Tongue/ Lip tie and high palate?
Hi! First time mum here to 8 week old baby boy. We’ve been struggling with breastfeeding since day one, made some progress but it still just doesn’t feel right, I’m convinced baby might have a tongue tie, although I am attending a local breast feeding support group and the consultant did a quick tongue tie check, I’d like to get a second opinion, would it be worth getting referred to a specialist? And how long would a referral take, how can I get referred?
If anyone here could shed any light on this in the meantime; symptoms I’ve noticed with baby,
- heart shaped tongue when elevated,
- painful latch and poor seal on both bottle and breast, milk leaks out of the corner
- fussiness at breast, takes a really long time nursing 1hr/+ and just gets tired then gets fussy- then I have to top him up as he always seems hungry
- constant reflux throughout the day, hates being laid down
- obvious lip tie
- blistered lip
-struggling with low milk supply
- top lip always turned in while nursing and bottle feeding, sometimes bottom lip too
I wonder if he may have a posterior tongue tie, can anyone tell from the photos if he might have a high palate as well?
Thanks
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It’s impossible to say from the picture and very few providers can actually diagnose oral ties (only those that can clip them). Feeding at the breast for 1+ hour is a long time! I would get looked at for that alone but definitely bring up the other symptoms because I think they are important in this case as well. If you can, I would recommend seeing a speech language pathologist first because they can assess the muscles and movements of the mouth and recommend whether they need to be seen for a tie. Sometimes ties can be stretched out over time but other times clipping them may be necessary. You will need to go over the options with a knowledgeable provider.
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I had a similar thing. I will ask my guy who we went to. They were very air on side of dont unless necessary. My babys stretched and grew. They said his tongue wouldn’t stick out. Now he does all the time. Breastfeeding was brutal at first and hed get very upset and i had to use bottle sometime. Eventually left dried a bit prob due to the pain. But i continued. Id say by month 3 or 4 it was markedly better to where i was like its just a little annoying sometimes and now 6 months its a breeze he does both and im glad i didnt hurt my baby for something that naturally would have stretched and turned out normal. Use nipple creams for sure and maybe pump a bit rather than breast if in pain pain. Good luck!