Hi all,
Hugs to all those mums who've gone through the stress of a late diagnoses of a tongue tie!
Just thought I'd add my story to the post as well. My baby boy had a tongue tie which wasn't diagnosed till he was two weeks old. He kept lossing weight as he just couldn't suck properly. We had it snipped (VERY simple procedure, hardly any crying or bleeding, so definately reccommend it to anyone) at three weeks.
By then my milk supply was very low as I wasn't pumping (didn't know I had to). After seeing a lactation consoltant, I hired a hospital grade pump and had to pump after every bf. The LC gave DS formula during the consultation as he was starving (way to feel like a bad mum!). She said I'd have to formula feed half quota at every feed till my milk supply went up.
After using every known method of increasing supply (feenugreek, blessed thistle, medication, pumping, switch feeding, extra protein, plenty of water, days of feeding constantly in bed (not worth the stress that one!!!!), good eating, avoiding stress etc) I now BF for 5 feeds, BF + formula for 1 feed (second cluster feed) and formula + expressed breast milk for dreamfeed. DS is 4 months now. Although in saying that DS has a huge appetite - he takes a bottle of 350ml (approx 11 oz) at cluster feed (6pm) and another 150ml (approx 5 oz) at DF, so there is just no way I can produce that much milk!!
So wanted to tell everyone out there that if you can't BF with a tongue tied baby, don't feel bad. I have tried everything under the sun and still can't do it exclusively. Also I'll be asking the OB to check the tongue of the next child I have as soon as it's born (a while off yet!)
Alana
