Tongue -tie and bottle feeding ebm

[JossC]

Hi,
Long-sorry!
My dd2 is 12 weeks old and has always been a fussy feeder. I breastfed her for about 5 weeks and this was always tricky- lots of latching on and off (ouch!), arching her back and being sick. V.difficult with 23month old to look after too. She was diagnosed with reflux at 6 weeks.
I wanted to continue giving her breast milk and express 700-800mls a day and top up with formula. She can also be tricky to bottle feed, although much improved since she has been taking omiprizole for her reflux.
Two weeks ago we saw a lactation consultant who diagnosed a tongue tie. Does anyone know

1. Can a tongue tie cause reflux?
2. Is it worth having it cut? Would it improve her bottle feeding?
3. Whan she is drinking her milk I can hear a 'clicking'and she latches off. Could this be the tongue tie?
4. Could my dd learn to breastfeed again if she has her tongue tie cut?

Sorry this post is so long. Thanks in advance for any advice.
Joss
Joss

My work colleague, had her baby 5 months ago, and he is breast fed, he was diagnosed she said he feed much better after it was cut

yes it would improve the clicking when she bottle feeds.

Does her milk squirt out the sides when she feeds? If so it will stop that.

The reflux is a seperate issue. She is possibly latching off because her tummy hurts.

dc2 had tongue tie, bf was a million times better after it was snipped
dc3 had acid reflux - it was an absolutely hellish time.

Hi.

1. DS1 had tongue tie and no, it doesn't cause reflux (or not in our case).

1. Definitely worth having cut, we went to Southampton and were given a leaflet with the pros and cons which was really informative.

1. Yes, clicking sounds like tongue tie.

1. No reason why she shouldn't breastfeed again - if you can keep expressing til then.

Good luck!!

Thanks v.much for the advice
We have an appointment to have her tongue tie cut on Tuesday. Does anybody know how long this takes?

actually proceedure is seconds

Ds had his cut a few weeks ago (in newcastle). Procedure varies depending on the surgeon but my son was swaddled and laid on a table then snipped very quickly with scissors. He was feeding again in less than a minute. There was a tiny blister under his tongue for a few days and he was a bit unselttled the next morning.
Unfortunately in his case his latch didn't really improve and it's a lot of effort for him to feed. I really struggle to express so am trying mixed feeding (he dropped 4 centiles)

I found this site very helpful.

Ds had his cut at 5 weeks too. Defo worth doing now as is done under ga if you wait to see if it affects speech later.
Unfortunately as ds had always got plenty to milk despite crippling my nipples he never changed his unorthodox feeding technique.

it's not a scary proceedure but worth doing IMO.

here are the NICE guidelines on tongue tie surgery

Hairtwiddler I had to have each of my bf dc treated by a cranial osteopath to enable to open their mouths wide enough to get a good latch.......they had really tight sort of temple areas so they physicall couldn't open their mouths that wide. Just in case you haven't tried Cranial yet.

My dd was reluctant to change her latch even after the snip because I too had a plentiful milk supply and she stayed up there on the 98th centile. It was def less painful afterwards though and with time and me persistently taking her off when latch poorly she did continue to improve. I really wish it had been done at birth as I think she wouldn't have got into a bad habit, she was 3 weeks by the time it was done and is of a stubborn nature when it comes to food, she also went ape sh*t when I returned to work and had to have bottles, would only eat 3 flavours of savory food until she was 10 months and would try finger food - none of the others cared two hoots!