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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

Original poster

Tongue tie in newborn- advice please

58 replies

laundrylover · 07/01/2008 09:42

My SIL had a bouncing baby boy early this morning and he has tongue tie. The midwife is visiting today to have another look but obviously this could impact on his feeding - he has fed for 20 mins but is actually sleeping lots which sounds fine to me. My SIL has successfully bfed her first to a year and is very keen to bfeed again.

Anyway she is 200 miles away and I just thought that if I could gather some experiences and advice from you lovely MNers then she could log on and get some support.

Thanks in advance.

LL

OP posts:
tiktok · 08/01/2008 14:18

LL - sorry to put a dampener on this, but I would be really concerned about a newborn who did not feed at all in the day and only once at night.

The baby needs to be close to mum and feeding lots, yes, even on day 2.....he won't get much in terms of volume, but what he can get , he needs.

The TT may be an issue, maybe not, but either way, this baby needs feeding

bobsmum · 08/01/2008 14:25

DD was and still is tongue tied.

I spotted it first as dh is tongue tied and was looking out for it.

Snipping was not offered as she was and did feed fine. She put on weight fine that is.

BUT, her frenulum on her top lip (the bit that joins between her top 2 front teeth) is also tied and that coupled with the tongue tie led to a year of colicky symptoms. She was so windy because her latch wasn't sealed in properly. I've only worked this out in retrospect from all the millions of MN tongue tie threads. We had a year of infacol and a grumpy dd at nights.

Once she was more mobile and crawling she could bring up the wind herself - real, ground shaking belches, but it took a long time.

With ds3 (due April) I will insist on snipping if it's an issue - I am not putting them through unnecessary discomfort again.

hth

bobsmum · 08/01/2008 14:25

Doh - that's dc3 - don't know the flavour yet!!

zebedee1 · 08/01/2008 16:03

Hi, well done to the midwife for spotting the tongue tie. My DS's was not noticed until he was 6 months old and we'd seen several Health visitors about his inability to latch on for more than a minute in any position other than lying down. The HVs said he was just "lazy and used to being fed lying down" - hmmmmm. We did continue BFing though, it just meant that we had to be home for most feed times which really affected my life.

GP spotted the tie immediately and referred him for snip at 7 months. Paediatric surgeon explained that there are no nerve endings in the skin they snip so baby feels no pain. It was all over in about 10 seconds with no drama and no anaesthetic needed at this young age. Did the snip in the surgeon's office, DS lay on my lap with a nurse holding his mouth open. Surgeon popped a spatula thing under his tongue, 1 snip and finished! Then straight onto breast for comfort but DS was so not bothered by the whole thing he decided to play with the surgeon's stethascope instead! DS did cry a bit but only cos some strange nurse was holding his mouth open!

Feeding is so much easier now, DS can feed in any position and latch on for ages. It also helped him in eating solids as the tongue tie was preventing him licking and getting food into his mouth.

I would advise getting it snipped if poss, DS's tie was only mild but it's made such a difference.

ketchupkisses · 08/01/2008 16:34

The locations that do the "snip" are listed here.

My advice is that if the tongue-tie is causing any problems at all with feeding then have it sorted. Its a very minor procedure for a baby under 6 months but a more major procedure for older children, so why not have it done? My son was more distressed by being swaddled than the procedure itself. There were about 2 drops of blood, then he instantly latched on better.

My other advice is to get a referral from a breastfeeding counsellor, unless you are sure that your GP will be supportive.

Original poster
laundrylover · 08/01/2008 17:19

Tiktok - he is feeding now - the MW had reassured my SIL that he was fine as he fed really well at birth. He's fed today and his poo is changing colour.

I want to go and cuddle him but will have to wait a couple of weeks as it's so far away.

OP posts:
tiktok · 08/01/2008 17:24

LL - he sounds just fine

IorekByrnison · 08/01/2008 23:05

Great news laundrylover

PrismManchip · 08/01/2008 23:14

That is a really useful list linked to there.
I am confused as to why it needs a consultant paediatric surgeon though!

Bluenosesaint · 08/01/2008 23:26

My dd (6 months) was tongue-tied. It was spotted when she was a week old.

As others have said, health professionals were unconcerned as she was gaining weight fabulously, the only negative for her was the fact that a dodgy latch made her verrrrrry windy!

It was, however, a real PITA for me - dd was feeding every 1 - 1.5 hours (nighttime too) as she would get so tired with the effort of feeding that she would drop off to sleep before she had had her fill. My nipples were sore because her latch wasn't very good (went through bucketloads of lansinoh) and the BFing experience was becoming a very negative one.

I pushed for a TT release ...and i really did have to push for it initially. I then saw a sensitive gp who referred dd for the TT release.

Unfortunately, in our area, they wouldn't do the release without anaestheic (this has since been revised and there is now apparantly a trained Midwife at the hospital where i delivered - yay!) and so i had to wait till dd was 13 weeks.

I don't regret if for a minute! DD was completely unaffected by both the release and the anaesthetic and the difference to her feeding was immense and immediate! She started to go 3.5/4 hours between each feed and no more sore nips We are still going strong now!
She also became a lot more contented ...probably because of a fuller tummy and lot less wind

Would wholeheartedly recommend anyone to get it done.

zebedee1 · 09/01/2008 07:42

That's interesting Bluenose, my DS was also very windy and cried a lot after feeding, I also had very sore nipples - I just thought that was normal but I guess it might have been made worse by the tongue tie?

Prism I guess that the surgeon does it because he is actually making a cut? He told me that not so long ago midwives used to check for TT after the birth and cut the tie with their fingernail! I guess at least the surgeon option is more hygienic!!

PrismManchip · 09/01/2008 08:53

Yes but it's one snip. I know you have to get it in the right place but it hardly needs a highly trained surgeon to do it! Couldn't a practice nurse do it just as well or is there some legal thing about cutting (as opposed to lancing, injecting etc)?

Bluenosesaint · 09/01/2008 10:38

Yes Zebedee - its very common amongst all breastfeeding mums but afaik its because of a poor latch ...this can be corrected in most cases but in the case of some tongue-tied babies it is physically impossible to correct and therefore only by having the frenulum released can the latch be improved.

PrismManchip - in most areas a highly trained surgeon doesn't need to do it BUT it does need to be done by a specially trained midwife/individual. My hospital now has a specially trained midwife to do the TT release but it was too late for my dd - we had to go to a children's hospital and have it released by a surgeon ...

helenhismadwife · 09/01/2008 13:09

congratulations auntie laundry!!

my youngest two dd's were both tongue tied and it was very uncomfortable to feed, they had their tongue ties divided at southmead hospital Bristol by Rachel Hillan (who is the sister of a collegue of mine) she was brilliant. this will probably be the nearest place to your sister. Your sil midwife can call Rachel 0117 950 5050 ext 3042 if she thinks that the tongue tie needs dividing, the earlier the better

ketchupkisses · 10/01/2008 07:48

The other thing I should mention, is that like others, I had to push a bit to get the snip down. As a result I feel quite strongly about raising the profile of tongue-tie and breastfeeding. I am planning to write a letter to my PCT to ask them a) why tongue-tie isn't rountinely checked for at birth b) why nowhere in my area treats tongue-tie.

I was lucky to have the experience of being a third time mother to know that my son's feeding wasn't right. Midwives were unconcerned because he was gaining weight but I wasn't happy because his weight gain was slower than my other two, he wasn't filling his nappies and I had v sore nipples. If I was a first time Mum I would probably have thought that breastfeeding wasn't for me and given up!

Original poster
laundrylover · 10/01/2008 09:28

Thanks all for this great advice and HAHMW for that contact number. I will catch up with SIL later and see how she is going on. Saw pics yesterday and he is very cute!

Both of my sisters are due their first babies this year so the family is expanding fast - glad to hand over the baton and concentrate on auntie-dom.

OP posts:
2happy · 11/01/2008 19:33

Hi LL, sorry after my last post we went on holiday, so couldn't reply! Back now.
The link to Hunker's blog is here
Hope you see the lo soon.

Pruners · 11/01/2008 19:36

Message withdrawn

CarGirl · 11/01/2008 19:40

dd had her tongue divided at about 16 days old, before that the feeding was very painful and I had wedge shaped nipples. The local hospital didn't do tongue divide in babies for bf problems then so had to drive over an hour to Southampton. They took her out the room and within a minute she was back crying and with a paper towel in her mouth because it was bleeding. I fed her (much less painfully than ever before) she finished feeding, and that was it all over and done with.

Original poster
laundrylover · 11/01/2008 19:43

Thanks for link 2happy. Have just printed out this thread and all the links for SIL as my parents are going down tomorrow and as my B and SIL moved house on Jan 30th they haven't set their internet up yet.

I hope all this is useful for her as although he is feeding, he struggles to latch on at first and gets frustrated.

We are going down south next weekend to see them all and making a little holiday of it - my Mum and Dad are setting off at 5am to do a round trip in one day but can't face that with 2 kids!

OP posts:
CarGirl · 11/01/2008 19:56

The hospital in Southampton accept out of area referrals for free to do tongue dividing as he is so keen to help out all the bf mums out there, plus he states every child should be able to lick an ice cream and stick their tongue out at their parents! Where does you sis live?

Original poster
laundrylover · 11/01/2008 20:10

Hi CarGirl - she is in Glastonbury. There is someone at Bristol who will do the cut too but a couple of people have mentioned Southampton so obviously they are well thought of. I'm glad you managed to get your LO's tongue sorted out and that bfing went OK

OP posts:
CarGirl · 11/01/2008 20:12

my geography of the midlands/south is useless! As long as they accept free referrals go wherever is nearest! Southampton will probably get a mention as anyone in Surrey/London would go there if their local hospital didn't do it IYSWIM

chankins · 11/01/2008 20:15

Hi all - my ds was tongue tied, but we wouldn't have noticed if the midwife hadn't spotted it, as he was a champion feeder and bf just fine. He wasn't offered the snip but the tie broke itself when he was sucking a toy one day and fell backwards with it in his mouth. Bit of blood and crying, but he was fine.

psychomum5 · 11/01/2008 20:22

IIRC, the chap in southampton that did my DS2 tongue tie is called Mr Melvin Griffiths.

He is very good,very calm, and very certain of what the others have said about the fact that kiddies should be able to lick icecream and poke their tongues out at their mummy's and daddy's!!!