeeding as i wouldn’t have been able to stand the pain for much longer.

He was since diagnosed with tongue tie, and had it cut today. When I tried feeding him straight after, all our bad latching experience came back :(
I attempted to latch him on several times, he’d suckle for a couple of seconds, then get frustrated, cry and struggle to unlatch, even though I tried to keep him in the correct position. When he eventually stayed on, it was when he wriggled to latch directly onto the nipple and chewed it all the way through with his little gums :(

I have small and flat nipples, when stimulated they’re basically pea-sized, and I worry that they might not be big enough to tickle the roof of his mouth and stimulate sucking, which is why he disengages.

I have not had the chance to speak to the lactation consultant yet - I’ll call her tomorrow - but I’m feeling super down about the whole thing. I don’t know what else I can do to help him latch on better - the more I try, the more sore I get, the baby gets more frustrated and it feels like we’re back to sq1, except running out of options.

After several painful attempts to feed him this afternoon I’ve switched back to nipple shields, it was the only way to get it done. My nipples are still inflamed from all the abuse earlier :(

Is there any point in trying to latch him on without nipple shields? I honestly don’t know what else I can do to get it right.

[Lucinda15]

I don't have much advice to offer but didn't want to read and run. Sounds like you're having a tough time and doing all you can, I send a hug. My baby had TT and went undiagnosed for weeks, I feel your pain. Unfortunately we switched to bottle before it was diagnosed so I can't help with any advice on how quickly the symptoms should ease for you. Although, my baby continued to show symptoms on the bottle and eventually I had her TT diagnosed and released. Her symptoms on the bottle took a couple of weeks to completely disappear, and I was told to expect a little while for her to learn how to feed a diffeeent way after the release. But I hope the lactation consultant has seen you by now and offered some better advice and reassurance. It's so very hard, you're doing a grand job. Sending hugs x