Breastfeeding and tongue tie

[Sparkle2019]

Hello everyone,

I'm after some help. My little one hasn't managed to latch properly since born (day 3) and we think it is because he has quite a severe tongue tie. We have had to feed formula because he wasn't taking any milk. However, I'm trying to hand express but I have nothing. I've tried buying a breast pump but nothing. What can I do?

Have you had anyone assess your little one for tongue tie? That would be the first thing to look into today. Contact your community midwife and they should be able to advise.

Also look into Breastfeeding Peer Support services in your area. Where I live we have a brilliant service who will come and do home visits but they also have support groups around the city on weekdays.

If you can afford it a lactation consultant is also a very good option for support. Get recommendations if you can, but they will be able to do a full assessment (including of the tongue tie) and advise from there. Some also perform frenotomies (tongue tie division) of appropriate.

Keep expressing, either hand or pump. Your body needs to know to make milk for baby, so the more you stimulate your breasts and remove milk the more your body knows to make! Keep doing lots of skin to skin with baby and putting them to the breast as often as you can. Have a search for YouTube videos for good breastfeeding technique, or look at the La Leches League website.

Good luck, hope you get sorted x

Thanks for the advice. How long should I be expressing for each time? I haven't had any milk come through, not even colostrum and it hurts when I do it.

This page might be useful for you:
www.laleche.org.uk/expressing-your-milk/

Have you had any support at all in hospital/at home? It's so hard in the early days when you're beyond exhausted and you have a new little person who you're getting to know, and pain from birth/establishing feeding.

Try expressing for ten minutes on each side. Have your baby close by, or look at pictures of them while you're expressing (to increase oxytocin production and encourage a let down). If you're sore try using nipple cream before expressing. Some pumps come with different size flanges as obv not all nipples are the same size, and using one too big or small can cause pain.

How was your birth? If you had a particularly difficult birth (CS, losing a lot of blood) this can cause a delay in your milk coming in.

Definitely get face to face advice!
Otherwise there is a National Breastfeeding Helpline who can also help

Hi @Sparkle2019 how are things today? Breastfeeding and tongue tie is really really tough, are the midwives supporting you at home? They should refer baby to have their tongue tie released, usually there isn’t a long waiting time.
Which kind of pump do you have? It shouldn’t be that painful to express unless your nipples are damaged or the pump is too high in suction/the wrong size. You sound like you’re doing all the right things

Also - forgot to add, if you are feeding formula whilst waiting for your milk to come in, make sure you are paced feeding so baby doesn’t get used to having an overfilled tummy - here is a video showing how :
m.youtube.com/watch?v=OGPm5SpLxXY

Thank you for your support. Expressing today and final getting some milk. It's only a dribble but still something. I am seeing a specialist tomorrow regarding the tongue tie so hopefully it will get sorted.