BF advice for tounge tie

[maksmom]

I have a friend who gave birth 5 days ago. Her ds is tounge tied, she saw the ped today, and they are referring her to an ENT to hopefully get it clipped. I was hoping her Dr would clip it today. She has cracked and bleeding nipples and of course is in alot of pain. She his hanging in there, but I feel so bad for her. This is her 3rd DS and she has bf the older 2 for atleast a year each, I know she is committed to nursing.

Does anyone have any advice to make things better for her while she waits to get his tounge clipped? Will a nipple shield help her? Any other suggestions?

[ChristmasTree]

i think a nipple shield might give her some relief, but i would not want to say the wrong thing. most Ped's just clip in the office. Not sure why her's did not.

[maksmom]

I've heard that her ped is not the best in town. Of course my kid's dr is ;) but she is not on their insurance, her options may be limited due to that. They knew in the hospital that he was tounge tied, but never mentioned to her that it may be causing her bf problems. They should have clipped it there, imo.

[Sputterduck]

It needs to get cut now. Lots of peds don't, but they should.

My son got his clipped at 15 months and it was a nightmare until then.

[pawprint]

here is it is very hard to find a ped who will clip. i drove 40 mins to another state to have ds's done by a ped who is an ibclc as well. so worth it. clip asap, imo.

[Babyblue]

in most cases its just a tiny little snip and it will be a world of good for her to get it done for her ds to nurse properly. also if a baby is tongue tied and its never snipped it can interfere with speech and having it snipped at a older age can cause a lot of pain and problems.

[pawprint]

me ped doesn't do it in the office, but he did tell me that he clipped his own kid's tongue with a pair of sterilized scissors in his kitchen. not that i'm suggesting that!

[SingingMom]

Oh, paw, I'm trying to imagine. Scissors. In the kitchen. I know there's really no difference but for some reason that just squicks me out.

[Amy_G_]

She's going to have to do as much supportive care for her boobahs as possible.
Have her check out kellymom.com for videos on latching, make sure he's opening as far as possible.
Have her try to nurse on one side only per feeding and let the other side rest for that hour or 2.
Have her use a different position at each feeding, so that the tongue issue will put pressure and damage on a different "side" of the nipple at each feeding so everything is sore instead of one spot being totally bloody. *cringe*

warm water soaks, I'd do Ibuprofen at a high doseage for pain,
lanisoh, heck I'd consider neosporin if she's able to nurse on only one side per feeding.

[jobo713]

My ped wouldn't do it for my son either. We had it done at the ENT at 6 days, and he was bfing in the office immediately after the procedure. There was no care required or complications once we got home.

[KatieLou]

IA it needs to be clipped ASAP. They did not clip DS's untill he was 4 months (almost 5 ) old! They wanted to put him under to do it then, and I was freaking out about it. I got a 2nd opinion, and that man was furius that they did not do it as soon as he was born and we noticed it.

He was very TT and oddly enough it did not cause me pain, so I have no advice on that.

[maksmom]

Thanks for the advice. I am really encouraging her to push to it clipped ASAP. Does anyone have opinions on her using a nipple shield in the mean time? I don't have any personal experience with them.

[KerryS]

me ped doesn't do it in the office, but he did tell me that he clipped his own kid's tongue with a pair of sterilized scissors in his kitchen. not that i'm suggesting that!

I would totally do that. I've seen it done enough that I would comfortably do it myself if it were my child and I couldn't get them in ASAP. Of course, I'm not suggesting that to others.

[KerryS]

Thanks for the advice. I am really encouraging her to push to it clipped ASAP. Does anyone have opinions on her using a nipple shield in the mean time? I don't have any personal experience with them.

My concern with nipple shields is that the baby may have a hard time going back to nursing without them afterwards. Of course, if the choice is between nipple shields and not nursing at all, nipple shields is preferably. Just make sure they fit appropriately. They should fit like a glove around the nipple.

[Babyblue]

I too would snip my own baby’s tongue if I couldn’t get it done elsewhere, it was actually me threatening to do it myself that finally got the ped to do it. also I would snip it myself before ever ever ever having to use nipple shields again. I had to use them the entire nursing relationship with ds, because by the time he got his tongue snipped he was pretty set in his nursing ways. The whole breastfeeding relationship was screwed up because of being tongue tied, the shields eventually led to having less and less milk and ds weaning early because no matter what I didn’t have enough milk for him to grow.

[AlrightyRoo]

I would also remind her that clipping isn't always an immediate fix for a latch. Many babies are used to using their tongues in a certain way due to the restriction and it can take time for them to learn to latch/suck properly. Suck training can be very helpful for these babies.

[pawprint]

I would totally do that. I've seen it done enough that I would comfortably do it myself if it were my child and I couldn't get them in ASAP. Of course, I'm not suggesting that to others.


I would probably do it myself as well, but /i wouldn't advise anyone else too. ;)

[maksmom]

I would probably do it myself as well, but /i wouldn't advise anyone else too. ;)

When Dh and I were talking about this last night, he said, "tell her to bring the baby over here, I'll do it for them." I told him I didn't think they would take him up on his offer. :D

I haven't heard from her in a couple of days, I may have offended her by offering her too much advice, or perhaps she is busy with 3 kids. Just keep her in your thoughts and prayers if you would.