Tongue Tie

[Aquarius93]

My little one is only 6 days old and I’m really struggling with breast feeding. I have received some great support from an infant feeding advisor but I’m convinced that baby has tongue tie. At the first visit the midwife mentioned that baby’s tongue looked heart shaped. She had been latching fairly well though so we decided to keep an eye on things. Baby had lost 9.6% of her birth weight at this point. The midwife visited again on day 5 (yesterday) and I mentioned the tongue tie again as baby is constantly wanting to feed. Feeds are often over an hour long and she still doesn’t seem full. She never latches off herself, instead I tend to have to wait until she falls asleep (but at the same time do breast compression throughout feeding to try to keep her awake). The second midwife couldn’t see under baby’s tongue but said she didn’t think it was an issue as baby could touch the roof of her mouth with her tongue. I have another midwife visit tomorrow and am planning to raise this again.

From others experience does this sound like tongue tie? We have been able to get a good latch but that’s through advice and practice. However feeds are still around an hour each time and at least 12 times a day (14 so far today). My nipples are also looking elongated after feeding.

Will also add that baby hasn’t had a bowel movement since day 2 and am not sure if this is related to feeding issues

In my experience the midwives knew nothing about tongue ties. Our lo's wasn't picked up on until they started having green poos. I'd get it looked at by a private lactation consultant ASAP based on our experience. I had the same, long feeds that would be such hard work they'd fall asleep and wake up hungry. I didn't know about tongue ties and none of the midwives or health visitors spotted it.

See a specialist.
Baby is struggling to feed. I was told my son had a good latch then the midwife doing his checks noticed he had severe tongue tie. Had to go private as covid cancelled his appointment but it meant he stopped struggling to even drink a bottle

Hello. Unfortunately, this does sound like a tongue tie. I had the same with my now 2 year old. At hospital a couple of days after birth I asked them to check and the doctor merely asked me to feed him and said it looks fine. I was told 3 months later when it was becoming too much that the NHS has not given every midwife/nurse training on this and there is a way for midwives to do an assessment with their fingers. I contacted my local health visitor office and they directed me to a local clinic with a lactation consultant. The lactation consultant looked at my 3 month old when we went in and said 'your baby looks fine I am sure there is nothing wrong' and when she did the assessment she was shocked at how he had gained so much weigh with his tongue tie - and my answer was well that I had not slept for 3 months and was breast feeding every hour. The lactation consultant told me she could make a referral to the NHS for the procedure (tongue tie to be cut) but it would be quicker if i found a independent lactation consultant and I did so. Here is a link to the directory I used to find one
lcgb.org/find-an-ibclc/
Hope this helps. The lactation consultant came home and snipped my songs tongue tie.

Thanks everyone, it’s reassuring to hear I’m not just jumping to conclusions. I will definitely look at getting seen privately and hopefully that will resolve things.

Ds2 had tongue tie. I paid £200 for an assessment and snip from a qualified tongue tie practitioner. Best money I've ever spent.

www.tongue-tie.org.uk/find-a-practitioner/

I struggled on for 10 weeks before DD was diagnosed with posterior tongue tie. Had the snip 2 weeks later and she was a changed baby

Oh and I went to an expert as well

I had a midwife visit today and she’s agreed that it’s most likely a posterior tongue tie. We’ve managed to get an appointment privately for Monday so fingers crossed we’ll get sorted!