Hooray! I'm back on the blog :-) This is my first post since having our baby, Andrew, eight weeks ago! Learning how to be a mum and recovering from his birth have been tough but also amazing :-) Finally our little baby is here and I still can't quite believe it! In the last week or so though, I have been feeling compelled to write here about the "B" word, and by that I mean - Breastfeeding. I'd like to tell you a little bit about my breastfeeding journey over the last eight weeks - in the hopes that this post might be useful to you or a friend now or in the future.
During my pregnancy, a lot of women asked me whether I was going to breastfeed. I always said the same thing, that yes, I would give it a try. Most of these women also said to me to not put myself under pressure, that it can be very hard and that if it didn't work, I shouldn't be upset. In my head, I agreed with them and thought, "I'll do my best, but I'll see how it goes." Well. Once our little baby arrived, let me tell you that, inexplicably, breastfeeding suddenly became VERY important to me. Suddenly I just HAD to do it - I wanted to do it for my baby.
For the first two weeks, I had a really hard time with breastfeeding. I had a very low milk supply initially because I had lost a lot of blood during my c-section surgery and afterwards. And our baby, although he tried his best to feed, was battling a problem of his own, unknown to us - a tongue tie. After two difficult weeks, I resorted to exclusively expressing my breast milk for Andrew and bottle-feeding it to him. Cue looong days of feeding, expressing, washing bottles and sterilising on repeat - seven times a day. It was major work.
A couple days before Andrew was four weeks old, I decided that I should give breastfeeding one last chance. And to give it my best shot, I arranged for a Lactation Consultant from the ALCI to come out to see us. It was money well spent - she spent an hour with us, examining Andrew's mouth and sucking ability and observing our feeding technique. She very quickly confirmed what our Public Health Nurse had initially noticed - that Andrew had quite a severe tongue tie - and determined that this was indeed hampering his best breastfeeding efforts.
What is a tongue tie, I hear you say? Well, it's that thin piece of tissue under your tongue, fastening your tongue to the floor of your mouth. And there's three different types, too. What does it mean for breastfeeding? Well, in our case, it meant Andrew couldn't create a good vacuum for breastfeeding and as a result would just 'sip' at the breast, creating looong feeds of over an hour without much satisfaction at the end. And A LOT OF PAIN for me!
Our Lactation Consultant recommended two local medical practices that offer a quick procedure to 'snip' baby tongue ties. We certainly weren't keen on the word 'snip' when we heard it but she assured us it was a really quick and easy procedure that shouldn't hurt him much, if at all. She felt it was the key to us re-establishing breastfeeding, so after a long discussion with the Husband that evening, we decided we'd go for the procedure.
I got a cancellation appointment at Dr Neville Wilson's clinic in Maynooth two days later. We attended and had the procedure done quickly and efficiently. Dr Wilson was excellent. Yes, Andrew did cry but he was very quickly comforted when I put him to my breast. And lo and behold, the pain I had been experiencing was gone. And the 'sipping' was now suddenly gulps and swallows! There was an immediate improvement and it was fabulous. After four weeks of hard, hard work, this was a breakthrough.
The next week wasn't easy, but it was much improved. With every feed, Andrew re-learnt his latch and discovered his tongue wasn't so restricted any more. And I re-learnt breastfeeding and our technique, until, lo and behold, we were doing it! And we were doing it good. Success at last was both a relief and a proud moment for me.
What was interesting about all of this was the fact that Andrew's tongue tie, which was very obvious and noticeable once it was pointed out to us, was not something that was picked up on while we were in the Coombe Hospital after his birth. He was thoroughly examined by a paediatrician on more than one occasion while we were in hospital and yet they either didn't see it or didn't mention it to us, or even ask how breastfeeding was going. It was our local Public Health Nurse who visited us once we were home who spotted it, almost immediately, when she met us. She mentioned it and assessed our feeding but at that time, I was putting on a brave face and trying my best to breastfeed him.
I have learnt that tongue ties are somewhat of a taboo in Ireland. It is not widely recognised as a "real" problem that can have a real effect on breastfeeding. As such, I wanted to write this post and share our experience. Getting the procedure done has allowed us to breastfeed where we simply could not before. And that's huge for me - I am so happy that I am able to do this for my baby now. So there you have it - tell your friends! Tongue tie is real and it could make a difference to you or a friend of yours one day...
During my pregnancy, a lot of women asked me whether I was going to breastfeed. I always said the same thing, that yes, I would give it a try. Most of these women also said to me to not put myself under pressure, that it can be very hard and that if it didn't work, I shouldn't be upset. In my head, I agreed with them and thought, "I'll do my best, but I'll see how it goes." Well. Once our little baby arrived, let me tell you that, inexplicably, breastfeeding suddenly became VERY important to me. Suddenly I just HAD to do it - I wanted to do it for my baby.
For the first two weeks, I had a really hard time with breastfeeding. I had a very low milk supply initially because I had lost a lot of blood during my c-section surgery and afterwards. And our baby, although he tried his best to feed, was battling a problem of his own, unknown to us - a tongue tie. After two difficult weeks, I resorted to exclusively expressing my breast milk for Andrew and bottle-feeding it to him. Cue looong days of feeding, expressing, washing bottles and sterilising on repeat - seven times a day. It was major work.
A couple days before Andrew was four weeks old, I decided that I should give breastfeeding one last chance. And to give it my best shot, I arranged for a Lactation Consultant from the ALCI to come out to see us. It was money well spent - she spent an hour with us, examining Andrew's mouth and sucking ability and observing our feeding technique. She very quickly confirmed what our Public Health Nurse had initially noticed - that Andrew had quite a severe tongue tie - and determined that this was indeed hampering his best breastfeeding efforts.
What is a tongue tie, I hear you say? Well, it's that thin piece of tissue under your tongue, fastening your tongue to the floor of your mouth. And there's three different types, too. What does it mean for breastfeeding? Well, in our case, it meant Andrew couldn't create a good vacuum for breastfeeding and as a result would just 'sip' at the breast, creating looong feeds of over an hour without much satisfaction at the end. And A LOT OF PAIN for me!
Our Lactation Consultant recommended two local medical practices that offer a quick procedure to 'snip' baby tongue ties. We certainly weren't keen on the word 'snip' when we heard it but she assured us it was a really quick and easy procedure that shouldn't hurt him much, if at all. She felt it was the key to us re-establishing breastfeeding, so after a long discussion with the Husband that evening, we decided we'd go for the procedure.
I got a cancellation appointment at Dr Neville Wilson's clinic in Maynooth two days later. We attended and had the procedure done quickly and efficiently. Dr Wilson was excellent. Yes, Andrew did cry but he was very quickly comforted when I put him to my breast. And lo and behold, the pain I had been experiencing was gone. And the 'sipping' was now suddenly gulps and swallows! There was an immediate improvement and it was fabulous. After four weeks of hard, hard work, this was a breakthrough.
The next week wasn't easy, but it was much improved. With every feed, Andrew re-learnt his latch and discovered his tongue wasn't so restricted any more. And I re-learnt breastfeeding and our technique, until, lo and behold, we were doing it! And we were doing it good. Success at last was both a relief and a proud moment for me.
What was interesting about all of this was the fact that Andrew's tongue tie, which was very obvious and noticeable once it was pointed out to us, was not something that was picked up on while we were in the Coombe Hospital after his birth. He was thoroughly examined by a paediatrician on more than one occasion while we were in hospital and yet they either didn't see it or didn't mention it to us, or even ask how breastfeeding was going. It was our local Public Health Nurse who visited us once we were home who spotted it, almost immediately, when she met us. She mentioned it and assessed our feeding but at that time, I was putting on a brave face and trying my best to breastfeed him.
I have learnt that tongue ties are somewhat of a taboo in Ireland. It is not widely recognised as a "real" problem that can have a real effect on breastfeeding. As such, I wanted to write this post and share our experience. Getting the procedure done has allowed us to breastfeed where we simply could not before. And that's huge for me - I am so happy that I am able to do this for my baby now. So there you have it - tell your friends! Tongue tie is real and it could make a difference to you or a friend of yours one day...
Ohhhh Holly congratulations on the arrival of little baby Andrew! It sounds like he made quite the entrance, but as I myself am trying to think of in a positive light these days, baby may not arrive according to plan, but it'll be the best way for both mother and baby. I hope you're feeling much more yourself these days.
ReplyDeleteAs for breastfeeding - I am taking notes! I've heard of tongue tied before but it was only mentioned kind of sarcastically about babies in passing. That they were 'picky'. I didn't realise it was such a thing and could be helped with such a simple (but kinda scary as a parent) procedure. Loving all your advice and experience!
xx
Oh I love that Alex - yep, picky babies indeed! Tongue tie seems to be a controversial doctor/parent topic alright. Keep an eye out for it when you meet your little one :-)
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