Just a PublicServiceAnnouncement (PSA) for you all. If you are having any problems with breastfeeding please have your baby checked (preferably by someone with lots of experience with tongue ties) for a tongue tie.

My story- When my 3rd son was born I noticed that nursing him just didnt feel right. When he was a day old the Dr noticed he had a tongue tie and offered to clip it. We let him do it and went on our merry way. Fast forward a couple months and you would find me in absolute agony. Nursing him was terribly painful and I had open wounds that looked like someone had taken a knife to my nipples. I was also fighting both a bacterial infection AND a yeast infection. Every time H would go to nurse he would rip the wounds back open and I would be crying. I took him back in to the Dr and saw a ENT. He told me that the tongue tie was not there and that even if there was one that he would not do surgery as it is an "elective" surgery and not neccesary. He looked at me and told me to put my baby (remember-only a couple months old) on formula. I was POSITIVE that there was still a tongue tie but no-one would listen to me and I didnt know where to go. I ended up getting a pump and tried to make that work but my milk supply was just so bad after it all that I had to give up. To this day if I tell H to stick out his tongue you can see that the tongue is pulled back in at the tip and it is heart shaped. He also had a lip tie. (he is 1.5 yrs old as of this writing and his lip tie was cut when he fell and had something in his mouth just the other day)

Fast forward to the birth of our 4th son last November. I insisted that the Dr check R for a tongue tie right after he was born. I was told that there was NO tongue tie. I started nursing him and was once again positive that he had a tie. I started looking online and found reference to something called a "posterior tie" and started trying to find someone who delt with them. I finally found someone almost 6 hours away who specialized in breast feeding issues and tongue ties. (MilkWorks in Lincoln, Nebraska) We made the trip out there when R was a couple weeks old and I was already experiencing the same symptoms (open wounds etc) She took a look and not only clipped his posterior tongue tie but also helped me with my symptoms. I forgot to ask her to check his lip tie in the flurry of activity unfortunantly. Even with just the tongue tie clipped there was a dramatic difference in nursing. Nursing him makes me look back and realize that even nursing our our oldest 2 was not what it should have been. (take a look in 2nd childs mouth and there is a slight tongue tie-hardly there and also a lip tie (that he also recently cut in a fall) The oldest has a slightly tight frenulum as well.

Both the 2nd and 3rd sons recently fell and cut their lip ties on their own. We decided after seeing their lips that we should go ahead and take care of R's lip tie. I have noticed a bit of a difference since his lip tie clipping too.

Moral of the story. Pay attention if you think something is wrong. Find someone who will listen to you. Nursing isnt supposed to hurt! Having R's tongue and lip ties cut has made a HUGE difference. I have zero regrets for having the clippings done. There are other reasons to have it clipped too (dental benifits etc) but I am mainly focusing on the nursing relationship here. I wish that we had known what I know now when H was born. Hopefully this helps someone else!