TongueTied one week old. Losing supply. Advice.

[Oblomov]

Sorry can't type. Because have just put ds2 on breast. dh is being sent to buy nipple shields.

Had huge supply of milk. no waining. but don't want to make ds tired.

hopefuuly the lovely LacksDaisy will fill you in details.

hi oblomov, i remember you from the due nov thread! There is a homeopathic remedy used to increase milk supply. Do you want me to check my helios kit?

may not be on for a while but thought i'd just say this in case you were interested, agnus castus is supposed to help as is taking rescue remedy before you feed.

Have you tried expressing to see if that helps you to keep producing?

there are a few hospitals in the uk where tongue tie can be separated. nipple shields are not the answer. will go look for a couple links for you.

Sorry, cannot do the linking thing, but Southampton hosp, Mervyn Griffiths, if you google him it will take you to info about tongue tie.

my mw's have all recommended nipple shields. I actually haven't been putting him on the breast very much in the last few days.
No one recommended it.
Butt hen when today I told my mw that my huge supply was now waining, she said, and 2 other mws said, don't focus on the pumping. Put him on,. stimulate from baby is best.
But I have been focusing on getting milk out. into a bottle. becasue his thick blood and jaundice was so bad, I thought my priority was to get food in his tummy.

So now I ma getting conflicting advice from my local mw, who says the same as the kings midwife.
i.e put him on. if it tires him a littel. top him up.
but yyuo guys are saying nipple shields not the answer.

am i focusing on expressing too much?
will the pump only help my supply a little ?
should i focus on putting ds to the breast ?
nipple shields not the answer ?
I am all confused now.

Why not have it snipped? My friend had her week old ds' tounge tie snipped last week. He cried for a few seconds, there was a drop of blood and then he immediately stuck his tounge out at her. He has been sticking it out a lot since and bfing much better.

DD had a tongue tie and had it cut at 3 wks. It was a very simple thing. We had it done at the Royal Free in London. BF was immediately better once it was cut although I had been very lucky and bf was not badly affected. I would highly reccomend getting it done.

hospitals and further info on the links on the page.

look at exaggerated latch, i think it is called. It is a way of attaching a baby with tongue tie.

sorry it took so long. postman, then made lunch then ate lunch etc.

i dont think nipple shields are the answer though not an expert. that all the mw's have recommended this.

contact one of the bf help lines to verify.

Hey Obs.

I spoke to Obs when she was in hospital so I'm going to paraphrase since she is incapacitated (you'll learn to type and BF at the same time, lol )

DS2 born at 35+ weeks by crash c-section under GA
had thick blood and jaundice and wasn't feeding well, very sleepy.
had some formula initially and then Obs trying to BF but sleepiness not helping leading to sore mum, even sleepier baby and so it goes around.
Managed to express 200ml from each boob on sunday and was getting milk into baby that way.
Allowed home on Monday, but MW has discovered tongue tie which isn;t helping with the latch
Obs now thinks her milk supply is dwindling as she is only managing to express a little now (30mls iirc)
Obs is a diabetic and has also been struggling to control her blood sugars on top of the worries with DS2.

I think that about covers it

I'm not an expert on tongue tie Obs, but I wouldn't worry too much about the exoressing being totally indicative of your supply at this stage. You were horribly engorged in hospital which is probably why you got loads out.

I can see why your are opting for the nipple shields as you are probably getting sore, but as foxytocin says they can interfere with things even more.

I would call the NCT or one of the other helplines and talk to a BFC; they will be able to help with different latching techniques and the most comfortable way for you both to proceed. You will hopefully be able to get someone out to see you as these things are probably better dealt with on a one to one basis.

It's great that your MW spotted it, but Boo Hiss to Kings for missing it completely.

My friend had her DSs tongue tie separated at southampton....the BFC just did it in the clinic; no need for referrals or anything like that, but I think most trusts want to go down the referral route, which is as the longer it takes the worse the outcome for maintaining supply.

Call the NCT and get some local advice

page 10 of the PDF document is the one I meant for you to look at.

how are you? I was just asking BT about you as I hadn't seen you around but I imagine you are being kept pretty busy. Lovely photos on your profile

i have a 1 mo old and a 3.5 yo who is still not walking on her poorly leg yet and a dh abroad with work to keep me off MN. did you see my birth story? [preen]

I did see it, fantastic story. Poor DD though . I hope her leg is better soon.

Oblomov, were you at King's in London? As this is one of the places where you can get tongue tie sorted

Claire Kedves at Kings, call up the switchboard and get put through to her, she is the breastfeeding person, she can organise for tongue tie to be snipped.

I'll point Obs in this direction. Is she the infant feeding coordinator? Obs was told when she was in there that she was only in one day a week.

thanks

Update, have spoken to St Peters , my HV has referred me to Dr Reynolds. Great. Hopefully
for snipping. But he is on holiday for next 2 weeks. Next appointment is 23 nov. Seems like a long time. But what can I do.

Have spoken to BUPA, who I have through work. My local hospital, st peters, have an oral team. This Dr is Dr Bailey. My MW/hv did also mention him. Left his secreary a message, re a private appointment. Waiting to hear.

I have spoken to Kings. My MW said, she would make me an appointment at the breast feeding clinic. Then once it was diagnosed, if severe enough, I would be given an appointment with Mr Patel, at the tongue tied clinic. and he would advise me of a date of snipping, if he thought it appropriate.

Said that couldn't I go straight to tongue tied to see me patel. she said no, it needed to be diagnosed first.
I said I live in cherstey, i have just had a cs, I can't keep popping to kings. She said said, that seeing as I had been discharged, she was under no obligation to do anything !!!!

I felt like saying, if you had done your job properly in the first place, and spotted it, it could have been sorted, in th week, that I was kept in, with ds2.

But i said nothing.

so, my niplles are not sore. So do I need shields ?

I had alot of milk when it first came in. But Kings told me to express and feed ds by bottle. no one told me to keep putting him to the breast. Now my milk supply has dwindled.
Shall i put him to the breast. if he gets tired, adn I am worried about him not getting enough milk, I can keep on trying to express and give it by bottle.even now on a diminished supply.

do you all agree, that this sounds like a good plan.

any other advice ?

If you are not experiencing soreness, i wonder why you were told to use shields? Is there a local baby cafe you can plan to go to as from your posts it sounds like you are getting very mixed advice? Have you tried speaking to any of the national helplines or the number of a local breastfeeding counsellor?

Re your plan on supply, it is difficult to tell you definitively what to do as a) am not a trained supporter, just another mum and b) neither I or anyone else here can see your ds's latch or tongue tie. But if latching him on is not painful and he is sucking well then I would start with that. Has he been weighed since birth and if so what has his weight loss been?

lizzytee, weight loss minimal. Mw weighed him yesterday wehn she came to do tests and take my cs stiches out. she said fine.
butt hats becasue i had been religiously expressing and feeding him bottles of expressed milk. my supply now can't match his demand.

Daisy has been a star and has already provided me with a couple of numbers. Thanky uo for seconding her opinion, lizytee, I will take some advice from one of the 'nationals', as it were.

hi Oblomov, congrats on arrival of ds2! - although I'm sure you could do without all this....

Don't have a lot to add as in sussex, but as a type 1 myself, whose ds also had a tongue-tie just wanted to send support!

My ds' tongue tie also wasn't spotted at hospital, I was fortunate in that once we did spot it we were fairly rapidly referred to a midwife brave enough to do them at a local hospital. The snip itself was a very minor event - ds barely even cried. I do hope you manage to get it sorted soon.

In the early weeks after birth of my dc I must admit I was quite happy to let sugar levels run on high side, as long as you're not getting dangerously high, I always felt it was more important to avoid the hideous lows you can get with breastfeeding and exhaustion thrown into the mix! Also I found both times I needed to reduce basal levels to virtually nil at some times of day - soon crept back up a few weeks later though!

Hope you get somewhere soon, I would agree with other posters - put him to breast often to stimulate supply. The nipple shields may help if it is becoming painful to feed. Do bear in mind though that it may be over-enthusiastic expressing causing that rather than his technique (this was true in my case!)

Good luck.

Thanks O. It is more than possible to build and keep a supply on the pump but unless something is not clear it seems like questionable advice to tell you to do nothing but pump from the get-go without any plan for getting your ds on the breast or giving you options for dealing with his tongue tie. Do bear in mind that small babies will often slurp down whatever is in a bottle. Out of interest, why do you think your supply is waning? Are you expressing less or does it feel like there is less?

Also, is your ds happy to latch on?

Just to add - ds tongue-tie was considered pretty severe by midwife who snipped it (one of worst she'd seen that year apparently) However we did manage to breastfeed successfully even prior to snip - although it was easier after - so don't give up hope!