We have an appointment tomorrow morning with a pediatric ear, nose and throat specialist who will evaluate Killian to see if we can get his tongue clipped. He’s tongue-tied, and it’s causing a problem. Namely, my nipples hurt like mo-fos. Judah was so tongue-tied that she couldn’t get her tongue past her gums, or even barely lift it up at all. Killian’s got the lift, but not the extension ability.
He gets what looks like a good latch, after eight or nine tries - his lips look like they’re in good position, he’s got a good suck, and I can hear him swallowing, but good Lord, does it hurt. I am doing everything I know to do -stroking his cheek, tickling his lips, pulling down on his chin, adjusting him, breaking the suction and starting all over, several times. He LOOKS like he’s okay, but I can feel his gums on me, and folks, we don’t want that. This is not supposed to hurt.
I was going to get an appointment with the lactation consultant at the hospital, but I’m hoping that if/once he gets his tongue clipped, some of the problems will resolve themselves. He will attempt to latch on, and then what always happens the first few tries is that he ends up pushing it out of his mouth, cause he can’t get his tongue around it. Maybe I still will if things don’t get better soon.
Between that and the two-hour long marathon nursings (eat, burp, pretend to sleep, and repeat five or six times) he does twice a day, I’m ready for some relief. Good thing he’s cute.
Also, he has his two-week visit on Thursday with our new pediatrician. Hope that goes well. Though I don’t understand what’s with all the dang check-ups. He eats, he poops, he pees, he sleeps, he cries, he’s awake - what’s the point? He’s a baby doing what a baby is supposed to do.
What is tongue clipping? I have never heard of it before.
when the frenulum, the little piece that holds the tongue to the bottom of your mouth, is too tight for the the tongue to be able to stick out, it’s called a tongue-tie. A tongue clipping, or a frenotomy, is when that little piece is clipped to enable the tongue to work properly.
with judah, we swaddled her tightly and the doctor simply put her finger under her tongue to steady her mouth and hold it open, and used a pair of surgical scissors to just make a little snip. it only bled a drop or two, but I had to leave the room and go down the hall to wait. it made a huge difference in her nursing ability. she was also less than a week old when she had hers done. then she went on to nurse for over two years.
my comment is really off the subject, but, my dad when talking to my brother or i about each of us, refers to colt and i as, “the boy” or “the girl.”