 Just want to say, my babe had a severe grade 4 tongue and lip tie, revised twice: at 4 weeks and then at 5 weeks. His suck was uncoordinated, he couldn't even keep a bottle in his mouth, and even through a shield he chomped my nipples so hard and caused such extensive damage that they're still not healed now nearly 4 months later. The stretches were tough, no one likes to hear their baby cry. And even though we tried everything (multiple Lactation Consultant visits, driving out of state for Craniosacral Therapy Sessions, supplemental nursing systems, shields, suck training, syringe feeding, and I could go on) for three solid months, he was never able to breastfeed. I exclusively pump now. Yet, I still consider revision the best parenting decision I have ever made. My son is a new baby. He's happy, he sleeps peacefully, he can suck down a bottle and be content, no more crying fits whenever it's time to feed him. His reflux is so much better, gas is a thing of the past, and he's gaining weight and thriving. Every time I see his sweet chub, I'm so grateful that we revised. Don't be discouraged!
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I just thought I'd share. I have a 2 month old that never latched on, even had trouble with a nipple shield. After her first 3 weeks, i quit breast feeding because it was too much, 45 mins to an hour feeding with shield, then supplementing with bottle, then pumping... I put het on formula similac advance, seemed ok, found blood in her stool, pediatrician switched her to soy, her reflux was freaky bad and didnt tolerate that. She determined that she had milk soy protein intolerance and switched her to alimentum, an unreasonably expensive formula. She was also put on zantac for her reflux. I couldn't even change her diaper without her spitting up if she wasn't propped up. After several visits to er for not eating, or projectile vomiting, I decided that formula was NOT easier and decided to relactate (had been 3 weeks). I am now in 4 th week and produce about 2 ounces every 4 hours, not bad from starting with little drops. Im determined to build my supply back up for her. Even with feeding with a bottle, she would choke several times each feeding, take forever to finish a bottle and eats frequently!
My sister, who heard from a friend, told me about this tongue tie and lip tie that can cause all the symptoms she had. I asked my pediatrician, and she said she had never heard of that being the problem and that she was not tongue tied. I decided to go to the pediatric dentist anyways, which was of course, not covered by my insurance. Long story longer, my daughter had posterior tongue tie and lip tie. Ten minutes later, the procedure was done. I fed my daughter a bottle there since we had an hour drive and she drank in 10 mins normally would take half an hour or longer. She didn't choke once! I was able to pop her lip out correctly on bottle. I was amazed! When i got home, i tried to nurse her and she latched on, first try, without a nipple shield! What a huge difference. Im hoping with several more good feedings and eventually getting back to all breast milk she will eventualy get off the zantac and her reflux will go away. Fingers crossed. If not, this has alrrady been best choice and best $630 spent ever! So, don't listen to Pediatrician, sure worth checking it out! You never know!  SUCCESS STORY - I have been waiting a year to write those words. The first photo I had my husband take because I thought it would be the last time we nursed. The second photo was taken just before our precious daughter Vivian’s first birthday.
After a perfect home birth, she never latched. She had swallowed meconium. After two days, we ended up in the NICU at Phoenix Children’s Hospital for dehydration after she threw up bottled donor milk from a friend (three times). She needed an IV. I was traumatized. My milk came in in the hospital; I was hunched over, unspeakably sore, hadn’t slept for three days straight, and began the cycle of pumping around the clock. Dr. McGreevey was the head doctor at the ER; he was kind and passionately wanted to discover what was wrong. I will never, ever forget his kindness. In God's providence, I ran into him just before Vivian's birthday and was able to thank him along with his wife and two girls.  I want to share our journey with all of you.
Not because I need or want sympathy, but because I would love to help someone else catch this sooner than we did. I was on bed rest for the last month of pregnancy due to high blood pressure & low amniotic fluid. Ashyln was born via c-section because of being breech throughout the pregnancy. My mom came a week earlier because Joel’s Grandpa Layman passed away 3 days before the scheduled c-section. We started off breastfeeding with a bang. I had no fears or concerns with breastfeeding. It was painful from the start (which should have been our first clue)...but I thought that I just had to give it time to toughen up. She made it back to her birth weight by her 2 week checkup, so all is good, RIGHT!?! Hello! My name is Alma and I am a 29 year old mother of 4. All 4 of my kids have lip tie and I would like to share my story.
First I would like to mention that English is my second language and I had to teach my self to write, my phone helps me a lot, but to can only do so much for me. So if you are a grammar nazi.... You will hate me I breastfed my oldest for 14 months, and I can honestly say that if it wasn't for the fact that I was living with my mother and she told me that I didn't breastfeed her I would have to find a new place to live (I had nowhere to go), I would have given up in a matter of days.  My hope is that sharing our story may help someone else.
Both my son's had a lot of issues breastfeeding feeding. My first took 3 months to learn to latch with the help of LC and breastfeeding OT. He had silent reflux, torticolitis, weak suck, lip blisters, was finger fed for a month, used bottle therapeutically, had repeated thrush, and I had two bouts of mastitis. He also had noisy breathing until he was 3 which was finally diagnosed as "immature breathing apparatus" And even had issues with intermittent hearing loss due to fluid in his ears. When my second was born 4 yrs later I thought I had it all figured out. I was convinced my issues with my first were a fluke. Unfortunately I had the exact same breastfeeding feeding issues with him. This time though I knew what to do. I connected w breast feeding OT and used all the same strategies Id learned w my first. He finally learned to latch at two months. I breastfed him until 28 months.  My baby girl and I have been fighting through ER visits, pediatricians, infant gastro specialists, and numerous LC's. Green frothy diapers with large amounts of blood, strict elimination diet, threat of a baby that is allergic/sensitive to everything, even MY breastmilk... Fussing for hours on end, and nursing in between fussing for hours on end. Bleeding, demolished nipples, PPD, thrush... The only thing we were blessed with was minimal healthy weight gain, but that was also our curse, since all the Dr.'s we were seeing seemed to be wielding that against me, saying it was my breastmilk that was the problem and she needed to be put on formula immediately.
 My son Noah had many symptoms of a tongue tie as a baby but I was never able to figure it out. I ended up pumping and bottle feeding. I started to worry when he got to 18 months and was not talking very much at all. We had just moved from the US to the UK so they sent over a health visitor to check him out. She was also very concerned and was starting to ask me questions related to autism. I know that was her concern because he was not talking, flapped his hands, etc. I mentioned a possible tongue tie and she said there is no way that it could effect his speech. My sister had a tongue tie and spoke shortly after having it clipped so I felt it was a good chance it could help my son.
 When my second child, Mark, was born in November 2012, he was 9 lbs., almost 22 inches long and perfect. But, right away, I noticed nursing was painful. I figured that he just didn't have the hang of it yet. In the hospital, I spoke with the lactation consultant on more than one occasion. She was helpful, but generally only reassured me that he would get better and to not give up. By the time we went to his two-week doctor's appointment, I knew something was wrong; nursing was often uncomfortable and my nipple looked flat on the bottom after he finished nursing. I was told he was just a lazy eater and that I needed to work harder at getting him to latch better.
Summer Patterson Colina shared this amazing account of her tongue tie journey on Tongue Tie Babies Support Group. Shared here with permission. Our breastfeeding relationship started off horribly right from day one. She had an extremely strong sucking reflex (could keep a paci in all by herself no problem at one day old!) And on top of that... a horrible latching problem. Even though it looked great to everyone else from the outside, I knew something was wrong! I was in sheer pain throughout the entire feeding, every time she would nurse. Before I left the hospital, my nipples had cracked, bled, scabbed, and blistered! The worst part... it didn't get better when I got home. People kept telling me, "It'll get better with time. You just have to push through the first couple weeks." Well, those couple weeks turned to three, then four, then five... you get it. I was at constant battle with myself as to why I was putting myself through all this misery. But something told me I had to do this, or I would regret giving up. |
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