Tongue Tied : The After

It's all done!
The doctor used a special pair of scissors along with a flat two-pronged tool which slides under the tongue and onto either side of the frenulum. She then did a couple of quick snips which I HAD to look away for. There was some blood - not loads, but when we're talking about a newborn baby any blood is too much blood!
With Levi when he was just a few weeks old I was clipping his sweet little finger nails and he had one of those crazy baby reflex things and I clipped the very tip of his precious little thumb. There wasn't actually blood, just a red blood like circle on his thumb, but that was enough to nearly send me into hysterics, while probably stressing him out more with my obsessive, and slightly aggressive apologetic snuggling - like I said, ANY blood is too much. Poor babes!

Owen cried only a minute. It was a pretty sad cry though, and because he also has a blocked tear duct he totally gets teary which is even sadder! Anyway, immediately after I brought him out into the waiting room and fed him, there was a definite change for the better.

I had never heard of this issue of being "tongue-tied" before, which is why I thought I should share. So anyone who hears this about their baby, it is not a big deal, and it's over and done with pretty simply.

Glad that's finished!

Tongue Tied : The Before

So, immediately after birth, our midwife spotted that Owen was what they refer to as "tongue tied". We were informed that it would eventually stretch, but if I was having difficulty nursing we could opt to have it snipped.
Tongue tied means the tissue that connects the tongue to the floor of the mouth comes too close to the tip of the tongue, or is too short, not allowing the baby to freely lift his tongue possibly causing breast-feeding difficulties, or complications in speech later.

The midwives did tell us it would stretch, but in the past week I have actually spoken with two people who had the surgery later in life, either recently or within their memory. This tells me that it does not always stretch. I also read that while it is a very simple procedure with infants it can be much more complex if needed later in life.

Anyway, Owen is gaining weight just dandy, and feeds happily, but for me it hurts like mad, so tomorrow we are having this procedure done. He has difficulty opening his mouth very wide, falls off the breast frequently, and because he isn't able to lift his tongue up for good suction he just clicks away in a fairly shallow latch and ouch! I am also wondering since he can't seem to stay awake while nursing for more than a couple minutes if it is a lot of extra work for him, and he just tires of it quickly.

It's meant to be quick, and they believe painless as there are no nerves in the frenulum (as it is called). I am also told I will immediately notice a difference in nursing. So we'll see how things differ tomorrow, and I hope it isn't too stressful for the little guy because whether it hurts or not they will obviously have to force his mouth open which will not be the most comfortable for him.

I'll let you know how it goes!