Ankyloglossia or tongue tie

[mamaspirit]

So on top of my difficult recovery and having to go back in the hospital for a while with abdominal abcesses, my baby has been miserable. She has been incredibly fussy, sometimes screaming for hours on end. I've tried eliminating foods, gripe water, chiropractic care, cranial sacral, etc. Breastfeeding has been challenging because of how fussy she was. With the chiro's suggestion, I finally gave in and took her to a lactation consultant yesterday. I thought my breastfeeding issues were my fault because I've had such a difficult recovery etc. Well my poor baby had a pretty complex posterior tongue tie (ankyloglossia) and her labial (lip) frenulums were alos extremely tight. Her tongue tie was easy to overlook because it wasn't the usual tip of the tongue, causing the heart shape etc. She could stick her tongue out of her mouth. I guess posterior tongue ties are harder to diagnose and are often missed until the child is older and is having issues with speech and dentition. Luckily I saw someone who is experienced in looking for this very problem. We got an appointment for a specialist this afternoon and had her lingual and upper labial frenulums clipped, a super simple precedure that she barely cried with. She immediately was able to latch on much better and was able to transfer way more milk than usual. Her face even looks different! It's amazing how much difference such a simple precedure can make! I'm really excited. For the first time in weeks she was able to take a full feeding from my breast and I didn't have to pump afterwards. She has promptly fallen asleep and we haven't had the screaming yet this evening... the screaming usually starts around 6pm and has for weeks.

I just thought I would share, especially for those who have had issues with fussy babies and issues with breastfeeding and you can't find an answer. Get evalulated for tongue tie. Luna will be 8 weeks tomorrow and this issue has been hiding for this long.

[SaraMum]

I am going to see a LC on Friday who I am hoping will be able to tell me if DS is tongue tied. BFing is still excruciating (Raynauds is also to blame) but he is a foremilk only eater because he won't work after the let down and he actually cries if you put more breast in his mouth because he hates to have his mouth open that wide, his mouth is also small. I think a lot of the breastfeeding support dropins I have been to think I have no problem because he is gaining so well (4.5lbs in 7 weeks), but I suspect a tongue tie - not the kind where the little "divider thing" comes asll the way to the front, but he seems to have a really thick membrane all across the underside of his tongue and I "swear" I can feel his tongue lapping against my nipple. I have also heard that it can be genetic and wonder if DS1 had one and if that is what contributed to my initial oversupply eventually tanking and my having to start domperidone. Glad to hear things are working out for you, it's apparently really hard to get a doctor to do the clipping around here - unless you had baby at hospital and in that case they do it right there

[Mosaic]

DD had a posterior tie as well. We had it clipped, and DD is now 14 weeks old and still has some nursing issues. We had weekly (or more frequent) visits with a pediatric dysphagia specialist and she's improving, so hopefully someday we'll be able to nurse well, too!

[kaeleighsmama]

My DD had a pretty severe tongue tie, but we were able to have it taken care of when she was two days old. It was pretty urgent, as she dropped 9 ounces overnight in the hospital the first night we were there. Exact same results, though! She went from anguished cries to full baby tummy and asleep within minutes after the procedure was done. I think it was harder on me than it was on her!

The lactation consultant at the hospital caught the problem before we were discharged. I was also tongue tied at birth, but mine was posterior and had absolutely no problems with speech or dental. It was clipped when I had my wisdom teeth removed at 18.

[SaraMum]

So I finally saw an LC today (well two of them actually) and they both agree that he has a posterior tongue tie. I now have to get a referral from an MD to the clinic at the hospital to get him assessed for a clip. I feel so vindicated lol and that this hopefully will have some relief from all of this pain his inefficient latch is causing.