Tongue tie and feeding?

[Valley Girl]

Hi everyone. Weird posting here and not in tri 3!!

Toby is just three weeks, and gets really gripey. I remember my other two being quite happy to just sit and be held but Toby loves to suck and likes to change position a lot to keep him entertained. I'm not sure if it is my rose coloured spectacles or not!

He takes a lot of wind in when he feeds, solely breast, and because he loves feeding so much I think he sometimes overfeeds, and therefore has starting bringing up some of his feeds with wind. I'm just starting on Infacol, but hope it will pass over the next few weeks. I also have got him used to a soother and that is a god send. He's gaining weight really well, last week he gained an ounce short of a pound in one week!

When the health visitor left last week he cried, and she asked to look in his mouth. She said he has a very slight tongue tie, not enough to affect his feeding. She said not to worry about it but it may explain why he is taking in so much wind. She said they don't sdo anything about them unless they aren't feeding, and that it won't affect him. But if it making him frustrated, and windy and unsettled all the time, I would much rather they did something about it. I have heard it is just a simple quick snip.

Has anyone any knowledge of this? And are any of your breastfed babies windy? I have his developmental check at 6 weeks, which is only 3 weeks away, they do it early at my surgery. I thought I might ask the pediatrition rather than go to gp.

Any advice or thoughts greatly appreciated!

Vicki x

 

[Full of hope!]

Hi Vicki,

I was born with a tongue tie 28 years ago! My mam told me that the Dr's said that it wasn''t bad enough to do anything about but I couldn't latch onto the breast properly so ended up being fed from a bottle with special teats

Anyway, I had it cut when I was 19! Got referred to hospital for a problem that I had in my mouth and the specialist said he couldn't understand why my tongue tie hadn't been cut when I was a baby! So during my short op he snipped the tie. It was quite sore for a few days after but soon healed up.

I would see your doctor for a second opinion about Toby, if it is his tongue tie thats making him take in lots of wind surely that's affecting him!

Can't advise on the breastfeeding, not had my baby yet!

 

[sananbaz]

Hi Vicki

I have experience of this. My son had a tongue tie and had difficulties feeding for the first three weeks of his life until it was diagnosed. The Health Authority that we're under are very proactive in sorting out tongue ties and my son had the 'snip' within three days of diagnosis. The operation is done conscious and literally takes seconds. There was hardly any blood and he didn't seem at all bothered five minutes later!
I was told that depending on the severity of the tie, the child could grow up with speech problems, be unable to lick an ice cream or french kiss (obviously when they reach adulthood! ). The operation is quick and simple before the age of 4 months, after that it requires a general anaesthetic and is more of a big deal.

Saying that, my brother in law has a tongue tie that wasn't operated on and he seems to cope very well (not sure about the french kissing though - we're not that kind of family!!!).

If you think that the tongue tie is impacting on your son's feeding then I would ask to be referred for a tongue tie assessment by an oro-maxillofacial consultant.

Good luck, and its a good sign that your son is putting on weight nicely, and you never know, he may not even have a tie

 

[Valley Girl]

Thanks ladies. Very helpful posts. I have also stopped using infacol as he's bringing up wind more easily. I too have a really fast let down and fast flow, it squirts everywhere! But he fusses when he can't keep up and I let it flow into muslin while I wind him for a sec. Then it's not so bad.
My hubby and I noticed him sticking his tongue out to end of his lips at weekend, so if it is tied it doesn't seem severe. Will ask pediatrician at Toby's check to have a look.