Tongue tie recovery

We had our tongue tie procedure last week. Which technique was used for yours? My baby’s was done with the scissors. Other than the daily exercises they gave us to do in her mouth, we have just been putting her on the breast more. We’ve seen an improvement but still not a deep latch. How has the first day gone for you?

@Ellen oh hope your little one is ok! Yes similar to be honest - slightly deeper and he’s definitely getting more from me but I’m relatching a lot trying to get him to open up. We had scissors too. She told us to push his tongue up to the roof of his mouth before each feed, which he absolutely hates of course! Is that what you’re doing? And pulling his chin down at several points during the day.

Both my kids have had tongue tie. It will take awhile of doing the exercises post snip to get the latch right as they need to get used to the new range of motion for their tongue. Guppy stretch is good, an oball (can get off amazon) to encourage them to poke their tongue out, there should be quite a few exercises the midwife gave for your to do (I do them twice a day with my newborn who had their snip over a week ago). Like runn your finger slowly along their gum so their tongue follows it, finger at the back of their jaw and get them to bite down 5 times each side so you can help stretch their jaw, run finger under top lip, put both fingers under tongue right at the back and roll finger forward and up while pulling bottom jaw down, etc.)

@Natasha oh thank you! She didn’t mention some of these exercises, so this is super useful. And good to know it still takes a while 😊

@Kate I’ll send a photo of the instructions we were given, similar to you but not every feed, and there’s a few other exercises too.

@Ellen that would be so great - thank you!

I’m not sure how else we are supposed to help them learn to latch :/ I’m going back to see a lactation consultant next week if I can get in.

@Ellen yes I was thinking that would be a good idea. Do you have good options in your area? I might call La Leche League as well, some friends have said they are really good on the phone. I’ve also been recommended to take him for cranial osteopathy to help him heal/take the tension out of the muscles he has been using to overcompensate.

As much breastfeeding as possible keep working on the latch when my lo had her's sorted it made all the difference just keep at it and I you need/want to talk to anyone about it message me there's a few free/cheep breastfeeding specialists that can help you with latching too if u need it and remember it shouldn't be painful when u feed x

My son had his tongue tie snipped at 2/3 weeks and we were never given exercises! Is this a US vs UK thing, I wonder? Luckily, things have turned out really well for us and he feeds efficiently and ebf now. I just continued to latch him how I was taught to.

We had tongue tie snipped on Tuesday and never given any exercises, these are super helpful / going to try them out!

How did you know your baby was tongue tied? My little girl is 7 days old and really struggling to latch :/ she gets a good latch and comes straight off again it’s taking me 2 hours to feed and I’m ready to give up

@Be go through ur midwife or health visiter and tell them you want ur lo checked for it it's something that unfortunately quite often gose unnoticed x

@Be the tell for us was that my baby’s weight plateaud and he was having super long feeds (over an hour) after which he’d still be hungry. I asked my midwives and they sent me to a breastfeeding class where another midwife diagnosed it officially and referred us for the procedure. Do you have an appt coming up where you could ask a midwife to check? I don’t know why they don’t just check anyway, it seems so simple!

@Beth so glad to hear this! Well done to all of you 😊 How long did it take you to get him latching really well after the procedure?

@Kate I actually have an appointment Monday. My lo feeds for 2-3 hours every time and still screams bloody murder when I finally take her off 😵‍💫 I’m at my wits end all I do is feed or try and stop her crying it’s soul destroying

@Be poor you that sounds really tough! But it sounds like you are doing everything you can for her. Hope you can get some answers on Monday 🤞🤞

@Kate yeah I am lucky where I am and have some decent options. I’ve booked a chiropractor appointment for her tomorrow that a friend recommended too. Let me know if you go to a cranial osteo, that sounds interesting.

@Beth I’m in Australia. The paediatrician told me the cut can heal the wrong way and especially the tongue can reform. But this was with the scissors method, how was your release performed?

@Be for me feeding was really painful, she could only get on to the nipple, had blisters on her lip, my nipple was flat after she would feed; I was getting cracks etc on nipples and it got too painful to feed.