Seeking NY area specialists

[smooshie]

Hi,

I've been bf my 5 month old with some supplementation (long story), but still feel like she's having some issues and I've had a really tough time, even in NYC, finding specialists who know anything about bf or are helpful in any way. 

I think my daughter might be lip tied and maybe ptt. She doesn't flange her upper lip out at all even when I try to do it for her. She's very touchy about it. She's never had a great latch and slips off constantly. Lots of relatching. She's quite fussy and has also been a very slow gainer--she's only 11 pounds at 5 months, which my ped says is fine, but it worries me still.

I've seen an LC twice (one of the best in the city) who said my daughter's lip was a bit tight and she referred me to an ENT, but the doctor she insists I see has a 2 month wait (ridiculous). I saw a different ENT who had good reviews on my local parents listserve, but he was awful--totally condescending and knew nothing about bf. She also referred me to a pediatric dentist, who I am seeing this week and hoping will be knowledgeable. The one doctor I had heard about whose expertise is bf issues, Dr. Coryllos, had a stroke and is no longer in practice. 

In addition, my daughter has had ongoing digestive issues and is on prevacid for reflux and she has a rather large herniated umbilical, which I'm not convinced is ok. 

We saw a pediatric gastro with Cornell hospital and although he gave her the prevacid prescription, which I think was good, he turned out to be a lousy doctor. When we did a follow up with him he told me that her reflux was so bad that I should either put her on a more harsh drug or give up bf and put her on Nutramigen. He didn't do one single test on her to make sure there isn't anything other gastro issue going on. Ugh. 

So, I'm wondering if anyone knows of any pediatric gastros, ENTs and dentists in NYC or the vicinity (Long Island/Hudson Valley/Upstate NY/NJ/PA) who are more knowledgeable and supportive of bf. 

People keep telling me I should just stop bf at 6 months when she starts solids and that supplementing is no big deal, but it's a big deal to me and I plan to bf at least to 1 year. As far as I'm concerned that's the healthiest thing for my baby. 

Any help anyone can offer would be greatly appreciated. 

Thanks! 

emily

[ewe+lamb]

Well, you know if breastfeeding is important to you then follow how you feel and there will always be solutions to this problem.  Have you thought about contacting a local LLL group who may have this sort of information that you need?  Would that be a possibility for you?  Have you thought of contacting Catherine Genna Watson - she has a private practice in NY city but quite honestly if you're not finding the answers you are looking for then I would highly recommend that you take an appointment with her.  If you think that your bb has a ptt then this is something that she is working on at the moment so you may just be in luck!  http://www.cwgenna.com/ she is an LLL Leader in Queens, and has an on line group - so maybe worthwhile you looking into this information.  Good luck.

edited to say that I just found this for you http://www.lowmilksupply.org/frenotomy.shtml - may be of some help

Edited by ewe+lamb - 6/12/11 at 3:05am

[GoGoGirl]

Did you post in Finding Your Tribe?  You'll probably get more answers there.

My DD had posterior tongue tie.  We saw Cathy Watson Genna, who is the tongue tie expert in the IBCLC community (in the US I think, not just NYC).  I found it somewhat helpful, but she mostly just wanted to show me how to nurse leaning back, which wasn't at all a cure-all for us.

We saw Dr. Linda Dahl to get DD's tongue tie fixed, and I highly, highly recommend her.  When I called and explained that I had a tongue tied infant who wasn't gaining, they fit me in in just a few days.  I'm pregnant again, and seriously planning to call her when I go into labor to schedule an appointment for the new baby to be seen as soon as possible.  I'm not going to go another 2 months this time of horribly painful nursing!

I wish you luck!

[lsmama]

So sorry you are dealing with this!  I am a huge fan of Dr. Lauren Macaluso.  She is an IBCLC and a pediatrician, though her practice is exclusively breastfeeding medicine at this point. Her office is in New Hyde Park very close to the LIE and Northern State. http://www.macalusomedical.com/LGP.html

My baby has bad reflux and we were referred to the pediatric gastros at LIJ - Dr. levine in particular.  We haven't gone yet, but 4 different people have raved about his bedside manner.

Good Luck!

[cww]

If you are still looking for someone, I saw Dr. Mona Gabbay, an MD who specializes in BFing, and she does home visits in NYC (you have to have out-of-network insurance coverage, though, or pay out of pocket).  She isn't a pediatrician, but for working on BF issues, I found her generally helpful and thorough, and she talked with me a lot on the phone, even on weekends/evenings, etc.  She even went out of her way to look some stuff up in the research literature when I was concerned about taking a particular antibiotic with my medical history, which really increased my confidence in her.  Her website is thebreastfeedingdoctor.com.  She wasn't hugely expert on posterior tongue tie though (she looked for it but did not think my daughter had it), which is what my daughter had, so we did have to go a bit farther afield to solve our own problems.  However, once we figured that out and got it corrected by a pediatric dentist, she continued to help us over the phone. 

We ended up going to Albany to see a pediatric dentist, Dr. Kotlow, to correct our daughter's posterior tongue tie.  He was probably not the closest person to NYC, but they worked us in right away, and filed with our insurance.  For tongue tie (and lip tie issues), he answered emails quickly and was even able to say that he was pretty sure that she had a lip tie from emailed photos and that it seemed likely that she had a tongue tie as well.  His website is kiddsteeth.com. 

Good luck - I hope things get better soon!

[Momo123]

I also wanted to add that my DS had nursing issues (my low-supply, his low tone and posterior TT). I worked with Dr. Gabbay (who thought he had a TT) and Cathy Watson Genna who I met through Dr. Coryllos. There is also another doctor in Long Island named Dr. Scott Siegel (he used to  work with Dr. Coryllos) who, like Dr Kotlow, uses a laser to revise tongue ties. Here is his Web site with more info: http://www.nomcs.com/