Tongue tie

[Lyn89]

I've been struggling to get my 6 week old to latch properly when breastfeeding. I had a lactation consultant come see me last Monday.

She mentioned my little Lizzie has tension in her bottom jaw but also said she has a very mild posterior tongue tie. She said to go to a cranial osteopath first to see if they can release the tension. I saw one on Saturday but her mouth still doesn't open wide.

I was wondering if I should give the cranial osteopath longer to work or just get the tongue tie seen to.

I would really welcome any advice.

If the issue is more about opening wide enough the tongue snip won’t help as much you would think. My dd has mild posterior tie also (we did not get it released) and by 10 weeks or so her latch greatly improved as the tension from birth slowly released (4.5 months and feeds like a dream now). Her just being bigger helped a lot too. I’m not saying do absolutely nothing but it may not be worth cutting a mild tie. Ask your osteo what stretches you can do at home such as guppy stretches and keep up with tummy time as this helps release the neck tension too.

She has a very shallow latch, it’s made for very painful breastfeeding and constant feeding since week 1. The lactation lady said for now try move her jaw down to get a better latch but she doesn’t like it and when I can move it, I get a clicky noise and she dribbles some milk. She was born breech which apparently makes tension in the jaw worse. I’m so close to switching to formula as my nipples are painful and poor Lizzie is constantly getting annoyed with feeds :(
she also has a rather bad lip tie

I also don’t want to put through any pointless pain. She already has to wear a pavlik harness for hip dysplasia:(

You don’t necessarily need to switch to formula - a couple of mums from my NCT cohort who had similar issues pumped & bottle fed, as well as practicing breastfeeding and now their babies are bigger breastfeed more than bottle feed the expressed milk. Does she take a bottle? We introduced a bottle at 4 weeks and she still doesn’t like it very much! But with all of that being said - you need to do what’s best for you (formula, expressed milk, tongue tie snip, whatever works for you!)! The tongue tie release is quick and they soon forget any discomfort if you want to explore your options - but you may need to go private as nhs may not release a mild tie!

Also silverettes for your nipples are a lifesaver!

I haven’t tried a bottle yet, I tried a dummy which she hated! I started pumping this morning but only got 50ml but I’ve heard it can take a while to get going with it. I think I might just speak to a private TT consultant and then make a decision. Thank you for the advice xx

50ml for your first go is fantastic! Not a nice time of day but I found pumping around 5am when I get most (you make more milk at night due to hormones!) - also if you have a partner get them to try the bottle and expect it to take a few tries. If she can smell you she will likely refuse the bottle as will want milk from you - I have to be in another room or out for dd to take a bottle (hopefully you’re more successful!) - good luck with everything! X

I agree with @OhBanana , I would look at getting tension released first and doing oral exercises before getting tongue tie cut to see if that improves things. I wish I had tongue this first but ended up seeing a practitioner who said it wasn’t necessary and no proof that it worked. Well my son’s tongue tie reattached twice after getting it cut twice! I do believe had I worked on releasing tension and enhancing oral motor function he would have been better off as now he has even more restricted movement.
I don’t want to scare you it’s definitely worth getting the tongue tie checked out but definitely bear in mind just cutting the tie isn’t always the magic solution

I thought I better give an update, I saw a tongue tie consultant this morning who said she had 80% tongue tie, we made the decision to go ahead with the cut as it wasn’t mild! She instantly latched on, 🤞🏼this continues. The lady also said she would have struggled taking a bottle