Dear mummies,
My 4 months old boy has a heart shaped tongue which my lactation consultant says it's a tongue-tie.
However, I saw Dr. Maurice Leung in Central and he said medically, tongue-tie is not an issue. Then i search on the net and this problem is not common but it does cause nursing difficulties for both mom and baby. My little boy is not gaining weight well, not even 14lbs at 4 months, that I've blocked ducts and sore nipple, aren't these obvious enough? On Kelly mom's website there're tones of info on tongue tie.
http://www.kellymom.com/babyconcerns...tonguetie.html
Dental development may also be affected, with severe tongue- tie sometimes causing a gap between the two lower front teeth.
Of more immediate importance is the negative impact that a tight frenulum can have on a baby's ability to breastfeed effectively. In order to extract milk from the breast, the baby needs to move his tongue forward to cup the nipple and areola, drawing it back in his mouth and pressing the tissue against the roof of his mouth. This compresses the lactiferous sinuses (the pockets behind the areola where the milk is stored) and allows the milk to move into the baby's mouth. The tongue plays an important role in breastfeeding, and if the baby's frenulum is so short that his tongue can't extend over the lower gum, he may end up compressing the breast tissue between his gums while he nurses, which can cause severe damage to the nipples.
Tongue-tie can cause feeding difficulties such as low weight gain and constant fussiness in the baby. Nursing mothers may experience nipple trauma (the pain doesn't go away no matter what position is used), plugged ducts, and mastitis.
My sons has never been an efficient nurser. He would suckle really hard at the first few minutes and get tired, unlatch, then show little interest to nurse again. I didn't know it's because of his tongue tie problem until I saw the lactation consultant recently.
I wonder any mummies have the same experince. Does your little one have the frenulum clipped? By which doc? Desperately need your advice. I feel sooo guilty that I didn't discover the problem earlier and my little boy has been frustrated all along for 4 months.
Thanks.