Hello mommas! I'm hoping some of you out there have been in my shoes and can offer some advise! I have a nearly 3 year old son and a 1 month old baby girl. I breastfed my son with minimal problems and currently breastfeed my daughter but am having a terrible time! We discovered about 2 weeks ago that she is tongue tied. She IS currently gaining weight- not tons but she's thriving so it hasn't been a health concern so far. However, she is nursing every hour of the day and night! She has a hard time keeping any kind of latch so she tires out from all her efforts, falls asleep (most of the time) then wakes starving only to do it all over again. I've tried every nursing position I can think of- cradle, cross cradle, football) and removing her and re-latching but nothing seems to help her. I try to wake her to get her to try again for a longer times so I can try to space out her nursing times but she sleeps like a rock! Also we've tried giving her a pacifier (4 different types in fact) hoping to pacify her comfort sucking but she refuses any type of binki. Which I've read isn't a bad thing with tongue tied babies as it can mess up what type of latch they may have on the breast anyways. Not sure if it's true or not. I've attempted To pump so that we can try bottle feeding, but with her nursing so frequently there is just nothing left to pump and if I time it wrong than I've nothing to feed her. I would love to be able to keep breastfeeding her (or at least bottle feed her breast milk) because I think it's the best thing for her. Im not opposed to formula- I had to switch to formula when my son was 4 1/2 months as my supply dried up. Id prefer brestfeeding because of the health benefits number 1, but also because of the convenience of it and also the cost of formula. I don't think I'm going to be able to continue doing it under these circumstances though! I feel as though I'm neglecting my son much of the day because it seems all I get done is nursing!
What suggestions can you offer me? What worked for you? We've spoke with our pediatrician about having her frenulum clipped but if we can avoid it we'd prefer not to- unless of course it begins causing additional problems for her.
Thank you in advance!
Oh my goodness. First of all thank you for all of your responses and suggestions about breastfeeding help! I went to my pediatrician about this nearly 2 weeks ago and asked what to do. He told me that it may stretch on it's own (which is why we were waiting) but that even in the event we decided not to have it done the main issues she would experience would be a possible lisp at worse and that she wouldn't be able to lick an ice-cream cone! I wans't aware of any of these other possible problems that you all or your children have experienced! I'm a little disappointed in the information that our ped had neglected to tell us and also in myself for not looking more into it! I agree with you all that it's going to be in her best interest to have it done. Of course as a mom you never want to make a decision that is going to cause your child any pain and perhaps that was another reason I chose to wait, but since most of you have said your child experienced little or no pain I feel better about it too. :)
Thank you again for all of your responses!! And have a good weekend!
I would clip it. Simple and done in the office. Why let her suffer and work
so hard to eat. Why don't you want to clip it?
I was tongue tied and had it corrected at 16 because it was causing the gums behind my bottom teeth to pull away. It also corrected a speech impediment I had had since I was a kid and improved my diction, too.
It might be worth doing for the future, with improved BF as a really good side effect!
Goodness me. Get it clipped asap. My daughter had this. (I discovered it myself after having problems bf'ing.) At the doc office, she was given a sugar substance (seems to help with pain), her frenulum was clipped, and I popped her onto my boob for comforting. This took all of 2 minutes for the whole thing. The only reason the appointment was longer was all of the discussion up front. My daughter barely cried and has had zero issues since.
Along with all the other potential issues, being tongue tied can alter the way your jaw works and can cause it to tighten up. It's such an easy, easy (easy!) fix, I don't know why you wouldn't do it.
Please don't take this the wrong way. I know there are many varying levels of being tongue tied.
When I was a kid, I had a good friend who talked funny and she was taken out of class every day for speech. I had been raised around deaf people and I thought she had a hearing issue. She spoke like someone who was hearing impaired. I didn't think anything of it until one day, she showed me her tongue and told me why she didn't speak normally. Being a kid and bluntly honest, I asked why no one had taken scissors and just snipped that thing.
We were 10 years old. I'll never forget that.
Looking back, as an adult, no offense to anyone, I don't understand why parents would let their kid go all those years over something that could be corrected. Speech therapy? Her tongue could only go so far. The membrane or whatever you call it was short but only about the width of a strand of yarn.
Anyway, I'm sorry you're going through this, but I'm wondering why you would avoid correcting it. I would think the sooner, the better, but that's just my opinion and obviously you should consult with professionals.
Best wishes.
I'm not sure of your reasons for not wanting to get it clipped, but I'll give you my 2 cents. I used to work in a pediatric ENT's office. Babies who were tongue tied came in on a daily basis to have this procedure. It was quick and done in the office. The babies weren't even usually crying any more by the time they came out of the exam room! But, after 2 months of age the docs wouldn't do it in the office any more, so there is a time constraint. I would recommend consulting w/ a pedi ENT v. your regular pedi and making your decision after that. Good luck!
Ok, from a mom who clipped her son's and a mom who wishes her's was clipped ... do it please.
Growing up, when I got sick and had a cough the damn thing got caught between my two bottom front teeth creating a horrible blister large enough my toungue could not lay flat for weeks. Eating things like Ice Cream cones are not as pleasureable b/c I can not do it w/out getting ice cream on my face (ruins the make up & thank good ness for waffle bowls). When I speak too fast or sometimes in general I can not hide my lisp. Intimate activities are sometimes incomfortable and I can not stand tongue kissing b/c of this. Oh, and I bite my tongue 20 times more than others I know (not sure if it's just me or b/c my tongue is not as fast. Please consider what it would be like for you to have a tongue with limited mobility. Any parent I knew that had this issue and passed it to their kid(s) clipped immediately.
Why would you want to avoid clipping something that IS a problem (will be a bigger one down the road too) ? Clip it ASAP, nurse her right after to calm and soothe her then ask for a referral to an IBCLC. Many WIC offices are not offering the best of the best (IBCLCs) for FREE at their offices to endorse, advocate and educate Moms on breastfeeding. I'd definitely look into it, as well as joining a local Le Leche League... but first, get that frenulum clipped now.
It can cause problems with speech and dental later on I don't know why you wouldn't want to get it clipped now. It really hindered my youngest's speech I wish it had been caught soon he nursed like a champ so it was overlooked. If it had been caught when he was an infant I would have it clipped then to avoid the problems he had. It can increase the chance of cavities because they cannot move the food off back teeth, can cause a gap in-between the bottom front teeth, speech issues, my son could not get food off the roof of his mouth I was always pulling food out of his mouth. What a difference it has made now that it's clipped it can be done to baby in the office without sedation the older they get they have to be put under to have the procedure done.
Just read all the responses, and seems that most vote for having the frenulum clipped. Meanwhile, since baby is not nursing well, and afterward you aren't able to pump much, drink, drink, drink. Everytime you nurse, have 8 oz. of something--and then pump after feeding baby, fifteen minutes on each side, even if you are not getting anything. You will need to do this for at least a couple of days to build up your milk supply. When you pump after feeding, especially if baby is poor at emptying the breast, you should be getting 1-2 oz from each breast. Clues that there is not enough milk--when she latches on one side, do you leak from the other side? If she is sleeping, do your breasts get hard, (full of milk?) Once this happens, you may have to pump to soften the breast so she can latch on; but when the let down hits, she should be doing a lot of swallowing, and not so much hard sucking. Good Luck.
My son was tongue tied and I could not get him to breast feed... he was losing weight so the ped told me I had to start supplementing with formula right away in the office. WOW what a change when he was actually full vs no getting enough to eat!
I did pump for the first 3 months and supplemented when needed with some formula. But those first few days of trying to get the pumping in a routine I needed to supplement with formula. Then after that I was able to give him BM 98% of the time, until I had gotten to the point where pumping all the time was just taking too much of my life and I was becoming miserable my supply started going down and I decided to slowly stop pumping (best decision I made for both me and my son because he had a much happier mommy after that)!
But if you are going to pump exclusively you will have to do it every time she needs to eat to keep up with her demand if you want to try and not supplement with formula. I found this means much more time that if you are just formula feeding or breast feeding since you take on the pumping time.
At the hospital they lactation consultant weighed my son before nursing and then right after and he worked hard a nursing and got only like 1/2 oz from me. I was supplementing 1.5 oz after nursing for a few days before I decided to go pumping only, but in that time I was able to pump about 4 or 5 oz after he ate so I knew the issue wasn't that I didn't have enough for him it was that he wasn't getting enough. Once we was getting enough food he stopped wanting to eat ALL of the time.
If you do decide to get it clipped or look into getting it clipped I would highly recommend finding a pediatric ent vs ent. We went to both and it was a world of difference! We also wanted to avoid getting it clipped unless needed... at 6 months his tongue was still making a heart shape when he "stuck" it out so we went back the pediatric ent and got it clipped in the office.
My DD, age 3, had the same problem and breastfeeding was just awful. Mentioned it to her pediatrician and that was the first thing he looked for and suggested we have it clipped. I was so nervous and had my mom go with me because my husband had to work but it was super quick (on the clock anyways - it seemed forever to me, LOL). She wasn't even crying when they brought her back to me. And oh my goodness, breastfeeding was so much easier - she was getting full and not frustrated. She was happier, I was happier, and after reading some of these posts with the speech issues, I am so glad we had it done.
Good Luck!
My brother was tongue tied and his pediatrician clipped the frenulum when he was two or so because he was having difficulty with speech. It's a very simple in the office procedure. I would have it clipped. I don't understand the hesitancy tho I've noticed several parents that feel the same way.
I think her tongue tie issue has to be problem solved first.
What has the Pediatrician recommended or told you?
Do you nurse from both breasts, per session?
If not, do so.
she is tongue tied, and it affects her latch/intake.
My son breastfed constantly as well. Literally wanted to every 45 minutes. I did not realize there was even a connection to him being tongue tied until your post! So, thank you for that. My son was 3 and was scheduled for a T & A consultation and the surgeon is the one that told me he was tongue tied. My son had been to numerous specialists, our pediatrician and even my dentist and no one had told us. His speech was a little off as well. I would recommend the clipping as everyone else has. Be glad it is something that can be corrected so easily. You will be grateful when it's done and so will your daughter.
What did your ped. say?
I would get it clipped right now so that you can get past this issue and enjoy your breastfeeding time with her.
It is more beneficial for her health wise to breastfeeding and certainly more economical for you!
It will be a relief to both you and her.....
