August 2015 Moms

Tongue tie clipped and now struggling

lillyzmomlillyzmom member
edited August 2015 in August 2015 Moms
My baby is 3 weeks old and we took him to an ent today. His tongue tie was so bad he could barely move his tongue and never extended it past his lower jaw. So they clipped it with scissors and I immediately breast fed him. I didn't realize how bad his latch was until he latched prefect after the clip. We went home and he slept. About 5 hours later he woke up to nurse and latched for a few minutes and then pulled off and cried until he finally fell asleep. I cried with him because I felt so bad. Everyone said he would be fine after and no one prepared me that he might be sore for a while. A few hours later he woke up and latched but cried . Now he is content sitting here moving his tongue all over. Anyone have any advice or experience on how long his pain will last? Any advice on the exercise you have to do so it doesn't reattach? I think I decided before a feeding effects the latch so I'm going to do it after the feedings.

Re: Tongue tie clipped and now struggling

  • I've never experienced this. Poor baby. Makes me feel so bad for him. T&p's he heals quickly.
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  • I would give him Tylenol. You would just need to check with your pedi for proper dosage info.
  • Poor little guy, but I'm glad it was caught so early and corrected. I hope it heals quickly and you two are able to have a successful bf'ing relationship.
  • My son had a tongue tie and got it clipped. He was fine a day or two after. He was bottle fed not breastfed so I don't know if that makes a difference.
  • Aww t&go for your LO, hope he has a speedy recovery!
  • Poor baby! Hope he is feeling better soon.
  • My daughter had her tongue tie clipped too, she has been fine nursing fortunately but the Dr. said we could give Tylenol if needed so I would try that with your LO as pp have mentioned. Here is a link to the exercises to do:
    Maybe strengthening his tongue will help with eating?
  • My LO went through the same thing recently. He was fussier and seemed to be in some pain for a couple days afterwards but now, a week and a half out he is fine. His eating has improved and he is not as frustrated on the breast. I know it is hard to see but it is definitely worth it
  • We just had a lactation consultant come out and dx our 6 day old son with tongue tie. Now we are debating about getting it revised but the LC referred us to a pediatric dentist who does it with a laser and its $800 and will not be covered by insurance.. She did not mention to have it just clipped.
    I'm afraid of it making things worse, tempted to give up on breast feeding and just go bottle .... Having such a hard/ painful time and feeling so defeated. :(
  • Do you have a paediatrician? I would have a Dr. look at it if you are on the fence about having it clipped. But personally, I was very on the fence with DD2, Dr. recommended to clip it and I am SO glad we did. It was not a big deal for her at all (was done with scissors at a lactation clinic) and it made bf'ing so much easier. I wish we had clipped DD1's, I think it would have made a big difference with bf'ing!
  • We did ours for our second son in the office when he was three months with scissors.
  • ckoenig87 said:

    We just had a lactation consultant come out and dx our 6 day old son with tongue tie. Now we are debating about getting it revised but the LC referred us to a pediatric dentist who does it with a laser and its $800 and will not be covered by insurance.. She did not mention to have it just clipped.
    I'm afraid of it making things worse, tempted to give up on breast feeding and just go bottle .... Having such a hard/ painful time and feeling so defeated. :(

    You might be able to find a pediatric ENT that will fix it. Tongue ties are fixed by both dental and ENT and ENT is more likely to be covered by medical insurance

    I know it sounds like you are on the fence about fixing it. Just so you know some tongue ties can lead to speech impairments later in life, so even if you switch to the bottle it may be worth it to look into getting it fixed
  • I had my son's clipped by a pediatrics ent. The pediatrician wrote a referral so my insurance covered it because it was necessary. I was on the fence too because the circumsision appeared to have traumatized him and I'm not good with medical procedures. It wasn't bad. They clipped it with scissors and put him on my breasts immediately and he latched awesome. Like I said in my original post tight the next 24 hours were rough but he was fine after that.

    Like the pp said, it can cause speech issues and it's better to do it now when they won't remember.
  • My lo had hers clipped at 24 hours old. Slept and did not nurse well for 24 hours and then did not show any signs of discomfort. She is 5 weeks now and is able to move her tongue all over with ease.
  • My 12 day old is tongue tied. Have appt with pediatric ent on Wednesday to get clipped. He never latched on correctly so I gave into formula by day 5 (I'm not producing much while pumping but still doing it). Hoping he'll be able to latch after and possibly get my milk flowing better.
  • How could you tell? Could you tell by the way your nipple looked?

    My son is latching and his frenulum might need to be clipped. I am going to ask the dr at his 2week..

  • @heath3er my pediatrician looked after i asked him to because i never saw the baby extend his tongue further than his jaw. His was extreme but ask them to look. Some pediatricians don't have experience in tongue ties so you can also ask a lactation consultant to look.
  • When they put my LO on me skin to skin after my c-section I noticed it right away. I had one as a baby so it was something I had wondered if she would get, the nurses had no idea what I was talking about but the doctor saw it and clipped it when they took her for measurements. She was a bit fussy the first day but I'm not sure if that was the cause or if it was the bruise on her head from being smooshed against my pelvis so bad. She was able to latch well right away.
  • I ended up having the pediatric dentist perform a laser lip tie and posterior tongue tie revision. He was cranky for about 3 days possibly from the procedure (or maybe just unrelated) we gave Tylenol the first few days and used homeopathic baby teething gel and frozen flakes of breast milk during the stretches. His latch was immediately better and then, as we were warned by the LC, he regressed. Still working on getting a better/ deeper latch. Both dentist and LC have encouraged pediatric chiropractic work following the revision and say his continued trouble latching could be due to tension. Now I'm on the fence about that.... Anyone do this and see good results or think its worth skipping?
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