Tongue and lip tie... is a surgical procedure the only option?

Question

My daughter is 4 weeks old and I've dealt with cracked nipples, mastitis, and now thrush. I went a LC who believes our daughter has a posterior tongue tie and lip tie. She did help us improve our latch but I'm still unable to avoid pain and creasing my nipple during breastfeeding. The LC referred us to a pediatric dentist and said it may be worth having a procedure done. As we don't have dental insurance for our baby it would cost us $750 to have it done. More importantly I don't like the idea of my tiny daughter having a laser procedure. Has anyone dealt with this issue and achieved a successful latch without having to have a procedure done?

Answer

Nope. We had to do procedure. My baby girl had posterior tongue tie and level 4 lip tie. She was gaining weight good the first month, slower the second and third and then fourth month ZERO! That's when I started researching and noticed she has lip and tongue tie. Went to a preferred provider and they confirmed my suspicions. You have to get it done if you want to bf successfully. Babies lose the tongue thrust reflex between 3 and 4 months and that's why stop gaining weight if their tongue and lip tie haven't been reversed. The laser procedure is awesome, babies don't feel any pain and it's literally done in 2 minutes! As soon as it's done they place baby on your breast for comfort. You will have to do stretching exercises for a month so that it doesn't reattach. I strongly suggest you do this asap because the longer you wait the harder it will be to establish good breastfeeding. It was hell for 3 weeks after the procedure for my baby girl and me. Teaching her how to latch properly again, being on meds (Domperidone) to increase my milk supply that went down drastically without me even realizing!! Now we're 6 weeks from the procedure and it's finally gotten to the point where we're both relaxed and happy!

Answer

Knowing the benefit of getting it clipped was good. And. We can breastfeed because of it. I waited and went back and forth on my decision. I Knew at 2 weeks he had a problem but I was EP and didn't see the need until he started having problems sucking amd swallowing most likely due to the ptt. If you don't have dental insurance, see and ENT and see of your health insurances covers it for the laser and ask for it. Knowing what I know now with the 2 different procedure, the laser is more of a process, but there is less pain, less bleeding and the younger they are the quicker the recover and benefit for you for breastfeeding. I had really bad ppd/baby blues and I really feel like ebf helped me so much to recover and bond. I only wish I did it sooner.

Answer

We struggled for months with breastfeeding and a tongue tie and once it was diagnosed and we had the procedure done things got so much better. It was awful to watch my baby in pain but it was short lived and everything healed quickly. 
We would have not been able to continue breastfeeding without the procedure.

Answer

Yes but prepare yourself. My son had it done at 7 weeks. They recommend doing asap because they have learned how to compensate and can have sucking/swallow issues if you wait to long. When they are new it's easier for them. We have health insurance and went to an (ENT)EAR nose throat doctor and checked with our insurance. They covered the procedure. There are 2 ways laser, which is pretty mild to painless, and then there is the way they did my son's, which for me and my husband were not prepared for. They can clip it using scissors. It bleeds, a lot or a little and every child is different, but mine reacted horribly to the pain. My husband had to hold and hold down our 7 weeks old while the dr., using scissor, cut the tissue and it was quick. It was very painful and traumatic for us. There was a lot of bleeding and my son was so upset he wouldn't nurse or take a bottle or pacifier. Apparently it wasn't supposed to happen that way and we waited in the office for an extra 45 minutes becuase of the bleeding and pain he was in. I will neve do that again. They didn't even offer us the other option of laser. If I had a choice I would choose not putting my child through the other experience. He was better the next day and by day 3 he was better and not scared for anything to come near his mouth. He barely ate for 2 days becuase it was so sore. We didn't find out until 3 weeks later, when I was still having latching issues, we went to see the LC at the hospital that I asked if he was sucking or just flicking his tongue. Come to find out we should have been doing post surgical execises to help him re learn how to suck swallow with his loose tongue, not only did it cause more problems it would take another 7 weeks to correct it and she said it may not get better. FYI he no refuses a bottle, where he did fine before and was only picking on ocassion, he also ebf now but I still get clogged ducts in the daily becuase he has a shallow latch and refuses the breast shield.

Answer

I would do it. I had mine done at 18 and it SUCKED. Ties can cause tooth decay and speech problems too. If you're able to I wouldn't wait.

Tongue and lip tie... is a surgical procedure the only option?

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