I wanted to follow up on my last past on breastfeeding with a tongue tied baby for those of you, breastfeeding mamas, that mentioned you were struggling with the same thing.
A few months back I posted about the warning signs for a tongue tied/lip tied baby. If you think you’re baby might be tongue tied I highly recommend you reading that post and then reading this follow up post that will cover even more information. In my last post I shared a lot of info about tongue ties but at the time I still didn’t know for sure if my baby had it or not. After seeing a specialist it was confirmed.
If you’ve been following our breastfeeding journey then you know that we have had more than our fair share of challenges and it took us quite a while to narrow down what was going on. Girly Q would cry for hours, inconsolably, while I held her in my arms. I had several friend tell me it was just colic and that there was nothing I could do but my motherly instinct told me that there was a cause I just had to figure it out. Finally we figured out it was a mix of things going on and we had to solve one puzzle piece at a time. After several months and lots of guessing and trying we narrowed it down to 2 main issues, the first being oversupply which causes a dairy intolerance (and in our case caffeine too) and the second being tongue tie.
After seeing a specialist, she was diagnosed as being partial tongue tied. Partial meaning that the piece of tissue (the frenulum, that connect between the tongue and the bottom of your mouth) still allowed for some movement of the tongue, her frenulum doesn’t fully extend to the tip of her tongue. A full tongue tie would mean the tissue extends all the way to the very tip and would create a heart shape when extending out of the mouth, the partial tongue tie is often not caught or noticed except by a specialist.
By the time we figured all this out Girly Q was already 7 months old and by this time she was already starting to cry less and adapt to life. Because of this, her age and the fact that it was only partial it was decided that surgery could be avoided. I am still so thankful we went because we learned some valuable information that is good to know for any future babies and to pass on to my loyal readers! Because just like you I was searching and searching the internet for information but never found quite what I was looking.
Here’s what I learned:
Tongue ties come in many forms. I spoke on this a little above. There are different degrees of tongue tie depending on where the frenulum is attached to the tongue. Some are easily diagnosed right away while some go unnoticed or misdiagnose. (This was the case with us, I mentioned in my previous post we had a random doctor tell us she just had a lazy tongue but to not worry about ties. Month later I wish I would have researched it a bit more and not taken his word for it, on a subject he didn’t really know anything about.)
Tongue tie is often genetic. Are you or your spouse tongue tied? There’s a chance you are tongue tied and don’t know it! Or if you’re not, you may still want to check with your parents because you may have been snipped at birth and never heard about it.
Check if you are tongue tied: Open your mouth as wide as you can and while keeping your mouth open touch your tongue to the roof of your mouth. My husband and I both tried this exercise and neither of us could touch the roofs of our mouth! I was shocked, I had no idea I was tongue tied. (Note: If you aren’t tongue tied now be sure to check with your parents, you may have had it snipped as an infant.)
If we have more kids they have a high chance of having tongue tie as well. This is true for us since both Corey and I are tongue tied ourselves, I’m not sure how accurate this is if only one parent is/was tongue tied. Knowing this is so helpful though because if we have more kids we can get them checked out right away and hopefully save ourselves the many sleepless nights.
For babies with tongue tie, proper latch is even more important. Proper latch can help a baby with tongue tie get less frustrated. We had a decent latch and were making it by just fine and had no idea that it could be improved. But after having the tongue tie specialist who is also a lactation consultant show us how to reposition for a better latch with better suction I was happily surprised to notice more of baby’s lips flange out! Where as before her upper lip always sucked in even when I tried to flip it out, so seeing more of the under pink side of the lip was a huge success!
I hope this was helpful. Please leave a comment if you have any questions or anything to add from your own experiences!
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sarah says
Good article on tongue ties. My son is tongue tied and was a premie too. He was fed with a tube in first few days and then neo natal nurse had to then teach him how to suck properly. We tried breast feeding but I never felt he was getting enough or latching fully and eventually we were advised to supplement with a bottle. He had lots if issues with colic and was prob due to latch issues. After trying different teats we found a larger one that worked for him and he started feeding better. We asked about getting the tongue tie snipped as I had one removed but my hospital said that they no longer do it here unless under full anaesthetic and he was feeding OK now to leave until later. He’s now a toddler and has seen a paediatric dentist who said the same and won’t do operation until older and only if required if causes speech or gum problems around back if front teeth. He has great speech so will prob leave it alone. I wish I had more help re breast feeding as would have preferred to do it for longer so please seek assistance as we struggled for weeks and it was hard especially as first time mum. I’ll know how to deal with it if next child has one.
Alida TheRealisticMama says
I’m sorry to hear you had such a hard time! It’s amazing how much we learn the first time around and how much better prepared we will be next time because of all the added knowledge we have know. Just reminds me how much we need to be there for other new moms (without being over bearing, of course!).
Sarah says
What kind of specialist did you see for the lip tie problem. I think my 2 month is lip tied and has had several of the symptoms you indicated.
Alida says
Hi Sarah! I went to Little Flower Medicine. Here is the link to their website: https://www.littleflowermd.com. You could also check out Mommypotomus’s blog. She has some amazing articles on the subject as well!
Lizzy says
Love this article! Super informative, thank you!
Would you be able to throw a few tips for how to breastfeed a lip/tongue tied baby. I just noticed my 2 year old has an upper lip tie! And I believe I am tongue tied myself. Breastfeeding was not successful but I am due in 2 weeks with baby 2 and i would love to have position suggestions, just in case she’s tied also.
Thanx ! 🙂
Kristin says
Hi! Thanks for the info. I just found out my 12 wk old has a lip tie and slight posterior tongue tie. He also has a decent latch and is gaining well. He is very gassy and fussy. I have over active let down and oversupply. I feel like I have tried everything! I was curious what you mean when you said oversupply caused dairy intolerance? Would you mind elaborating on that a little more for me as I try to understand all this and how these things are related! Thank you! Your struggle sounds similar to ours.
Alida TheRealisticMama says
The explanation for the oversupply link to dairy intolerance was explained to me by my lactation consultant, I can’t remember the proper terminology, so this is a very non-proffesional answer but basically when you have oversupply the dairy in your body accidentally sneaks into your milk without getting properly broken down first and the baby is getting a dairy (protein, I believe it is) that their little stomachs can’t handle. The diary intolerance won’t last, it’s only until their stomach matures. You can always try cutting dairy for a few weeks and then try it back in and see how baby reacts. *Again, I’m only a mom answering this. We always recommend you see a specialist to make an educated decision.*
LIndsey says
I too would love some advise on how to nurse my lip tied baby. I was about to give up but after reading this I have some hope that we can continue!
Alida TheRealisticMama says
I highly recommend going and seeing a lactation consultant that has experience with tongue-tie if at all possible. I just passed the 1 year mark of breastfeeding and I’m so glad I pushed on. Our latch is still not perfect as baby got really used to nursing wrong but we’ve figured out a system that works for both of us. Depending on the severity of the tie you may have to take care of it before he/she will be able to nurse well enough. It’s very much situation by situation differing to the severity of the tie, so I can’t say for sure what you should do. Also my experience is just my own and I know every baby and mama is so different.
If you try pinching your breast with the same side hand as the breast.So if you are feeding on the right breast, make a C with your right hand, and pinch your breast so your nipple will be easier to grasp for your baby, using your other hand (left in this case) hold your baby’s head and lead them in right as they open their mouth wide. A trick to getting them to open their mouth wider is to place the nipple right under their nose and as they open and reach up for it bring the child’s head in close so they get the best latch. Use pillows to help support the baby as well as you get used to the new latching position, you may even want to recline slightly and see if that helps.
Samantha says
I know that this is an older post but I just wanted to say thank you so much for the information! I am going through some troubles right now with our little man nursing. He is 4 months old and we had issues from the beginning and so we bottle fed him for a few months. Once I quit my job I wanted to exclusively nurse and that’s when the issues started. We have dealt with slow weight gain, green poop (due to the slow weight gain, not allergies) and a fore milk/hind milk imbalance. We now have an appointment to see a pediatric dentist who uses a laser to cut the tongue and lip ties.
We are really hoping that this magically fixes everything! I also just found out that my husband has a tongue tie AND lip tie, but he was bottle fed so no one knew!
Again, thank you for the info and sharing your story! 🙂
Alida says
Thanks for your kind words, I am so glad you found it helpful. It’s a really rough thing to go through especially when you don’t know what’s wrong. Hope the appointment goes well and you have success nursing after!
JASMIN says
What kind of specialist did you see besides a lactation consultant. I suspect my baby has both.
Alida says
I recommend finding someone that specializes in tongue tie/lip tie consultations. After a lot of research I recommend finding someone who can perform frenectomies using the diode laser. Here is some more great information and the specialist that we went to see: https://www.littleflowermd.com/tongue-tie-lip-tie.html. Hope that helps!
Marcie says
This sounds like our story : /
My babe is 7 months and we finally found out she’s tied. Her latch is shallow & sometimes she keeps pulling back so she slips off. It can be frustrating for both of us. She is a fussy one & totally refuses milk from anything but the breast. Please tell me how you story has continued. How have the unrevised ties affected your baby since then?
Alida says
In our case by the time we found our my daughter was already improving. How is your babe doing now?
Marcie says
At 9.5 months things with bf have improved some. She mostly doesn’t pull back anymore, but still doesn’t flange her top lip @ has a shallow latch at times. I’ve had trouble with her digging her teeth in that is probably related to teething also. She eats table food very well without any problems. We will continue our fb journey at least until one year, but I sure wish I could hear from more moms that haven’t revised.
Katie says
Luckily we had a nurse with a granddaughter with a tongue tie who checked my son the day he was born. This was confirmed after his first appointment and the doctor cut his tongue when he was less than one week old. All we had to do was nurse immediately after it was done. I was worried he would be in pain but he screamed more getting weighed naked than for the clipping!
Jennifer Murphy says
Thank you for sharing your story. I’m having my 6 week old son evaluated soon. We have had so many issues beginning with hospitalization at 2 and a half weeks for jaundice. Tongue tie was dismissed as a factor. I wish I had researched it more. Our evaluation is 1 week away, and I was wondering if you have any helpful tips on how to latch my baby in the meantime. I’m desperate. These 6 weeks have been challenging to say the very least. Thank you so much.