Breastfeeding with tongue tie

[Chocforthewin]

My baby girl is a week old today, the health visitor has referred for her to have her tongue tie sorted.
I am in such severe pain each time I BF her & am dreading feeding her now due to the pain. For the whole time my body is frozen, blood is drawn each time on both sides. She struggles to keep her latch on. I have expressed into a bottom but it is so much more time-consuming & I want to BF her we love the bonding element.
Is there any advice or suggestions to help with the pain. I am praying that it will be easier & relatively pain-free when the tongue tie is sorted

This sounds horrible OP. Have you tried nipple shields?

Wow that sounds painful. We paid private for our sons tongue tie. The waiting list was 6-8 weeks with the NHS after being referred. He had it done at 10 days old. If you can afford it I would definitely recommend. We had his done at the spire hospital in Manchester. The spire is a major private chain all over the country and I can't praise them enough. That's if you live in the UK xx

Do you have a nipple cream? My DC had a tongue tie and was born during lockdown so the cutting procedure wasn't available. I kept using nipple cream and eventually he learned to latch properly and the pain began easing

My li was snipped at 2 weeks old. Until then I did a combo of bf and expressed milk every feed. Expressing was a pita but it was only for two weeks then back to full bf

I second nipple shields. I expressed until I got it sorted then went back to breastfeeding.

I also got my baby's TT snipped privately. If it's an option for you, I would recommend it.

The private midwife did it the day I went to the clinic and it made such huge improvements to her feeding (length of feed rather than pain).

Via NHS I would have had to wait another 6 weeks so I was really glad to have this option.

DS had one. I’d take paracetamol before a feed, totally slather my nipples in Lansinoh and actually bite down on something when he latched on. The pain went after 2-3 weeks (I didn’t even realise he had a tongue tie so it was never treated) and successfully breastfed him (EBF) until he was 14 months. The early days were hideous but overall it was worth it. Definitely getting my next baby properly checked!

Definitely try nipple shields. My Dds tounge tie wasn't found until she was about 3 weeks old.

She was loosing so much weight, no matter what I did breastfeeding, expressing and topping up not was working.

It was picked up when I saw a specialist breastfeeding nurse - and she was lovely! She cut the tie there and then - yes it was horrific, but I promise it's over in about 10 seconds.

We were given different positions to feed in, but by then she was so used to doing it the other way, my supply was dropping, we'd both had thrush, and I had mastitis, and I just needed her to feed and although I was heart broken that I couldn't feed her, swapping her to the bottle was the best thing for us.

Please also remember, that if left a tounge tie and also effect speech in later years.

Good luck x

Nippleshields, and private division if the NHS referal takes too long.

I'm wincing with the memory. Both my boys had a tounge tie. DS1's was much worse, both both were breastfed til after 12 months, when we moved to cows milk. It's possible.

Phone around and see if anyone NHS will do it quicker, you'd get surprised what a bit of begging may get you.

Dh drove me to a London hospital for a next day appointment once I started phoning around.

Or go private.

Sorry I don't have time for a long reply. Ultimately you have time for your baby to latch but milk does need to be removed from the breast regularly by baby or pump at least 8 times a day to achieve a full supply.

It sounds as though feeding at the breast is important to you, so expressing (in particular hands on expressing) can be revisited as a plan B.

In the meantime here are a few ideas to read around about how to make breastfeeding potentially more comfy.

Starting with nipple shields as mentioned upthread. It's always worth considering trying to achieve a deep latch even if nipple shields take the pain away. This can be done by following the information in the Global Health Media video Attaching Your Baby at the Breast, or you could think about nipple-to-nose, waiting for wide gape, lips flanged outwards, supported spine but head gree to move.

Here's some info on nipple shields which do carry a risk of infection, especially theush (keep clean and replace regularly to minimise this) as well as reduced supply in some mums.
abm.me.uk/breastfeeding-information/using-a-nipple-shield-with-a-breastfed-baby/

The flipple is a technique to shape the breast
themilkmeg.com/get-better-latch-exaggerated-latch-flipple-breastfeeding-technique/ especially koala hold

Laid back breastfeeding / biological nurturing can help your baby get a deeper latch
www.royalwolverhampton.nhs.uk/services/service-directory-a-z/infant-feeding/laid-back-breastfeeding/

Consider high arched palette which can go hand in hand with tongue tie - case study here
abm.me.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/mag8-featured.pdf

Skin to skin can also keep the breast a nice place to be, help with hormone regulation and give you chance to enjoy your baby.

I'm wondering if you have a local support group you're in touch with? Many are running via Zoom. La Leche League or the Breastfeeding Network might have local groups or you might find one on Facebook. You could also ring one of the national helplines.

Thank you so everyone. The NHS referral for 8-10 weeks makes me want to cry. That's so long away. So angry that they didn't just do it. I was on the ward 4 & half days to & they noticed it within an hour of her being born.
I will get some shields in.
I did order the manual medela pump amazon, it came this afternoon. I managed to get just under 4 ounces which I thought great. She drank half but then wouldnt stop crying. Had to put her back on my bleeding boob ( sorry tmi ) for her to settle couple minutes later.
I will look at private costs around here, I am Bedfordshire & am pretty sure there is a Spire hospital not too far from here. Thank you all for your replies

If you can afford to do go private, it could interfear with bottle feeding too.

8-10 weeks If you possibly can, get it done before then privately.
DS1 was 5 weeks. It took him time to relearn how to latch - infact the 48hrs after division were the closest we came to formula.
DS2, at 3 weeks, plus a lighter tie, had almost instant improvements in terms of shorter feeds, weight gain and less pain.

Nipple shields

www.tongue-tie.org.uk/find-a-practitioner/

This is the place to look for tongue tie practitioners

As a guide a tongue tie division near me is around £175

I’d totally go privately if you can. DD1 wasn’t snipped til 10 weeks and I think far too late to make a difference. DD2 more like 2 and it was better.

I paid private as the wait was so long on nhs. Had pain like you it was hideous it made me Cry. I ended up pumping after a few weeks and breastfeeding as much as I could bare. Also topped up with formula so combo fed as baby was so hungry I couldn’t seem to pump enough to keep up. Still managed to breastfeed to nearly two years so the cut worked and formula didn’t ruin it for us like I was scared of x

An independent midwife came to my house and all it was all over with within minutes. We did a quick feeding assessment over the phone due to covid, she checked the tongue tie and then snipped it. My Trust stopped doing divisions during lockdown and afaik they haven't restarted yet so the waiting list doesn't bear thinking about it.

Who does the procedure? Ring their admin & beg.

Also, try all your local bf groups. One near me was able got ds3 in the following day to see a sympathetic ENT dr who was v pro-bf & snipped him there and then. He would come in early to clinic to do it, wonderful guy.

DD’s was also picked up just after birth. It’s the worst pain I’ve experienced and I still wince at the memory! I was lucky that we got hers snipped on the NHS within 2-3 weeks. However, the pain had actually started to ease a bit before that. it started to only hurt as she latched, so I’d take a big breath in as she latched on and the rest of the feed wasn’t quite so bad.

Lansinoh helped a lot. I had no success with nipple shields personally, but they are worth a try as I know lots of people have.

For expressing I had a naturebond pump (cheap
as chips from amazon). I’d put it on one boob while feeding from the other. It catches any leakage and also seems to draw milk out without actually needing to pump. I found it far more convenient than expressing, got more milk that way, and it was gentler on my poor shredded nipples.

We had a really tough start with breastfeeding - as well as the pain weight gain was pretty slow which I’m sure was also down to the tie, and DD fed for hours at a time. However, we got there. It became the easiest thing in the world after a while, and we kept going until almost 2.

Hope you get sorted soon!

Yes to private division if you can. It is shameful that there is such a long wait on the NHS despite all the pro BF rhetoric. Stop printing BF posters and help women who want to BF but are struggling!! Rant over.

In the meantime OP, all I can suggest is Lansinoh and hot flannels. The hot flannels help soften any scabs/splits on your nipple prior to a feed which makes it a little less awful when they feed. Counting also helped me as did swearing.

I'm shocked at that wait time op. DC3 had TT snipped and we were fitted in very quickly. I'd definitely phone around, you'd have thought with breastfeeding rates so low they'd be all over this.
I too had cracked and bleeding nipples. I found Lansinoh very good, also just leaving your nipples exposed if possible. Have you tried different positions? Some may work better than others. I'm still happily feeding nearly a year later.

If you’re in Bedfordshire, google Lauren Wong / Love Milk - she helped us earlier this year with our little boy and was brilliant - came out to the house the next day after I contacted her and it made such a difference. Prices are in her website.

Thanks to everyone that has commented, i have ordered some nipple shields, going to give them a go have ordered some nipple cream lansinoh too. I haven't even left the house since coming home after her birth, thank the Lord for online shopping.
I have the midwife coming round tomoz, she is the breastfeeding specialist for the community. I am doubtful anything can ease it until her tongue tie is corrected but definitely worth a go with everything. I am hoping that the midwife will also be able to say if the wait times are 8-10 weeks if so i will have to look at private as don't want to dread each of her feeding times. Thanks again everyone. It's so sad to read that this is quite common, the strength of the female species 💪🏻