Latch seems worse after tongue tie division

[ExpectingMama]

Advice please

My little boy is 8 weeks old. Breastfeeding had been going okay with little pain and he was gaining weight really well, however I had ongoing concerns about his latch due to clicking noises when feeding, slipping off the boob, and sometimes appearing unsettled after feeding. He is very colicky and seems in general discomfort, which we believed was due to his latching difficulties. Sometimes his latch would perfect though! It seemed to get worse over time… After multiple visits to lactation consultants etc, a tongue tie was discovered and he had it released on Wednesday via the NHS, with the hopes it would help him be less colicky and unsettled. Since then I feel like his latch is worse than ever, clicking noises are worse than ever and I now have pain while feeding whereas I didn’t before. There have also not been any improvements in his colic and I can hear him gulping down so much air, which then causes him to spit up/ be sick. I am so worried I made a mistake in getting it released :( I have heard it is not an immediate fix, but not heard of symptoms actually getting worse. Are there any words of advice/ hope/ encouragement that things will improve? Thank you!!

Have you been given tongue exercises to do with him?

Do you have a fast let down / oversupply?

He has had the tongue tie for a lot longer than not so i he needs some time to get used to the new freedom of movement which is where the tongue exercises come in

Or it's a fast let down try and hand express into a muslin to get past that and then let him feed

DD had a severe/tight tongue tie to the point she couldn’t move her tongue past her gum line. She fed by chomping (and every feed was painful for me). I had to take codiene for the pain it was that bad. Luckily she was fine with it because I had an oversupply so she didn’t have to work hard for the milk. She had it cut on day 8.

I still had painful feeds until 9 weeks in. She still chomped until that point. When it was cut the midwife said the exercises were not needed but I think a combination of her being small, new to feeding and all she knew was chomping so she continued. About 7 weeks in at the infant feeding team they put a finger in her mouth and she initially chomped but then after the person did some pulling in and out of their finger for 5-10 minutes she started sucking instead. I only did it a few times and she adjusted over time. She’s now 6 months old and I have been mostly pain free from 9 weeks (Well except for two times having a blocked duct but that had a reason for it).

Your little one has had 8 weeks of feeding in a certain way and it’s all they know. Cutting the tongue tie will hopefully help them but they do now have extra motion of their tongue and no idea what to do/how to feed with it. They will hopefully adjust but it will likely take time for them to learn. Try putting your clean finger in their mouth and doing the exercises. Also go along to an infant feeding team if you have one nearby or La leche league or failing that a Lactation consultant for advice?

My baby had a tongue tie released at 4 weeks - it took several weeks before I noticed any improvement and it did seem to get worse before it got better. Baby is now 6 months and feeds like a dream, I just wave a boob in his direction and he latches himself.

Thanks so much for your replies, it has given me hope things will improve. I do think the clicking noises may have reduced, but his latch still doesn’t seem great and he is still very unsettled when feeding most of the time! He has been ill the past week (Covid) so this may be impacting things too.

I wasn’t given any exercises to do following the procedure… do you know where I can look to find what to do? I seem to remember the HV saying they weren’t necessary- not sure why!

I have a lactation consultant coming on Thursday & I’m considering seeing a craniosacral osteopath as have read osteopathy can work well following a tt release.

In terms of let down - I do think I have a fast let down as baby often coughs and splutters on the boob, but I can’t actually feel my let down myself so I’m not sure!

Thanks all your suggestions x