Breastfeeding was something I had really really really wanted to make work and although the baby immediately latched on at the hospital we struggled to get good latches the first few weeks. Thank god for the Brestfriend pillow. That thing was a lifesaver. I also had to live by the definition of insanity, doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results when it came to positions for latching. But once week two hit I was still in a ton of pain when he latched initially and my nipples were cracking and being ripped off and showing no signs of improvement. So I made an appointment with an IBCLC would just also happened to be my doula too. She came and accessed my latch, position, etc. and that looked good so she looked into his mouth to see if a tongue tie might be the issue. Low and behold although she was not a medical professional she was pretty sure it was a tie. And after learning what a tie was exactly and hearing the symptoms (clicking noise while eating, excessive gas, nipple pain, chomping of the mouth vs a fluid suck/swallow motion, and difficulty latching) I was pretty positive that is what he had because we had almost every single symptom except poor weight gain which is why up to this point no one had mentioned it as he was gaining weight well.
She recommended that we consult a professional for an evaluation for a revision if we were interested and gave us resources. She also shared her experience with ties and that lasting affects they can have on kids such as speech problems, etc. I was relived to have finally figured out why I was in so much pain but also so anxious to get a revision done there was no thinking about it for us after hearing the lasting affects. And also because at this point I was dreading feeding my son and I was doing that about 10 - 12 times a day and he did not take a bottle yet. I literally looked forward to the nights because I knew he'd sleep longer and I'd get a break from the pain. Once we had the resources I spent the next waking hours researching and trying to find out who I was going to call first thing the next morning. I also had reached out to a Facebook friend about her experience and a facebook group for tongue tied for any advice. After exhausting all the dentists we were referred to for a revision vs an ENT for an immediate appointment in hope to find some relief although I was skeptical based on information from my IBCLC as well as the trusted chiropractor we go to. They warned me that something an ENT would do would not be the full revision and would likely grow back even with stretches under the tongue. But I wanted to see if it would help at all because I was in a lot of pain several times a day when I breastfed.
So we went to the appointment the doctor came in said the procedure was no big deal and it'd be over in a few minutes and that I could nurse immediately after. I of course asked about stretches and he said no need and I also asked about when I'd be able to notice a difference he said in a few days. I was skeptical but that was all I could do at that moment. So we went for the procedure poor boy screamed like heck but between my MIL, the nurse, and myself we held him down while the doctor clipped his tie. I immediately nursed him afterwards and he fell asleep as we left the hospital.
The weekend went on and no change at all. I had already made an appointment with one of the dentists for the following Friday in case this first plan of attack didn't work. Luckily when I called I must have really sounded desperate as I got a call Monday morning from the office saying the dentist had returned early from vacation and there was an opening Tuesday afternoon. I said great I'll be there. I finally felt like I was going to reach a point of relief. In fact I had counted down the number of feedings I had left until we would be at the office for a revision.
In the meantime we went to a cranial sacral therapist (CST) on Monday who works with babies who have tongue ties. She did some initial therapy on him to help ease the affects to his body. And we would be seeing her several days and weeks after the revision. We also were recommended to do supervised tummy napping which we did and he's been a tummy sleeper ever since!
On Tuesday my mom drove with me to Dayton for the revision and my husband met us there. Once we got there we saw the dentist and he did an evaluation and confirmed a tongue tie was present and that 3mm was needed to be lasered and cauterized. He explained the procedure: numbing gel, then a quick 30 second laser all while baby was wrapped in a swaddle with special laser sunglasses. We agreed and said lets get this over with. So we got to stay in the room with Lincoln and talk to him during the procedure and help hold his feet. It was literally one minute and we took him directly back into the lactation room and nursed him. He took a few minutes to figure out how to use his new tongue mobility in fact I had to switch sides to his favorite boob in order to help him latch properly. I immediately could feel that he was moving his tongue better but also knew it would take time to kick the bad habits he had created from the tie. But that's all he knew from birth so you couldn't blame the kid.
After the revision the doctor came in to review the exercises with us and tell us we needed to do them 3 times a day for a month. We also knew we would be going to the CST a few times and she would also help to make sure the revision was healing correctly.
At about a month post revision was when things finally healed. The first week post revision we didn't know if Lincoln was in pain from the revision or in pain from his tummy problems so we did some baby Tylenol and arnica liquid. And ultimately he was really in pain from a bad case of colic that we never really realized he had until he was 10 weeks old. Looking back the top things that made this whole situation turn out for the best was persistence on my part to not give up, my husband's support in every aspect, my ability to google and reach out to people I never really talked to ever or haven't talked to in years and lastly my ability to look behind the typical medical protocol. I was a believer in therapies like bodywork done by a CST and chiropractic adjustments. In fact a went to a chiropractor my entire pregnancy. These alternatives therapies were monumental in the healing of Lincoln's tongue tie but also in the ability to deal with the stress of a high needs colicky baby without having to hear crying for several hours a day. And these techniques weren't invasive, they were all very gentle and to be honest Lincoln loved it. He slept through most of the bodywork sessions until he was about 8 weeks.
Now whenever someone says they're having trouble breastfeeding and their kid has a lot of gas or reflux I suggest they get looked for tongue ties. I 100% believe it's a condition that is overlooked but can be corrected with a little hard work and persistence.
If there is a baby #2 we will make an appointment to see the dentist Dr. Coleman as soon as baby is born to get evaluated because ties are genetic and if we have another baby with a tie we don't want to wait until it's 3 weeks old to get revised.
The wound healing
Our little tummy napper
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