2.5 weeks, still won't maintain latch

[jenfl]

I have a 2.5 week old. He will not maintain his latch. He'll suck a time or two, then lose the latch. Sometimes I have to re-latch him, usually he pulls himself back on (ouch!). He's gaining weight fine, but doesn't really like nursing (and neither do I!). The on/off issue makes him very gassy -- he needs multiple large burps after each feeding.

I'm in a lot of pain. I've seen an IBCLC twice, and she feels that I'm doing everything right (positioning, latch technique). I do have oversupply issues sometimes, but DS does this even on a nearly-empty breast (after we've been nursing on and off for 2-3 hours through his evening fussy time).

My next resort is an oral-motor therapy evaluation, but that's not until Thursday.

Please, has anyone else had this experience? Any ideas? I'm getting desperate.

[PatioGardener]

Having him checked by someone who can recognise and diagnose a posterior tongue-tie (see the sticky at the top of this forum) may help - often a posterior tongue-tie can prevent a good latch.

[Heba]

Ditto PatioGardener's suggestion. Posterior tongue-tie can be easy to miss.

Also just a thought (although won't necessarily help if tt is present) - and I dare say the LC has already suggested this - have you tried "laid-back" nursing positions? They capitalise on baby's natural latching instincts and may help. Look at http://www.biologicalnurturing.com/Pages/howtodoit.html or http://www.breastfeeding.asn.au/bfinfo/bla.html

[jenfl]

Thanks for the suggestions. The problems we're having match up perfectly with the descriptions of posterior tongue tie.

We're now at 4 weeks and still having problems. It's not so painful for me anymore, but he's still falling off every few sucks. Five sucks in a row is a victory, but he'll quickly deteriorate to falling off every suck. He's taking in tons of air and nursing is just generally not pleasant for both of us.

I went to an ENT doctor but, sure enough, he doesn't believe in posterior tongue tie (and suggested I give DS a bottle). There's a doctor with experience with tongue tie, but she's 2.5 hours away.

This is a rough problem to have. But I just wanted to thank you for pointing me in this direction -- I'm hoping so much to find someone who believes us and could maybe even fix it!

[jenfl]

A quick update: at 5.5 weeks, I finally found an ENT who actually took a good look inside DS's mouth and saw a small, tight tie in an odd place. He was reluctant to clip it, but agreed when I emphasized that breastfeeding was very important to us.

It's been two days, and there might have been SLIGHT improvement in nursing. But we're defintitely seeing a difference -- he's sticking his tongue out more and more frequently, and he's much more verbal. Here's hoping that he can re-learn his latch!

[ewe+lamb]

If its all resolving nicely thats great, i would highly recommend the biolgocial nurturing as Heba suggested, have another look at that site and you'll probably have a big difference in a couple more weeks, clipping a tt doesn't mean that the problem will go away immediately, it can take some time for the tongue to adapt to it's new freedom!

[PatioGardener]

CST may be helpful as well.