Leith's not well (and I can't believe I just spelled his name with a double 'e')

[snowcowgirl]

Leith has tongue tie. Therefore, he's "nipple feeding" rather than breast feeding. He has problems sucking, although he attaches well, and is unable to massage the milk from my breast with his tongue. He often gets overwhelmed when a big let down (milk flow) occurs and stops sucking after that. On top of this, he likes to fall asleep on the breast

Comments

[ayla22]

Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. Tongue-snipping sounds painful. =(

Are there any alternatives to surgery? I heard once about women who donate breast milk to babies whose mothers have died, and what happens with that is the donor's milk gets suctioned out of the breast and put into a bottle. Perhaps that's an option for you? As in, you could have your breast milk taken out of you then have it fed to Leith by bottle. That way, perhaps he'd get the "end of the feed", the fatty milk that he needs. And you'd know how much he's drinking during a particular feed.

I hope it all works out alright. =)

[snowcowgirl]

I've heard that the procedure isn't that hardcore and hopefully shouldn't hurt more than an injection... And yeah, I'm going to try expressing my milk (ie. putting my milk in a bottle) after he feeds so he can get the hind milk for the next feed, like you suggested. :)

[ayla22]

*As someone who still cries when she gets a needle...* =p

[bettiesque]

get his tongue snipped? hope you get some sleep soon sweet pea
xoxo

[heyewe]

Hi i'm comicstar's mum and i know ALOT about breastfeeding. If you feel like giving me a call, comicstar can give you my number. A couple of things i would say straight off the top tho, is that if he has alot of gas, it's probably because of something new or different (for him)that you've eaten. Have a think about what you might have eaten lately - lollies and chocolate are bad, but so are other things, and it varies abit between babies. Changes in bowel habits are not necessarily bad with 100% breastfed babies - might just mean he's actually starting to absorb more.

if mum is stressed or anxious (and i dont know many new mums that arent), baby will be stressed and anxious.

I'd love to have a chat with you, if you want.

[snowcowgirl]

I did eat a bit of chocolate last night, but other than that I've been eating nothing new or unusual. He had a couple of unsettled nights last week, too, which my mum said might have been the cabbage we ate those nights.
I know that the baby is stressed and anxious if I am, but it's so hard to relax! However I'm trying my best to take it easy :P

[heyewe]

cabbage is one of the big ones.. who diagnosed the tongue tie? It is actually pretty normal, too for a baby to lose a little weight in the first few days/week or so - you say he's lost 20g since last wednesday - 20g isnt huge and if the two of you are having a bit of trouble settling in at home (which is pretty normal) that would account for it. If you let him feed when he wants to, and sleep when he wants to, and cuddle him when he cries so he feels secure, and try to stop worrying so much, everything will sort itself out pretty quickly.

Keeping babies alive and well isnt as tricky as some people make out - the huge numbers of us who have survived wouldnt have, if it was. My mum fed me 5 minutes a side (because thats what they told her to do on the first day in hospital) and made me hang out the four hourly intervals the hospital said was a good idea - she did this for four weeks and i'm still here to tell the story.

you're doing a great job - just go with the flow.

[snowcowgirl]

A number of people saw the tongue tie. My mother (an obstetrician), midwives, his child healthcare nurse...
This isn't the first few days/weeks, he's almost three weeks old. Anyway, he's maintained his weight since Monday so things might be looking up.