Does anyone else have experience with tongue tie

[Pjmontgo]

My DD is 6weeks old and i have been told.by the lc at the bf clinic that the has a slight anterior and complete posterior tongue tie. I have been back on numerous occasions because im still not comfortable feeding but because my nipples are ok and she is gaining weight they arent going to snip it. In the last week or so her latch appears to have got worse and i went again on weds but they seem to have lost interest in me now because i keep turning up and they didnt really have any advice to give me. DD is starting to get really fussy at the breast and feels like she is chewing on my nipple! She is also more gassy than she has been previously. Any advice much appreciated...

[Armywag]

Hi

My daughter had a tongue tie; i wasn't sure what an anterior and posterior tongue tie was (they never said what she had) so I just looked it up.

It tends to be hereditary - did you or your partner have one? My husband did - not that I knew until our daughter was born!

Mine will have had a complete anterior tongue tie - from the very tip of her tongue. She was in special care for a couple of weeks (unrelated to the tongue tie) but while she was there, at 3 days, she had it snipped. It was preventing her from sucking and she wouldn't have been able to latch on. She was being tube fed but they did give her a small amounts via a bottle. Once it was snipped, she was like a different baby.

I'm not sure who they would treat the posterior tongue tie though. Excuse my ignorance, what does LC stand for? My milk never established enough to continue bf (although I tried for a couple of weeks while she was in SCBU) so not really up on a lot of the bf terms!

I would recommend you making an appointment with your GP and get a referral to an oral consultant / orthodontic. They will assess your lo and see if treatment is necessary.

If your lo is now unable to latch properly, there is a good chance they will start to lose weight.

This page was quite interesting. milkmatters.org.uk/2011/04/...

I actually think my daughter may have a lip tie too now!

Hope you get the help you need. Don't let them fob you off though!! x

[CarolineDarz]

I diagnosed my little boys tongue tie at 4weeks and he had it snipped at about 8 weeks. Insist they cut it for you, it sounds like she is finding it more difficult! It takes them a hell of a lot more energy and effort for them to drink when they are tongue tied, so it is no surprise she seems fussy. The way they suck is also not natural, which would explain the gas. It makes such a difference when it is done, the suction is so much better, and they are so much more efficient!! X

[NanKing]

Second what Caroline has said. Put your foot down - regardless of how they feel about your nipples, it is how you feel that is important! You are going to be happier feeding for longer if the tongue tie is separated and that is the most important outcome. There are no known detrimental effects of having the snip done. My son has bit of a tongue tie - we never had it separated simply because it caused no problems at all feeding but I still thought hard about having it done because it has been known to cause a delay in language development in some cases. It was left up to us in the end, which is what I think ought to be happening for you as it is a non- invasive, non- painful intervention.

[Armywag]

As per my post above, you need to see an oral consultant (or at least a paediatrician) who is experienced in tongue tie - not just any medical professional can do the procedure; I doubt the bf clinic you attend can do it. Make a GP appointment and get a referral. The anterior tongue tie is simple to correct but I'm not sure about the posterior so it's important to see the right department for this.

It was the paediatrician who snipped my girls tie as the oral consultant wanted to wait until she was at her full term date which would have been an additional 2 weeks being tube fed!

[CarolineDarz in reply to Armywag]

Unfortunately they can, there are trained nurses and midwifes who do the procedure. My little boy's was done by one x

[Armywag in reply to CarolineDarz]

Really? They were adamant at my hospital about who could do it - none of the nurses had the power to do it even in SCBU. Had to be a doctor.

[Pjmontgo]

They can do it at the bf clinic but the lady there who does them doesnt seem keen to do it so im planning on getting the health viaitor to refer us to the hospital. my dad had a slight tongue tie too so that might be the hereditary component.

[candiceandsesame]

Hiya. My LO who's almost 12wks has posterior tongue tie. They dont normally cut it as its not as successful for a posterior one! Plus they don't do it in my area but you can pay privately for it to be done. I was advised to carry on BF. I was really sore but baby was gaining weight so well. She did have a lot of gas though as latch not great. I used colief to ease the wind until 10 wks.

I also did tongue exercises as advised by BF counsellor. Basically wash your hands thoroughly then get baby to copy you sticking out your tongue and when they do touch it with your finger to encourage baby to stretch the tongue muscle. A posterior tongue tie as i understand it is just a tight muscle that improves with stretching.

Now she feeds fine and I'm no longer sore and she has far less wind as well. In the early days I did express and give her one expressed milk bottle in the evening just to give my boobs a break and fill her up too, and that worked really well for me.

it does get better with time but if you are struggling and in pain or baby not gaining weight then I'd go see the gp.

it does get better. I was gonna give up BF but im so glad I preserved xxx good luck

[Pjmontgo in reply to candiceandsesame]

Thanks for sharing your experience. I will have a go with the stretching exercises. x

[candiceandsesame in reply to Pjmontgo]

No probs x also babies can get fussy anyway without tongue tie. They're funny little things. One week things are horrendous and the next it can all be ok again. I hope things improve for you x

[Hidden]

My lg had a very tight posterior tongue tie, she did some damage to my nipples, cracked and bleeding and I got mastitis twice. I'd consulted lots of midwives, my GP had seen me cos of the mastitis. It took nearly 6 weeks to find out she was tt, the NCT breastfeeding counsellor identified it and when I went to the GP for a referral he looked in baby's mouth and said she wasn't but because I was so determined he would refer me! I logged on to book an appointment online and it was going to be another 3 weeks. I asked the NCT bfc and she recommended a private midwife/health visitor who was trained to cut tt, she came to out house the next day and cut it with a pair of surgical scissors (I couldn't watch, but my husband held her head while it was done). My lg then had to relearn how to bf, she'd had a lot of bottles of formula by this point and my milk supply was going down, even though I was expressing. I took her to a cranial osteopath which I swear helped as she started clenching her jaw when feeding, almost biting me! Ouch. At 8 weeks old the cut under her tongue had healed, but feeding was still really painful, I was on the verge of pnd and so decided to give up trying to breastfeed, but not wanting to get mastitis again I put my lg to my breast to get a little bit of milk before giving her a bottle, I relaxed and it started working. It wasn't perfect every time, but I bf her until she was 10 months when I went back to work - I worked hard to get my milk back up and she just had one bottle of formula day.

It's so bad that different areas have such different views on tt. My sister's lb was anterior tt and they wouldn't cut it, said it would break when he started spoon feeding - it did but meant he had to have a bottle as he wasn't gaining weight.

My sister-in-law wasn't having problems with bf, but it was her second baby and she knew what i'd been through, identified the tt and in her area they cut it for her straight away.

Definitely try the tongue exercises as I was recommended to do those after she had the tt cut to stop regrowth. If it's affecting your happiness/mental health then keep on at them or find someone to do it privately. Take care.

[Hidden]

Mine had hers snipped at 4 weeks old, she is now 5 weeks and still a fussy breast feeder, doesn't open her mouth and is on and off the breast soo many times when feeding. I've been told it will improve over time, but I'm still glad we had it done just waiting for her to realise she can move her tongue now!

[Pjmontgo]

Just an update to let you know how we are getting on. Decided to leave it for two weeks to see how we got on. Feeding seems to have settled and now she is more interactive i encourage her to stick her tongue out. Fingers crossed she keeps feeding well.