Breast feeding and tongue tie nightmare

[Missboo1]

Hi all,

My little boy is 4 days old and has a very pronounced anterior tongue tie which was noticed at birth.

It's always been hard to latch him and yday at his 3 day check he had dropped 10% from his birth weight.

A plan for feeding has been put in place but he has been completely unable to latch since 12pm Tuesday. I was initially able to express with my Medela pump and got 50ml for him over two goes but since then nothing is coming out when pumping. I'm also really upset that he has had some brick dust nappies and so I know he needs to feed as much as he can.

My nipples are really hard lumpy and I'm leaking constantly but am unable to pump? Is it because they are just too engorged?
Really don't want my breastfeeding journey to be over and my little one has had some formula. Just don't know what to do about expressing

Is there a plan in place to get it cut?

Have a nice hot shower or bath and try expressing either in the bath or straight after the shower. Warm compress can help while expressing too. You could try hand expressing. For me i got more hand expressing rather than using a pump as sometimes I was too full. You can also try feeding in the bath lots of skin to skin contact and warm water can relax baby.

Also not the end of the world if he needs a little formula just until tounge tie is snipped. You could try nipple shields too

My DD has a tongue tie and lost 12% birth weight and was jaundiced. She had formula top ups until it was snipped at day 8 and then she started putting the weight on.

I've booked to go privately on the recommendation of midwives at the hospital, my nct friend and the community midwife and he is being seen Saturday so will be 7 days old then. I think I'm just getting really worked up as I'm worried if I give him formula he won't take to breast feeding again and it's so important to me.
He's got good colour and is alert...just so grateful that he had a good birth weight of 9lb 5.
Thank you all for your responses I have been so worried

Try not to panic too much, a lot of babies are happy to go between breast and bottle. Keep offering the breast first and then top up with formula afterwards. Has your milk come in?

My second daughter had similar issues.

First rule is to feed the baby- if he needs formula do it. He won’t latch if he’s too tired and hungry.

Second thing is to protect the milk supply. Hire a hospital grade double pump and pump every 2-3 hours. Even if nothing comes out it will stimulate supply. It’s hard and it’s miserable but it’s not forever. Try hand expressing after

As others have said skin to skin. Paced bottle feeding for top ups. Get the tie snipped ASAP and have specialist help ready to go when it’s done.

I found this really helpful.

Breastfeeding was very important to me and I was devastated when it wasn’t working (I have very emotional threads on here!). I exclusively expressed for 10 days, tongue tie was snipped day 9 and she started latching with shields and that point. Then we weaned off top ups by day 12 and off shields by 4 weeks. It was my second baby so I was able to build up my supply quickly-this should be your priority initially. The first few weeks are crucial in building a supply.

If your breasts are engorged try some hand expressing first. Try covering the pump bottles so you can’t see what’s coming out and try putting a warm cloth on your breasts at the start of pumping. “Hands on” pumping was also very useful for me.

It’s a really tough time so make sure your partner/any other help is fully engaged in helping you.

PM me if you want. My DD is now almost 8 months and happily breastfeeding still.

Paranormalbouquet has given excellent advice. Both my children had TT... and both had to have it snipped twice (which is unusual). So yes, feed the baby, protect your supply next so pump every two hours if you can, hiring a hospital grade pump and you can phase out the formula if you need it/pumping pretty quickly.

It is exhausting though but there are lots of tips on Kellymom etc. on how to pump efficiently e.g. you don't need to clean the pump parts each time but can put them in a ziplock in the fridge between feeds, cutting holes out of a soft bra to make a pumping bra so you can do skin to skin while pumping etc.

I exclusively breastfed my daughter for 2 years after a bumpy start!