Lip Tie?

kitkat824

Hi ladies,

I believe my 11 week old daughter is suffering from an upper lip tie.  I attempted to breastfeed, but was only able to do so for about a week due to the extreme pain it caused me.  I let it go on for too long with an incorrect latch and things got to the point that I couldn't even pump without awful pain, so my supply dwindled.  I even had an LC attempt to help me in the hospital.  She never checked for or even mentioned a lip tie.  The possibility of a tie never occurred to me until I was searching through these forums a few days ago. 

My daughter is (bottle) feeding ok and gaining weight well according to the pediatrician (she's a little thing at 9lb 7oz as of her two month appt a couple weeks ago, but was born at 7lb 5oz).  However, I've always thought she seemed to suck extra hard on the bottle nipple.  I've also noticed that her upper lip has always flanged inward when she's eating, not outward like her bottom lip.  Upon investigation, I discovered that her lip is completely connected to her upper gum all the way down and possibly even to the palate. 

I contacted my pediatrician who advised me to wait until her 4 month appointment so he could evaluate it since she is gaining weight well and otherwise happy.  I have also contacted several pediatric dentists to get their opinions - just waiting to hear back from them.  In the mean time, I am wondering if anyone has had experience with something similar and what their plan of action was/is?  If it needs to be clipped to improve her quality of life, I would rather do it sooner than later.  Trying to decide whether or not to call the pediatrician back and insist on an appointment within the near future instead of waiting until January at 4 months. 

Thank you for your insights!

SmrBrd2012

Hello! Some quick background: I had some increased pain while nursing at the hospital after giving birth but two LCs noticed nothing. This pain got much much worse with bleeding. A visiting nurse a week later said DS looked like he had a lip and tongue tie. I didn't really believe her or the 2nd visiting nurse because the ones at the hospital didn't notice anything. I ended up also having to supplement with formula although luckily I was able to keep pumping until I gave in and saw a pediatric dentist when DS was 6 weeks old. They took care of the ties and DS immediately starting nursing/taking bottles better. His upper lip also curved inward like you mentioned.

I was also unsure of if I should go ahead with the procedure, especially since he was gaining weight just fine with the breastmilk/formula combo. I decided to do the procedure since I was still lactating and could hopefully continue nursing, and also, because sometimes there can be problems with tongue ties and speech later. I'm not sure if lip ties are associated with speech problems though.

Honestly I don't think the pediatrician will be able to help you much since they don't specialize in lip/tongue ties. I think you should request an appointment with the pediatric dentist directly. Mine was so knowledgeable about symptoms/outcomes and the first appointment to figure out if there was even a problem was free of charge.

scain76

My 8 week old LO was tongue and lip tied we got her lazer instead of clipped by a pediatric dentist. More expensive but worth it less chance of infection and heals quickly

missdaccortezz

I had my sons clipped at 6 weeks. We've been amazing since!

kitkat824

Thanks ladies! I have made an appointment with our ENT doctor for a consultation. Glad to hear success stories of getting ties revised!

shaley29

I had the same issue although I was able to push through the pain until about 9 weeks. It broke my heart to stop but my supply went capoot. Like you no one mentioned a lip tie, and the pathetic LC in the hospital helped me for a whole minute. I will be bringing it up at her 4 month check up though. She eats ok on the bottle, and is definitely gaining weight just fine. I'm more concerned about speech and her teeth at this point

kitkat824

@shaley29 I feel the same way - don't want it to negatively affect her down the line with speech/orthodontics.

The LC I had was the same way.  She came in, shoved my boob in my daughter's face, asked me if it hurt and left.  I am a FTM and wasn't sure what her definition of "hurt" was.  It didn't feel wonderful but at that point the pain was minimal compared to what I'd just been through!  Glad to hear that you made it through 9 weeks of bf, that is definitely an accomplishment with this issue!  Thanks for your response