OK, I am sorry this is so long, but I am desperate to figure out what is going on and I feel like I have tried absolutely everything. I bolded my main concern; everything else is background.
1. My daughter (now 5w) had/has a posterior tongue tie which was revised when she was almost 3 weeks old. We had to make a trip out of town to do this.
2. The cut has healed, but her tongue still seems very tightly fastened to the bottom of her mouth, although she does seem to have gained some mobility, she still does not seem able to extend her tongue over her gums with a good gape. When she yawns, her tongue retracts well behind her gums.
Also, it seems like her tongue is attached to the bottom of her mouth at the sides. Anyone ever heard of this? I am trying to get a referral to a doctor near where I live in order to have her looked at again.
In the mean time....
3. We have been using a silicone nipple shield off and on, but mostly on, at the recommendation of a lactation consultant, since she was about 10 days old. She is able to nurse with the nipple shield but it does seen to take about 45 minutes. I feed her one breast at a time and try to wait until she "falls off" to ensure she gets enough hindmilk. The nipple shield tends to be painful for me, however. I think it is rubbing my skin off, and I use the biggest size one that will stay on my nipple. She has been getting a little faster with the nipple shield in the last week.
4. In the last week, when we do not use the shield, I am able to get her latched on with what seems like a fairly decent latch. I allow her to self-attach and she opens to about 90 degrees, with her tongue extended past her gums (when she opens wider her tongue retracts) - I can see her trying to draw the breast in with her tongue before she closes her mouth. Obviously it is not very deep latch, but she seems to have a good seal on the breast, it is not very painful for me, and I can hear swallowing. However, after a few sucks, she freaks out and kicks her feet and starts to pull her head away, tugs at the nipple. If I hold her to the breast, it seems like she's choking (on milk, not breast tissue - but maybe it is breast tissue stimulating her gag reflex?), so I just let her do what she wants which is something weird where the latch does not appear to become shallower but does feel shallower. If I let her alone, she will then feed fairly contentedly, but it usually hurts me.
She either cannot or will not form a seal around a bottle nipple or pacifier of any shape, it seems. (I've even tried a Haberman; she just screams at any attempt by me or her father to introduce a bottle. I'm kind of flattered that she likes my boobs so much, but... ouch!)
5. I have been doing the "tongue walk" exercise with her (and I can't get her tongue to come out any further) and also "stick out your tongue". I have tried guiding her latch, I have tried sandwiching the breast, I have tried asymmetrical latch, I don't touch the back of her head. When I put my index finger in her mouth, she pushes it out until it is well past the first knuckle; then she sucks.
6. I think I might have thrush or some kind of infection. The tips of my nipples are pink and sore. Sometimes my breasts feel hot. I tried the APNO and it didn't seem to help. I also tried pickle juice, which did seem to help... anyhow... I bought some monistat last night and will be calling her ped. to get a perscription for her mouth too.
What is going on? I'm especially interested in why she seems to "spit out" the okay latch. I've tried sandwiching and can get a really good mouthful of boob in for her (which, based on what she does to my finger, seemed like she'd like it) but that seems to really freak her out. Also it seems she cannot form a seal. Is it still a problem with her tongue tie? Nipple shield preference? Too much milk coming more quickly than she's used to? Thrush? She has no white patches in her mouth; could she still be in pain? Before I had the shield and she had her tongue clipped, she would just spitout any attempt at a deep latch, but she didn't freak out.
Anyhow, my nipples are no longer in excruciating agony - just mild pain, almost all the time, and slightly more severe pain when she feeds. It's not awful enough to make me cry anymore, but just bad enough that I dread feeding her (although not so bad that I resent her, as I was starting to do a few weeks ago).
I have also tried lanolin. I have also tried soothies. Soothies are kind of nice. She also has a high palate. I've read everything about TT I can get my hands on.
She is having enough wet and dirty diapers (yellow and seedy with occasional foam). She spits up rather often but it doesn't seem to upset her. I saw an LC who I asked if she had TT and the LC said, "looks like it" but I haven't seen an LC since.
Maybe I just want to know this is going to get easier.....
1. My daughter (now 5w) had/has a posterior tongue tie which was revised when she was almost 3 weeks old. We had to make a trip out of town to do this.
2. The cut has healed, but her tongue still seems very tightly fastened to the bottom of her mouth, although she does seem to have gained some mobility, she still does not seem able to extend her tongue over her gums with a good gape. When she yawns, her tongue retracts well behind her gums.
Also, it seems like her tongue is attached to the bottom of her mouth at the sides. Anyone ever heard of this? I am trying to get a referral to a doctor near where I live in order to have her looked at again.
In the mean time....
3. We have been using a silicone nipple shield off and on, but mostly on, at the recommendation of a lactation consultant, since she was about 10 days old. She is able to nurse with the nipple shield but it does seen to take about 45 minutes. I feed her one breast at a time and try to wait until she "falls off" to ensure she gets enough hindmilk. The nipple shield tends to be painful for me, however. I think it is rubbing my skin off, and I use the biggest size one that will stay on my nipple. She has been getting a little faster with the nipple shield in the last week.
4. In the last week, when we do not use the shield, I am able to get her latched on with what seems like a fairly decent latch. I allow her to self-attach and she opens to about 90 degrees, with her tongue extended past her gums (when she opens wider her tongue retracts) - I can see her trying to draw the breast in with her tongue before she closes her mouth. Obviously it is not very deep latch, but she seems to have a good seal on the breast, it is not very painful for me, and I can hear swallowing. However, after a few sucks, she freaks out and kicks her feet and starts to pull her head away, tugs at the nipple. If I hold her to the breast, it seems like she's choking (on milk, not breast tissue - but maybe it is breast tissue stimulating her gag reflex?), so I just let her do what she wants which is something weird where the latch does not appear to become shallower but does feel shallower. If I let her alone, she will then feed fairly contentedly, but it usually hurts me.
She either cannot or will not form a seal around a bottle nipple or pacifier of any shape, it seems. (I've even tried a Haberman; she just screams at any attempt by me or her father to introduce a bottle. I'm kind of flattered that she likes my boobs so much, but... ouch!)
5. I have been doing the "tongue walk" exercise with her (and I can't get her tongue to come out any further) and also "stick out your tongue". I have tried guiding her latch, I have tried sandwiching the breast, I have tried asymmetrical latch, I don't touch the back of her head. When I put my index finger in her mouth, she pushes it out until it is well past the first knuckle; then she sucks.
6. I think I might have thrush or some kind of infection. The tips of my nipples are pink and sore. Sometimes my breasts feel hot. I tried the APNO and it didn't seem to help. I also tried pickle juice, which did seem to help... anyhow... I bought some monistat last night and will be calling her ped. to get a perscription for her mouth too.
What is going on? I'm especially interested in why she seems to "spit out" the okay latch. I've tried sandwiching and can get a really good mouthful of boob in for her (which, based on what she does to my finger, seemed like she'd like it) but that seems to really freak her out. Also it seems she cannot form a seal. Is it still a problem with her tongue tie? Nipple shield preference? Too much milk coming more quickly than she's used to? Thrush? She has no white patches in her mouth; could she still be in pain? Before I had the shield and she had her tongue clipped, she would just spitout any attempt at a deep latch, but she didn't freak out.
Anyhow, my nipples are no longer in excruciating agony - just mild pain, almost all the time, and slightly more severe pain when she feeds. It's not awful enough to make me cry anymore, but just bad enough that I dread feeding her (although not so bad that I resent her, as I was starting to do a few weeks ago).
I have also tried lanolin. I have also tried soothies. Soothies are kind of nice. She also has a high palate. I've read everything about TT I can get my hands on.
She is having enough wet and dirty diapers (yellow and seedy with occasional foam). She spits up rather often but it doesn't seem to upset her. I saw an LC who I asked if she had TT and the LC said, "looks like it" but I haven't seen an LC since.
Maybe I just want to know this is going to get easier.....
