Thanks everyone, I will keep you all informed as to what happens. I'm hoping I'll get a call this morning with some news, so fingers crossed! x

If for any reason the snipping of the tongue tie doesn't happen, i can recoommend Nipple shield. I used this for dd1 and without them i would not have bf for the 10 weeks that i did. She had a tongue tie. With dd2, i have used them throughout, tho she will feed without, and at nearly 8 months old, we're still feeding! HTH xxx

So pleased to hear - bet you it gets sorted on the spot & is a tt!!  I was also told my son's was minor.......& then severe....as well as not tt at all!!  Keep us posted xx xx

thats great news, i hope it goes well for you.

i can totally relate to the ff dilema, i didn't dare try the bottle just in case he wouldn't go back on the boob.

i think there needs to be some re-educating of dr's with regards to bf and tt. just think if how many women have given up because they didn't dare question the dr's medical opinion. to be fair i don't think the dr's are at fault if they haven't been taught about it but it doesn't help us poor mummy's who go through hell trying to sort our poor lo's problem.

rant over. good luck again xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

that's fab news, brilliant!

just wanted to say that although I had the same heartbreak about giving formula, it's not the end of the world if you do give baby a top up if she's screaming for it and you just can't face it. I know exactly where you're coming from- my DH should have divorced me for the number of times I freaked out at him at 3am for suggesting it- but in the end you want a baby that's content and not starving, and it's only a stop gap when you can't give any more. HTH.

Thankyou again for the repies!

Well I have some positive news! This morning I got a call from a lady at the Royal Free, that I have been trying to get hold of for a couple of weeks but I never have any luck. She is convinced lo has tt from what I have told her, and although is disgusted, is not surprised by the lack of help I am getting.

She gave me a real pat on the back, and is going to try and squeeze me in for the clinic on thursday. As I have already been reffered to her department luckily, she can't see it being a problem unless the clinic is full, in which case I will have to wait till next thursday. However there's a chace I can pay to go privately if need be.

So fingers crossed I can last that long. I have given her no formula at all yet, but have been so  close to needing to the last couple of days with her and me crying our eyes out!

Thanks again and I will keep you updated! xx

definitely give Claire Kedves a ring first thing tomorrow and see if she can tell you how to get a referral. The clinic there is on tuesdays so I'd recommend trying to get in this week if you can. Jump up and down, cause a fuss at your GPs, call your HV and scream at her, whatever it takes, get your baby seen to.

I had two pediatricians check LO in the first 3 days, neither noticed the tongue tie, one told me it was "mild and unlikely to cause a problem" when I pointed it out (the tongue tie surgeon said it was "severe" as it extended all the way to the edge of the tongue); another pediatrician (at Kings!!) told me to just give up and feed formula (LO was seen in the middle of the night for throwing up blood- it was from my sore boobs!)

Doctors just aren't taught breastfeeding in med school so you need to speak to someone who's made an effort to learn about it.

hi hun,

i really feel for you, i had such a rough time with ds. he would scream when it came to feeding, in the end i bought a sling i could feed him and he wasa little better with it. more often than not i would feed him when he fell asleep because he was more relaxed and seemed to latch better.

i sat and cried most days because no-one would help me. i saw 3 gp's, 4 registrars and 2 consultants before i got my midwife to refer me.the dr's tried to tell me he had reflux then cows milk protien allergy, one even said to give up bf! the first consultant told me he had mild tt but was not a problem. i got the consultant from UNICEF baby friendly website, it lists all the consultants who deal with tt and which hospitals they are based at. she was great and told me within 2 seconds that he couldn't lift his tongue to suck properly.

please feel free to pm me xxx

Thankyou so much for your replies. I live in London so Kings College is closer, but I am having so many problems with my doctors reffering me out of their "trust" that it will probably be easier to get it done privately in Southampton.

I am having such a bad day with her today, every time I try and feed her she just gets angry she can't latch on and screams her head off! Then because she's not feeding properly, is hungry within half hour. I am so close to giving her a bottle of formula, but would feel so disappointed as I have got this far without.

The paediatricion has also given me so much medication for her for reflux, which I am convinced she doesn't have. The more I read about everyones experience of tongue tie, the more convinced I am she has it, I too had really saw painful nipples for weeks and weeks, then got bad mastitis which lasted ages, and she has been in so much tummy pain due to all the air, and passes wind constantly!

Thankyou again for all your help, I just wish the people I need to see were around on Sundays! x

my LO had the op at Kings College Hospital London SE5. I had my baby there and was referred by the MW on the postnatal ward but on the day I went for the clinic there were babies from Kent and Cambridge. I expect you could get a referral there on NHS, no idea if private. Contact Claire Kedves the infant feeding/ breastfeeding counsellor there for information on the clinic

Hi, I was in a similar situation, I saw 4 different paediatricians ( one of whom was very horrible to me when I'd just given birth & denied there was a tt, despite his senior stating there was).  Nobody would take me seriously I felt, bf was agony, I had mastitis, my son had terrible painful wind..........I was seeing a very helpful bf counsellor through the NCT plus one of the hospital mw's was fantastic.  They attended a study day together on tt & the leading experts are at Southampton General hospital.  They will see you privately for around £98 in the tt clinic.  You will need a referral but this can be from a nurse, mw,hv,gp, paediatrician etc.   It was only when I phoned my local hosp to say I was going private ( to Southampton) that the 4th paediatrician agreed to refer me to the maxillo-facial surgical team & they were great, saw me within days of her call so it saved me the travel & money.  My son had it done at 11w, it took several days for him to learn to latch properly but bf hasn't hurt since & he is 24w!!  And the procedure took seconds.

Do take someone with you for moral support, I felt very emotional at him having it done, I cried more than he did to be honest.  Sorry this is so long!!  xxx

Hi all, I am the friend posted about. Just wanted to say thankyou to my friend for posting,  and thankyou for all of your replies.

I am having a really bad day today, she just won't feed at all due to not being able latch on properly! I really don't know what to do, am so close to giving up today, and I'm getting no help from any health professionals. I saw a NCT breast feeding counsellor yesterday and she didn't seem to know why she isn't latching on correctly, just said to hold he even closer! But that's not working. The problem is all symptoms point to tongue tie, but no one seems to think she has much of it (only a litlle tied). I just wondered if anyone else had this response from people? And also where people went to get it done, as we dont mind travelling but would rather go on someones recommendation......

Thanks

i had mega problems feeding ds2 with his tt and finally got it snipped at just under 5 months. the gp's were rubbish as were the consultants at the local hospital, i ended up getting my hv to refer me to an out of area ENT consultant. the consultant was wonderful and snipped the tongue there and then.

he didn't bf like a dream straight away as he had issues of expecting to get tummy ache from all the wind he took in. he is now 31 weeks and stil bf.

tell you friend to push for it getting done as it can cause problems later on as pp said. i really did not enjoy my baby for the first 5 months because of ignorant dr's and feel truly sad for this.

good luck to your friend

Hi there,

not very helpful of the GP...babies with tt can have problems with bottles too & weaning & with speech.

My son had tt, I saw 4 paediatricians plus GP & had to fight for a surgical opinion - the surgeon was a lovely lady who had bf her 2 kids & she took one look, agreed he had a tt & snipped it on the spot.  He was 11w by this stage, bf had been agony, I'd paid a fortune on bf counsellors & he'd been distressed with wind which can be a prob with poor latch.  Anyway, it made the world of difference, he is ebf & nearly 24w.

I found laying against cushions with my son draped across my chest then leaning back to feed  "up hill" helped.  It can be snipped without anaesthetic up to age 8m.  It costs about £100 to have it done privately which was my plan till the 4th doc agreed to refer, the babycentre site is where I got all the info.  Good luck to ur friend xx 

thank you i will let her know about nct... she also was told to stop feeding by her gp which is whyu  i come on here as i know you girls would have some good advice... the only other prob she has is the baby is 8 weeks old and she only found out a few weeks ago that she  was tt... thank again

swazn

Hiya i also really agree to get it snipped. my ds had it and i only manage tofeed him for about 7 weeks. we had to push and push to get it done and we were only sucessful when we moved to a different area and they referred  us atright away but it took till he was nearly 2!!! So he had to be put to sllep which broke my heart! So get it done asap and you will see such a diffference. Because my son and it till 2 he used to gag on foods and i was so worried every meal he had! Good luck with it and keep pushing to have it done,well worth it!

agree regarding getting it snipped- I've posted on this before (look in the archive?). my LO had a bad TT and it was HELL breastfeeding... he had it snipped at Kings in london at 3 weeks and it was just **miraculous** how much of a diffference it made in feeding times, healing nipples, baby growth, my sanity...

here's some info:

http://www.babycentre.co.uk/baby/health/tonguetie/

tell your friend to contact a breastfeeding counsellor (La Leche? local hospital? NCT? Midwife?) and get a referral NOW. Don't bother with the GP or (sadly)  pediatrician- my experience was that they have no clue about this (the pediatrician I saw in A&E told me to stop BFeeding and give formula!!)

hi ladys

this isn't for me it's for a mate of mine who has a baby with tongue tie..

she needs a bit of advice.. she is breastfeeding and is finding it hard was hoping that you may have a few feeding positions ideas, she could give a go to make things a bit more comfortoble. any help would be good

many thanks

suzanne x x