tounge tie, silicon nipple and formula

[ema-adama]

I am really worried about a friend of mine who has given birth 3 days ago. When she saw the LC 1 day after delivery she was given a silicon nipple to stimulate the suck reflex as her baby was not able to suck and is suspected of having tongue tie.
Then, because my friends milk has come not come in yet (at 3 days I thought this would be normal?) she has been advised to give formula. I do not know when she started, but the baby is taking it.

So, I am very worried that by starting with formula so soon before any sort of BFing relationship has been established is kinda laying the groundwork for BFing to not happen.

And I remember all too clearly having a gazillion people each with their own advice to share for free and it driving me nuts!

So, how do I encourage my friend to work on getting BFing up and going and not to rush on formula? (I did say that she should just let her baby suckle as much as possible, even if it doesn't look like he is getting anything)

And what is up with the silicon nipple? DS had a very severe tongue tie and I had to hold my breast in his mouth until we just decided to snip the frenulum (sp?) (10 days of indecision and I am happy we did it)

Basically I see a huge mistake happening and I don't want to stress her out or add to an already heavy load of well meaning advice.

[Devaskyla]

I used a nipple shield (is that what you mean by "silicon nipple"?) with ds2 when he had a severe tongue tie. I just couldn't nurse him otherwise, it was too excruciating.

Milk with ds1 didn't come in until about 5 days old. I did supplement twice in that time, but I also tried a lot to nurse him. She needs the baby to suck more often to get her milk to come in & so she produces enough.

Not sure how you can encourage her, though.