My chiro does CST and she was able to feel that Olive couldn't lift the middle and back of her tongue. That is what happens with a posterior tie. (Even before the revision, she could stick her tongue out.) We had the high palate, too, which she said was also another "sign" of tongue tie (along with the overlapping sutures). She explained it by saying that in utero, if there is no tie, when the baby sucks, their tongue spreads the palate (widening it and making it not so high). When the baby does not have full mobility of the entire tongue, the palate remains high and narrow because there the tongue cannot do its job to widen it! Olive's latch was very shallow, too. It may be worth having your little man evaluated by a dentist. Or, at the very least, like you said, taken for chiro and CST (even better if the CStherapist has experience with tongue tie!).
I couldn't believe how fast the CST worked to resolve the overlapping sutures! My chiro (who did our CST) actually has a spot on her skull with overlapping sutures. She said it causes her headaches quite often. I was glad to get it taken care of so quickly for Olive... My DS had the same issue, but it took longer to resolve. Our Dr. at the time said the sutures were something a lot of babies had and that it would resolve in a few weeks. It didn't. This was also one of the drs. that said he didn't have tongue tie. :/ Maybe because we didn't address it until a few months old? Maybe because the tie went undiagnosed for months? Our Dr. at the time said the sutures were something a lot of babies had and that it would resolve in a few weeks. It didn't.
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My last two have had tongue ties - although I wouldn't have been on the look out for them had my sister's first not had such a hard time with his (and getting it properly diagnosed, much less the multiple "clippings" that then occurred). For me it has affected latch but not tremendously. The most obvious thing has been that they were both born with very receded chins - and THAT was what was affecting the latch. My sister and I also have receded chins (to our lifelong dismay) as does our mother, great grandmother, etc. All also had tongue ties at birth that went unfixed (my mom's ped told her ours would just tear on their own, which they did, but not nearly enough - I still have issues and wish it had been corrected as an infant). But we just thought receded chins were sadly in our genes (not realizing there could have been something done about it!!) My first with a tie, I had it clipped at 1 wk and followed with CST with our chiro. He's now 2 and has a great chin and jawline; you wouldn't believe the difference. This time we went to a specialist (who's also a LC) for the tie, and she mentioned that we should see baby's chin come out pretty quickly. Apparently it wasn't the CST (or at least not entirely) that acounted for the vastly improved chin, but rather the tie revision! All this to say, tongue ties can seem to not be a big deal, but it's surprising what they can affect (beyond feeding and speech). I think mine affected my palate (which affected my teeth spacing) which in turn affected my nose breathing (and singing).
I meant to respond to this, but was holding a baby at the time and couldn't type. It's not your fault. It just is, but it's not like you're wishing it on her. So don't feel guilty. I don't know enough about tongue ties to give you any advice other than to not beat yourself up. You're doing a great job so far as a first time mom. Way better than I did with my first from what I've read from your posts.
Oh, mama! :hug It's not your fault!!! You are doing great! You are doing all you can and that is what is important! You are dealing with two hard issues that can cause low supply! I would personally fix the tongue tie, breastfeeding or not. (Honestly, you may find that fixing the tie increases your supply quite a bit!) Several reasons have been outlined above. It is amazing what problems a restricted tongue can cause! Equally amazing is what problems a frenectomy/Tongue tie revision can reverse!!!
