Lip Tie fixed and now baby won't eat - Help!

RachelCA29

I had my LO's tongue and upper lip tie clipped this morning. He nursed okay right after it was done (I still had to use my nipple shield to get him to latch though) but they told me his mouth was still probably numb from the freezing. The doctor told me to nurse as I normally do (with my shield) until I can follow-up with my LC and the baby has had time to heal/get used to the new movement a bit (he is 4 weeks).

His upper lip is really swollen, which they warned me about, and he is VERY fussy today (which they also warned me about). The problem is he WON'T nurse. I think it's too painful for his upper lip to latch. He's woken up a few times hungry, and I've tried to so gently nurse him with and without my shield and he just screams. He will maybe latch for 60 seconds at a time to nurse, and then he is too upset.

Then I try to calm him by rocking him and he falls asleep for while. He's nursed probably a total of 5 minutes since 9 am this morning. I know he is supposed to be more efficient at nursing with the tongue tie corrected, but I don't think he is THAT efficient. And he falls asleep and wakes up hungry every 20-30 minutes. He usually goes a good 3 hours between sessions during the day. I also tried a Dr. Brown's bottle, it's got the smallest nipple of all the bottles we have, but the same thing happens. As soon as he sucks on it a bit he gets super upset.

Has anyone dealt with this after a tongue/lip tie correction? How long did it take to heal/nurse normally? Anyone have suggestions for getting food into this baby?

pistolpackinmomma

Just my uneducated guess but I would guess it's still fairly painful for him to suck on stuff. Maybe try using a syringe and squirt some expressed milk in his mouth for him to swallow?

usernewname

As much as they say they don't bug the babies. They do. His mouth probably is sore.

Not the same but DS was the same after his circ. I panicked because he wouldn't wake to to eat and wanted to sleep. I was full on crying and DH was at work.

Eventually he woke and was a hungry bunny. I read online babies sleep to heal and get through the pain.

So babe is probably okay and just needs to sleep it off. I know it's hard though because they need to eat. But forcing it will only upset you more and ds. Hang in there. It will pass in a few hours.

jcf2133

We had the laser version to fix DDs ties. Have you tried sugar water on your nipples or finger for sucking? It soothes and encourages sucking. DD only wanted to suck on things revision day, but wasn't getting much. We have done dropper or medicine cup for getting food in previously, so that would've been our plan if she hadn't done fine on bottles. We are ten days out, and she's finally getting the hang of BF, but the second day was much more normal than the first. If you're not on the Facebook page for tongue tie, you should be- great support and resources, including many of the prominent docs.

kb2bkk

DD2 had both her tongue and lip ties released. Our paperwork told us that if she seemed to be in pain we could give her a dose of Tylenol. We never needed to but might be worth looking into.

RachelCA29

Thanks everyone. He woke up hungry and finally took a bottle. We gave him some baby Tylenol as well since he just looked miserable. No luck nursing yet, but he seems to be okay with bottles for now. I've got some serious pumping to do since I have nothing left stashed in the fridge.