upper lip too tight in 8 week old?

[sunfish21]

My 8 week old DS seems to have a upper lip frenulum-tie. We have an apt with a LC in two hours to find out for certain. If so, and if they suggest snipping it, anyone know of any reasons that it might be a bad idea?

Nursing him is quite painful and his upper lip rolls in and under. He is unable to take much of my breast into his mouth and sometimes after nursing the middle of my nipples looks white--like bleached blanched white. I am guessing that this is all related.

Any experience with this or things I am missing?
Thanks!

[cristeen]

I don't have anything negative to add... we got my son's upper lip frenulum clipped at 8 weeks. It took time (months) to correct his latch, but it happened.

If your son can still BF and is getting enough nutrition from BF alone, then I'd question whether clipping is truly necessary. We clipped because my little guy lost over a pound in his first 2 weeks because he couldn't transfer milk.

It is possible to work on stretching it - if it's stretchy. I know my DS' was not stretchy at all, but fibrous. When we went to get it clipped they had a hard time clipping it it was so tough. After clipping, the difference was apparent immediately. Even with a stitch in his lip.

[sunfish21]

Thanks. I met with the lactation consultant today who felt that he looked ok....but said that those can't be clipped! She told me that they were too vascular to be snipped and would have to be lasered.

He can still breastfeed--it is just chronically painful for me since he takes so little into his mouth-like he is gnawing. He seems to to sometimes roll off of the end of my nipple...there are a few problems. I know it shouldn't feel like this all of the time, so I will keep trying to find the answer

Maybe it is the sensitive gag reflux causing him to stay on the tip? I can't wegde/coerce/plead a deeper latch for anything....

[blessedwithboys]

get a 2nd opinion!

my ds1 was tongue tied and i nursed in pain til he was 9 mos (the clipping was one at 8 mos and it took 4 whole wks to get his latch right)

i noticed his upper lip was tight, but it didnt affect nursing so i left it alone. he fell when he was a toddler and bumped himself on the mouth and the lip-tie was broken. there wasnt a drop of blood, but he does have a little tiny flap of skin that you can only see if you get up close and pull his lip up and away to look.

if nursing hurts, fix it. you deserve to nurse pain-free!

[sunfish21]

I think a second opinion is needed--just not sure where to go for that. One of the local LLL leaders wondered if this might be aproblem but encouraged me to see the LC, who thought it was fine. I wonder if the pediatrician or chiropractor are the next in line for this specific issue....thanks!

[ewe+lamb]

You need a second opinion or if you can take a photo and post it here so that we can see it - there are many mothers here with lots of this sort of experience. If you can go see a LC who is also a LLL Leader - I find this mix so much better, and then see a dr who is willing to clip or laser if it's really thick, you shouldn't have to wait in pain to get this sorted out and if the breast isn't being stimulated correctly by the baby then slowly your supply will go down - I imagine that there isn't a problem with your supply at the moment but this is often the case until around 3 months and then when your supply starts to regulate out a bit the problems can set in - don't hang about get in touch with LLL - they have a department which can help with medical questions - ask your LLL Leader to contact them for you and get this done asap. I don't want to be alarming or prophet of doom but I've dealt with this sort of thing before and it can cause all sorts of problems.

[cristeen]

Originally Posted by sunfish21

Thanks. I met with the lactation consultant today who felt that he looked ok....but said that those can't be clipped! She told me that they were too vascular to be snipped and would have to be lasered.

The local doctor who does all the tongue tie clipping said flat out that he doesn't touch lips frenulums. AND he said that a lip frenulum clip required general anesthesia and an operating room.

The dentist who did it couldn't have disagreed more... less than 5 minutes total - gave him a topical before injecting a local, snip, stitch, done, all while I was holding him. Very little bleeding.

[sunfish21]

Originally Posted by ewe+lamb

You need a second opinion or if you can take a photo and post it here so that we can see it - there are many mothers here with lots of this sort of experience. .

I hate to sound so slow, but...how do I post a pic on this forum? I would be happy to do that as soon as I figure out how!

Sadly, there are currently two LLL leaders in town and both are new--neither is a LC, but I will check about 'higher ups'.