So if you follow me on twitter and read my last post, you know Baby K and I are having some issues getting it together in the nursing department.
We went today for a consult back at the hospital and met with a very lovely lactation consultant. We tried several things and made a little progress but between her tiny mouth and my larger… well… you know! and the fact that she may have a tongue-tie issue, we just couldn’t quite make it work.
This being my third child and third attempt at breastfeeding, I am not THAT stressed about it. I feel in my heart of hearts that it will eventually work and am willing to do whatever I have to for that to be the case.
I just wish it could be easier, like a “piece of cake,” you know? Is that really too much to ask?
I mean I kinda gave up too early with The B Man and then was spoiled by the fact that it was SO easy with Little G (despite a NASTY case of Mastitis). But I LOVED nursing Little G, especially since it’s so good for them and once it gets going it’s just so easy. Not to mention, I personally HATE washing bottles and the smell of formula and it’s various outcomes (a.k.a formula spit-up and poop).
So right now, we are going to continue working on it while I pump and we may have to see a doctor about the tongue-tie, which could possibly involve snipping the frenulum below her tongue, in order for her to be able to suck correctly. (this is supposedly NOT a big deal…).
The good news is I have good supply and that alone keeps a smile on my face and baby fed.
If you have any experience with the tongue-tie thing, let me know, I’d like to know what you have to say. And also, keep your fingers crossed that we can make it work, even though I know we can!! 😉
While I personally not have had any experience with tongue tie, I know many people on a natural birth and parenting board I belong to have had the frenulum clipped. They have all said that it’s no big deal and in most cases, the baby latches right after it’s done.
I will pray for you! I hope Baby K gets the hang of it & I am glad you have a good supply!
I’m sorry, I don’t have any advice other than to say hang in there!!
I’m sorry, I don’t have any advice other than to say hang in there!!
Oh yuck. I hope the solution is an easy one. I know you know the benefits of nursing and are committed, but don’t kill yourself with guilt either. Just do what is best for everyone!
Oh, and G will adjust in due time.
I wish I could offer some truly fantastic wisdom. I think you already know the main thing- don’t stress. I have had 4 kids and tried to breast feed all of them- it went well with 2 of them.
I hope it continues to get easier.
Are you pumping too? I only pumped with LM and it still felt just as rewarding.
my sister’s middle child had the tongue tie issue. they did cut the frenulum and then she could stick her tongue out of her mouth. (my sister also had other issues that made breast feeding quite unpleasant for her so i don’t know if it would have made that easier or not) it didn’t seem to be any big deal.
good luck with the breast feeding of your little princess! 🙂
Hang in there, it took us some time to get it all figured out but once we did, I am with you, not having to wash bottles is a GOOD thing. I know lots of people that just pump and feed that way too. Whatever works.
The best part is your attitude! Keep that and you will be fine:)
I hope you guys can work it out, and I definitely wish it was going better – I wish it was “a piece of cake” for you, actually. Hoping things get better in the next few days . . . good for you for hanging in there!
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Neither of my boys was able to latch when they were born. I tried everything under the sun. A lactation consultant after my first son was born actually told me to give up. That made me more determined than anything to make it work. After a nasty case of double mastitis I pumped 3 months for him. Then I used a nipple shield and eventually he nursed without it until he was almost one.
My little guy was born with and still has a slight tongue tie. He was able to nurse with a shield after about a month of me pumping. He is still nursing to this day.
I have taken the little guy to have his tongue tie looked at numerous times. If it does not cause problems with tongue thrust for nursing/bottles/eating they will typically not do anything about it. My suggestion to you, please see a dentist that specializes in these procedures. Yes, ENT’s will do them, but they put kids under general anesthesia when it could be done by numbing the area in seconds. I know this because we took my little guy to have his tongue looked at again for another issue and are still waiting. If you want a fabulous website to look at for information let me know. One of the top notch specialists in tongue tie is in our area (my dentist as a child – not who we go to). His website is amazing and has a wealth of information that I looked at when JSL was a baby.
Good luck!
Hey, good for you for staying strong and pumping. I totally agree with you about the formula puke and poop- nasty stinky.
Audrey had tongue tie (still does) and it was pretty tricky to get her to nurse, but eventually she did. My ped, who is freakin’ awesome, said that you should see a very experienced doc and be careful when snipping the frenulum, b/c the tongue is so vascular.
Have you tried a n1pple shield?
Hey there…
First of all – CONGRATS!
Second of all – my son had his frenulum clipped. It was way harder on ME than him. We took him to an ENT to have it done and it literally took 3 seconds. Hudson screamed bloody murder when they put the flavored numbing agent on, so I’m not sure how much it hurt him since he was already screaming. It bled for a second, but he latched on and nursed within a minute of the procedure. Ask your doctor (if you choose to do it) if you can nurse immediately. It will be a bit messy (b/c her mouth may bleed a bit), but it’s the best comfort.
In my opinion, the heel stick stuff and vaccine shots are WAY more painful and heartbreaking than the frenulum clip.
Good luck – whatever you decide – but it did help us (and my poor nips) tremendously!
So odd, never heard of this issue until a friend of mine had a new daughter a couple of weeks ago. They had it snipped, took about two seconds (beware, lots of blood involved because of the area) but she was right as rain in a couple of days, and nursing like a champ.
I had tons of issue with breast feeding my oldest. It just didn’t work. And with the triplets, well I didn’t even try. I knew my limits and 4 kids under two and trying to breast feed that was it.
I have always wondered what it would be like to breast feed a baby, easily. I have seen my friends with their kids and they just look at natural and beautiful. Makes me want an other baby to try and breast feed. But that is something I will never know.
Jake, one of my triplets, was tongue tied. It really was no big deal and he didn’t have his procedure until just a few months ago. He never had any eating issues and the procedure was not a big deal at all.
Do you read Carabee’s blog ‘Land of Bean’? Her daughter was tongue tied and had the procedure very young and she breast fed her.
Both my kids were tongue tied. It didn’t interfere with my son’s feeding so we didn’t do anything about it and he outgrew it. With my daughter, breastfeeding was a killer. Like you, I was determined not to give up! We ended up having her frenulum clipped when she was just over two months old. The biggest issue was finding a doc who was willing to do it so young as most of them wanted us to wait until she was at least a year old. When we found a doc, he did it right in his office in about three minutes. If she had been older, we’d have had to put her under anesthesia for the very short procedure, which I didn’t want. Plus, I wanted her to be able to nurse. I’d say within a week, she was nursing so much better and I was pain free finally. It could have been sooner than that but my brain has been eaten by this pregnancy and I can’t remember but I know it was quick! Let me know if you have any other questions!
Oh man, I know this. Little mouth, big whoohas. 🙂
My first was only slightly tongue tied, not majorly and it stretched as he grew but the first 6 weeks were excrutiating for me as he latched and then broke latch and then latched and then broke latch. I had cracked and bleeding nipples and it was just no fun at all.
but we did stick it out and I was able to nurse him ’til he was 13 months old.
Second time around, it’s been MUCH better. 🙂 We’re 10 weeks into this and things are going very good. I hope it works out for you and Baby K! 🙂
Elaine,
I wish I had some amazing words of wisdom about this, but I do not…I hope you will get some relief soon and that the doctor is able to take care of the tongue-tied issue quickly. I have heard it’s not bad at all, and agree that it will probably be harder on you!! I’m so sorry you’re struggling with this, it must be so frustrating…hang in there!
Hey, girl. I’ll be praying for y’all!
Couldn’t for the life of me get my son to latch on and then when my daughter was born, I tried again and gave up. Both were formula babies, so I have no advice for you here. I am so glad you are home though and slowly feeling better – she is an angel and you are an awesome Momma 🙂
Hi Elaine
Oh how I wish it was “a piece of cake” for you beautiful girls. I am praying for you. I have heard some mothers at playgroup mention the tongue tie issue and they had said that nipple shields did help. I wish I could offer you more information.
Thinking of you xx.
Hang in there!! either way she will get fed….do not guilt yourself!
Cole has severe neck issues when he was born and would not latch due to pain in his neck..so after 3 weeks of trying and him losing weight I went 100% pumping for 7 months and loved it. Tim could help me with feedings and I stocked the freezer full and even managed a quick weekend getaway! I am planning on pumping with the twins I enjoyed it so much.
I never judge anyone when it comes to nursing, whatever works is how I see it. If mommy is relaxed , baby (and rest of house) is too!
Good luck!
Hang in there!! either way she will get fed….do not guilt yourself!
Cole has severe neck issues when he was born and would not latch due to pain in his neck..so after 3 weeks of trying and him losing weight I went 100% pumping for 7 months and loved it. Tim could help me with feedings and I stocked the freezer full and even managed a quick weekend getaway! I am planning on pumping with the twins I enjoyed it so much.
I never judge anyone when it comes to nursing, whatever works is how I see it. If mommy is relaxed , baby (and rest of house) is too!
Good luck!
Sorry to hear it isn’t going smoothly – it’s amazing how different nursing is with each kid. It was a nightmare with my first and I am honestly surprised looking back that I nursed him for a full year. And of course my newest baby just makes it look easy. I hope things work out soon and you can just enjoy the ease of nursing over formula and pumping. 🙂
My MIL says my husbands tongue was snipped like that and it wasn’t a big deal.
Hope it helps the problem, and kudos to you for not letting this stress you out un-necessarily.
I’m glad you are not stressing about it. It will work out. You’re in my thoughts!
We had a tongue-tie issue, too. I spoke with our 1)Neonatologist, who said don’t clip. Our 2) laction expert said to clip. Our 3) pediatric dentist said he couldn’t do it. The 4) Home Health nurse thought it should be clipped but didn’t know who to go to. Our 5) pediatrician wouldn’t do it. We called the 6) ENT and they didn’t think it needed to be done, either. Seriously, round and round we went!!!!!!!!! With all of Zach’s other issues, we just let it go and moved on to the more major stuff and I pumped. Pumped and pumped!!! Sadly, after 6 months and low supply the entire time, I threw in the towel b/c I wasn’t producing enuf for him. I loved the moments of nursing we tried. Home health did before/after weight checks~~which I HIGHLY RECOMMEND~~ and he was gaining nothing but had a great latch. W/o knowing the before/after wt checks, we would have just kept on trying and not known. I do wish you the best of luck and let me know whether you clip or not. We are still keeping it in the back of our mind for the future. Best wishes!!!!!!!!!!!!
Breast feeding didn’t work out for me the first time, and I was so stressed out about it I didn’t even try the second time. I think the third go around I will try again.
Good luck! I hope it works out!
Luke and Claire both had to have their tongues clipped…it was SO not a big deal. Luke didn’t even cry or bleed and Claire did a little. We went to an ENT and I would do it earlier rather then later 🙂 Claire also had nursing issues, but hang in there…we worked them out and I know you can too 😉
You guys can do it!! Nadia and I also had BFing issues (I think related to her being born early and not getting to even try nursing until Day #2 because of my ICU craziness) and it took over a month and lots of visits to the LC for her to successfully latch on even with nipple shields…but it was SO WORTH it! We both loved breastfeeding for 15 months, and I still sometimes miss it. E-mail me if you wanna talk more! Hugs…and, don’t stress too much over it!
You’ve done it before, and you can do it again! I had trouble breastfeeding because my twins were preemies, and they were, well, twins! I pumped when they couldn’t suck, but I never had a great milk supply. If you can make it work, breast is best, but I only did it for 6 or 7 weeks. Good luck!