BREASTFEEDING - starting up again after tongue tie - help/advice please

[Swaddleblanket]

My baby is 7 weeks old & I breastfed exclusively for 5 days but really struggled. Baby wouldn’t latch & would cry for 20 minutes. In the end we gave him some formula.

Midwife came to help me with breastfeeding and said baby has a tongue tie which is why he wont latch. She suggested expressing/bottle feeding until he tongue tie was fixed.

The doctor after the birth told us he had a tongue tie and was meant to refer us but they never did so only having his tongue tie fixed after 7 weeks.

Anyway I have a baby who will only sleep on me & won’t sleep in his moses/next to me so expressing became almos5 8mpssivkt in th3 day while my husband is at work. So no at 7 weeks I can only pump in the evening when my husband is home & now I only get 1oz from both at best.

Baby is gettin* his tongue tie fixed this week and I really wan5 to star5 breastfeeding if he is able to latch.

However with such a little milk supply is it realistic of me to breastfeed again and if so how do I

a) get him to latch after 5.5 weeks & b) increase my milk back to what is was so I have enough to feed him?

Thank you

I’m sorry you haven’t had any replies.

At 7w it is possible to get going again but you’ll need help.

Have you seen a lactation consultant? It might be worth talking about using a supplementary nursing system to help feed baby while getting supply up. As much skin to skin as possible in the meantime and as much feeding and pumping as possible too. But definitely hands on help is needed.

I totally agree with the PP. this is doable OP but you need some RL support. Get in touch with a Lactation Consultant, ring one of the BFing Helplines or get in touch with your local La Leche League.

Congratulations on your new LO too

Also agree doable but support needed. Kellymom is great - kellymom.com/bf/got-milk/relactation

And there will be lots of other great resources about relactation online, many women have done it. It may take hard work and persistence but it will certainly be possible to increase your supply, if not supply baby exclusively after some work. Remember that what you get pumping doesn’t necessarily tell you how much your breasts make either, baby will likely get more out than a pump.

How are you now Swaddle?

Thank you for your advice.

We saw the consultation last week who advised against snipping his tongue tie as they like to do that by 2 weeks. She said it would disrupt his feeding and he will be uncomfortable with learning to control his tongue again.

So we decided to leave and continue with formula. Feel sad but baby seems to be happy enough with formula.

Sorry you’ve been through this op. Not sure if it will make you feel any better but I had my DD’s tongue tie cut at 8 weeks and we never got back to breastfeeding.

She’d been bottled fed a mix of expressed milk and formula for 2-3 weeks due to unbearably painful/inefficient breastffeeding caused by an undiagnosed posterior tie.

I was desperate to get back to breastfeeding as I was still expressing 8oz a day, but DD had other ideas and refused to stay latched on. Unfortunately she’d got used to bottles and is now fully on formula and thriving. I know it’s tough but your little one won’t know the difference - fed is best! X