Tongue tie baby still not latching on well= very painful!

My baby is 5 weeks now, and was born with tongue tie that went undetected until she was 4 weeks old. She has now had her tongue fixed but still isn't latching on very well and is making breastfeeding feeding almost unbearable as she still won't open her mouth wide. Does anyone know how long it will take her to get the hang of it?

[2princes1princess]

Hi hun sorry you are both struggling with feeding! Ive not got any experience of tongue tie. Do you think its a good idea to see a bf support worker? To help wy latching on? I guess it like starting all over again for her bless xx

[Armywag]

Hi, mine had an anterior tongue tie but it was evident at birth and she had it corrected at 3 days old. She was young enough to learn how to suckle from the breast. I agree with 2princes1princess, get some assistance from BFing experts.

Also have them check for a lip tie (my dentist confirmed my lo has that too) as this can prevent the lips from flanging correctly. x

[gigglysheep]

They say that babies at this stage will copy ur facial expressions when ur having cuddle time. Maybe try showing her ur mouth being wide and turn it into a game so she can learn to open her mouth wider for feeding.

It wouls defo be a good idea to seek help from ur hv or midwife for latching or even going to a local breastfeeding support group coffee morning and asking some of the other mums for their experiences.

Keep persevering if u can as it is good for baby. Get lanolin lansinoh from chemist for sore nipples. It is expensive but worth it. Ur doing a great job and baby will get the hang of it eventually. Good luck xx

[CarolineDarz]

I had this when bubs was 6 weeks- they advised going to bf support worker after donr. As both mum and baby may nerd retraining!! Gets better though xxx

[Hidden]

My lo had a tongue tie that wasn't detected until she was nearly 6 weeks old. After having it cut she started clamping her jaw whilst feeding, like biting me with no teeth - ouch. I saw many different HV and bf counsellors, giving me all sorts of advice. At 8 weeks I was ready to give up. Someone recommended a cranial osteopath, not a cheap option, but I think that really helped, he asked about her birth which was very long and questions about what her temperament was like and said he wasn't sure if he'd be able to help, he felt her head and said he definitely could help. I think we saw him a total of 5 times. He'd ask me questions like "do you have trouble getting her in her car seat?" I say no and then go to put her back in the car and she screamed, so I know he did something to her - after a couple of days she was fine going in her car seat again.

As I said at 8 weeks I decided to give up, my nipples were so sore and I was so stressed about it, I hated expressing so my milk supply had gone down. The paediatrician recommended getting air to my nipples (wearing an open shirt and no bra) to help them heal. I decided to just put her on for a short time to remove some milk then give her a bottle (I'd had mastitis twice and didn't want it again). Having relaxed into this decision (which was really hard to make), I was suddenly giving her whole feeds and not needing to top her up. I managed to get my milk up enough to give her all her feeds except her bedtime bottle, which was our choice. I bf her til she was 10 months old when I went back to work, it wasn't perfect all the time, but I treasured those feeds and loved the closeness of doing them after the traumatic start we had.

Try the HV and bf support/counsellors, try the copying - the lady that cut my lo tongue tie said to do exercises sticking our tongues out and getting baby to copy so the tt didn't grow back. I definitely recommend a cranial osteopath. Good luck and remember at the end of the day do what is right for you, if you have to give up you have done the best you can, happy mum equals happy baby - I'm sure if I hadn't decided to give up at 8 weeks I would have had pnd! Big hugs, I remember how hard it was, you've done so well getting this far, loads of mums give up far earlier without going through what you've been through.

[Hidden]

Sorry to hear you're having a hard time with the feeding, I know how hard it can be from experience. My baby had a severe tongue tie that was triple clipped at 7 days and feeding was extremely painful- not just bleeding cracked nipples but bruising of the breast. We had persevered with syringe top up feeds for 10 days( he became very jaundiced from lack of fluids) and exclusively syringe feeding for a few days to allow me to heal on the advice of midwives and hospital consultant. We had problems trying to get baby to latch on properly after clipping even though he had known better how to after birth. However I had fantastic support and help at the local breast feeding clinic where they suggested temporarily using a nipple shield to encourage him to open his mouth better and get used to the feeling of the nipple at the back of his soft palate. It's important to buy the correct size so it isn't painful while they suck. So my advice see BF clinic and keep asking health visitor to visit and offer support at feeding time. Sadly I had to give up due to lack of milk and other factors but I feel now a year on that I could have persevered and he would have picked it up. Also the NCT can give one to one BF support and the La Leche League I've heard is useful. Best of luck though, I know it can be so emotional wanting and feeling driven to breastfeed but having problems or wondering if you can continue. No-one can tell you what's best, you will know what's best for you. I was very upset at people telling me to stop beating myself up and bottle feed but what i really needed was peace and quiet and lots of skin on skin to re-establish good feeding. I was told to go back to basics and almost hook his head over the breast as you do in the first few days to encourage a good latch when he was gaping his mouth. Also their mouths can be sore for a while.