So my son was born w/ tongue-tie. I recognized it immediately because my dd2 had been born with it as well. Hers was not near as drastic, but we did have it clipped when the doctor pointed it out to me at 6 months. It was a quick, simple and seemingly painless (for her, not for me) procedure. I nursed her directly afterwards and it was done - she never seemed to mind one way or the other.
Anyway, I have been suffering with cracked, bleeding and sore nipples with Kenny. Over a week ago I thought it might be thrush, because he DID have a yeast rash on his bum. I had read that ithrush doesn't always present itself in his mouth, but that painful breastfeeding, sore nipples and a yeast rash could be symptoms. So, we did the treatment and it did seem to help at first, but then it was only helping his bum and wasn't doing a thing to help my pain level in my nipples or the knots way high up in my breasts.
Last night after having to do lamaze breathing techniques just to make it through his breastfeeding (yes, I hurt that badly), I decided to see if there was any correlation with being tongue-tied and my sore nipples/breasts. Also, I noticed that Kenny's cluster feeding had changed to EVERY 45 minutes all day feeding. He was falling asleep at the breast, clicking on and off (very poor latch), gumming my nipples - yes, gumming! He didn't seem to be reaching the hind milk and my milk ducts were obviously clogged from him not 'pulling' it all down when feeding.
THANK YOU DR. SEARS! I found my answer through the question of another woman. Babies that are tongue-tied will not get a good latch - hence the clicking. They cannot wrap their tongue around the nipple enough to express the milk they need, so they will gum at the nipples and often grow tired and fall asleep during feeding, only to wake a bit later still hungry. They will be cranky because they are hungry. Sometimes they will show 'failure to thrive' as they aren't getting enough food if the mother isn't demand feeding. The mother will experience clogged ducts, pain while feeding, cracked,bleeding nipples - basically HE DESCRIBED MY BREASTFEEDING RELATIONSHIP with my son.
On the LLL site, I believe, I found an article that talked about how midwives used to keep a fingernail sharpened and after birth would just gently 'sweep' under baby's tongue to ensure they would not be tongue-tied and could begin the breastfeeding relationship with their mothers without problems.
I remembered the procedure when Meredith had her frenulum clipped. I checked out Kenny's - just a thin (paper thin) tissue holding his tongue down. When he cried the sides would look like flapping wings . . . it was kind of strange looking actually.
We have our 1 month check-up in a few days, but I knew that at the Army hospital we'd just get referred out to a 'specialist' and I would have to continue to breastfeed and experience this pain. I could not take it anymore. If the problem did not get remedied very soon I would have to stop bf'ing until it was fixed . . . it was unbearable!
So, I sterilized some surgical scissors. Waited until the next time Kenny wanted to nurse. Allowed him to start crying, had my husband gently hold his head secure and I very quickly clipped a tiny little portion of the frenulum. It did not bleed but a wee little drop and he started nursing FULLY - my nipples only slightly hurt. I could not believe the difference it made! He nursed 2 more times before bedtime and then woke up and nursed this morning. The frenulum isn't red and my nipples feel incredibly different. He's getting the hind milk and my milk ducts aren't knotted up anymore.
I know that some will say that I was radical and should not have done that, but oh, it hurt so much and I knew exactly what the doc had done for my daughter before - besides what have women done through the ages - and if a midwife could do it - why couldn't I? I'm not suggesting that everyone do this at home, but simply want you to know what a simple procedure it is and to check your child's tongue (or have a trusted ped./dr. check it) if you are having any of the symptom's I listed.
Anyway, I have been suffering with cracked, bleeding and sore nipples with Kenny. Over a week ago I thought it might be thrush, because he DID have a yeast rash on his bum. I had read that ithrush doesn't always present itself in his mouth, but that painful breastfeeding, sore nipples and a yeast rash could be symptoms. So, we did the treatment and it did seem to help at first, but then it was only helping his bum and wasn't doing a thing to help my pain level in my nipples or the knots way high up in my breasts.
Last night after having to do lamaze breathing techniques just to make it through his breastfeeding (yes, I hurt that badly), I decided to see if there was any correlation with being tongue-tied and my sore nipples/breasts. Also, I noticed that Kenny's cluster feeding had changed to EVERY 45 minutes all day feeding. He was falling asleep at the breast, clicking on and off (very poor latch), gumming my nipples - yes, gumming! He didn't seem to be reaching the hind milk and my milk ducts were obviously clogged from him not 'pulling' it all down when feeding.
THANK YOU DR. SEARS! I found my answer through the question of another woman. Babies that are tongue-tied will not get a good latch - hence the clicking. They cannot wrap their tongue around the nipple enough to express the milk they need, so they will gum at the nipples and often grow tired and fall asleep during feeding, only to wake a bit later still hungry. They will be cranky because they are hungry. Sometimes they will show 'failure to thrive' as they aren't getting enough food if the mother isn't demand feeding. The mother will experience clogged ducts, pain while feeding, cracked,bleeding nipples - basically HE DESCRIBED MY BREASTFEEDING RELATIONSHIP with my son.
On the LLL site, I believe, I found an article that talked about how midwives used to keep a fingernail sharpened and after birth would just gently 'sweep' under baby's tongue to ensure they would not be tongue-tied and could begin the breastfeeding relationship with their mothers without problems.
I remembered the procedure when Meredith had her frenulum clipped. I checked out Kenny's - just a thin (paper thin) tissue holding his tongue down. When he cried the sides would look like flapping wings . . . it was kind of strange looking actually.
We have our 1 month check-up in a few days, but I knew that at the Army hospital we'd just get referred out to a 'specialist' and I would have to continue to breastfeed and experience this pain. I could not take it anymore. If the problem did not get remedied very soon I would have to stop bf'ing until it was fixed . . . it was unbearable!
So, I sterilized some surgical scissors. Waited until the next time Kenny wanted to nurse. Allowed him to start crying, had my husband gently hold his head secure and I very quickly clipped a tiny little portion of the frenulum. It did not bleed but a wee little drop and he started nursing FULLY - my nipples only slightly hurt. I could not believe the difference it made! He nursed 2 more times before bedtime and then woke up and nursed this morning. The frenulum isn't red and my nipples feel incredibly different. He's getting the hind milk and my milk ducts aren't knotted up anymore.
I know that some will say that I was radical and should not have done that, but oh, it hurt so much and I knew exactly what the doc had done for my daughter before - besides what have women done through the ages - and if a midwife could do it - why couldn't I? I'm not suggesting that everyone do this at home, but simply want you to know what a simple procedure it is and to check your child's tongue (or have a trusted ped./dr. check it) if you are having any of the symptom's I listed.
from all of them.
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