Overcoming a tongue tie 🍼🤱🏻

When Bowie was first placed on my chest his little face looked at the size of my boobs, and he had a frightened expression on his face 😂 😧. He was placed near my nipple and well, nothing happened. I noticed his tongue was shaped like a cute little heart and mentioned this to the midwife who had delivered him. I thought that he might be tongue tied. She said it would be fine and some babies take their time to get the hang of feeding. This stance backed up all I had been told by the health visitors that saw me prebirth.

Due to some complications with my fast birth due to being induced, because of my gestational diabetes, I was unable to feed Bowie straight away. Luckily we were prepared and he was fed by his dad with some with colostrum I had pre expressed. For those of you not aware this is the “liquid gold” the breast can produce before your milk comes in.

I hand expressed as recommended for gestational diabetes from 36 weeks as this can boost the baby when born to help them with blood sugar levels. There is some great you tube clips out there and again great advice on the Gestational Diabetes UK website on the use and methods for collecting colostrum. My husband and I would sit for at least an hour on the sofa each night; me massaging my breasts and hand expressing and my husband sitting there patiently with syringe in hand, collecting the colostrum drops as it came out! Believe me this isn’t an easy thing, and even harder when you have big boobs!! I remember the tears and the feeling of exhaustion and sheer frustration while doing this. Especially one night when he accidentally squeezed out the whole nights work of the syringe in seconds. I was heart broken. I really struggled to get this to work at first but saw a breastfeeding specialist at the hospital; who showed me in person, the correct technique. I must say I would have given up without that support.

So why would I mention colostrum in a tongue tie post?!?

Well to start, Bowie was failing his blood sugars, I hadn’t slept in three days and we were still in hospital. He had only just tried to suckle on my breasts but he wasn’t really getting anywhere. My nipples were cracked and sore and well, colostrum seemed to be the only thing I could provide for him. Now I’m not saying this is for everyone but gestational diabetes or not I would harvest colostrum again just in case. As it gave me the peace of mind that I had given my son something.

We did top him up with formula as he struggled to feed and the two combined meant we could go home. Now this isn’t a debate of boob vs formula or a judgement on anyone’s choices but for us without that little top up we would have had to stay in the hospital.

So once we made it home I became aware I was producing so much milk and barely feeling empty after each struggled feed, expressing became my only relief, but still Bowie was grumpy at a certain point of night. It got to the point that I needed to get the formula out again and topped Bowie up as he was so frustrated at the feed he was getting from me.

I was expressing all day, attempting to feed Bowie myself and then handing him over to his dad with a bottle. This was exhausting, I found he was never satisfied and I was constantly pumping. I had managed to buy some nipple shields online that also helped. These are like a nipple of a bottle that goes over your own nipple, and I was instantly surprised how much difference this made to Bowie’s feeding. I got mine from haakaa originally as I had so much success with their silicone breast pump. I also used the Medela ones too in medium.

I was so tired at this point we decided to see a lactation consultant as I was convinced the tongue tie was causing the issue.

Bowie was diagnosed with a double tongue tie where the front (from the tip) and the back was tied, therefore he had no movement of the tongue, so his latch wasn’t there and the back of his tongue couldn’t pull the milk out. We at this point decided to have it cut. Again this isnt for everyone and I am not an expert but as a family we felt this was what we wanted to do to improve Bowie’s feeding.

I remember sitting in the room with all the other parents waiting to be seen at King’s Hospital (three weeks after he had been diagnosed), worrying that Bowie would have to wait ages to have his tongue cut and be upset and hungry, as he hadn’t fed as per the guidelines before the procedure. Luckily we didn’t wait long and I had to leave Bowie to have his tongue snipped.

I sat waiting in a breast feeding chair, wondering how much difference it would make. Those few seconds made me realise I was doing the right thing for my son and that I would no longer have to stress about where my nipple shields were, or rush to sterilise them before his next feed and I could use that time for extra cuddles. He came in and latched straight on!! I couldn’t believe the difference I felt. He ate quickly and was weighed after the feed and took 100mls in a few minutes. An amazing difference as he wasn’t screaming and annoyed with hunger afterwards.

Now if I thought the trying to feed him was hard before, the aftercare is just as tiring!

We had to wake Bowie every two to three hours and make him feed to ensure the tongue tie didn’t reattach. It felt like a constant lucid dream, the alarm going off and then after the feed deciding what to do in that time from eating, washing or sleeping. For you nerds out there it was like that episode of battle star galactica where the cylons attacked every 33 mins. 🤣😂

As well as the feeding, which we did continually for two weeks, we also had exercises to do to strengthen the tongue. Most of these can be found on you tube under Luna lactation. The other tip I was given was to get Bowie a silicone whisk to play with. This was an inexpensive way to strengthen his tongue. As Bowie licked and wrapped his tongue around the parts of the whisk I could see the movement improve.

Positioning is also important. Much can be done to ensure the baby gets a strong latch other than the standard cradle position (which never worked for us with my boobs!!). I got some good advice from my local breast feeding support group and found my own way of dealing with my large cup size and Bowie’s feeding needs through trial and error. I will do a post on this soon to explain how raised legs and cushions can help you with this.

So for two weeks I fed Bowie religiously, and lived like a zombie, but from this point onwards Bowie would no longer take a bottle, so became exclusively breast fed.

To support his feeding further we saw a cranial osteopath. This is the alternative for some tongue tie babies to having their tongues snipped. We did this in addition as Bowie never had a deep latch and was very compressed in his movements from his jaw and neck to his shoulders. I must say I truly believe this aided us in our feeding as well as Bowie’s general movement and strength. Here’s a lovely picture of him with Jackie and Teresa who worked with him. Please feel free to contact me for their details if you feel this is something you would to try.

So this was our tongue tie experience and at the end of it we managed to feed straight from the breast and are enjoying every moment of it. Again I need to say this was our choice and journey. Breast feeding isn’t for everyone and I am not an expert in any shape or form. Some people choose not to, and find their baby is happier with a bottle. Different people have different reasons for breast feeding or not, wether they express and use a bottle, exclusively feed from the breast, combi-feed or use formula. A mother should never feel she failed her baby or be judged for her choice.

We as a family had to use a mixture of both to get our little boy started. I am just a Mum that hadn’t budgeted for formula and wanted to give breast feeding a go. I am so proud of our journey and the bond we have created whilst feeding. My favourite moment of each day is our milky cuddles in bed first thing in the morning.

I hope this blog post helps people who are struggling to understand a tongue tie and what that means. Here we are with silver boobies (six months later) trying solid foods for the first time and seeing where our milky journey goes. Any comments or questions are welcome and don’t forget to subscribe and add us to your Instagram xx

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