Ever since Preston was born he's been tongue tied. There are varying degrees of this diagnosis and at first I thought his was pretty moderate since you could see a heart shape to his tongue when he protruded it and he caused SO much pain for so long while nursing (I took 600-800 mg Motrin around the clock till he was 5 weeks old and can honestly say that I FEARED latching him and wanted to slap him when he DID latch - sadly but truly)... AND I would consider my pain tolerance VERY VERY high... So that should say a lot to those who know me!
But then... He decided to compensate and became a champion nurser and continued to grow and pack on the pounds :) So amidst a 'tied tongue' Ptown was doing great! Our lactation consultant said that although he is tongue tied, since he's gaining weight wonderfully and I stopped experiencing pain, there wasn't any need to 'clip' it (ie a frenulectomy).
Fast forward to 3.5 months old...
For the past couple of weeks I've been noticing that Preston is extremely gassy and fussy at times, nurses for a very short time often screaming and pulling off, and I felt that my milk supply wasn't as strong as it was with Violet (I leaked till she was 10 months old and felt very full most of the time). I emailed my lactation consultant asking if she felt that these characteristics could be related to his being tongue tied. She got back to me in an hour! She was curious about his actual weight gain in ounces per week, but commented on 2 things which stood out in my mind:
- Second time moms experience less leaking, less fullness, BUT a better milk supply.
- Preston's fussiness sounded more like reflux to her.
Now Violet had reflux related to my diet so while I was nursing her (till 14 months of age) I had to cut out all caffeine (including chocolate and decaf anything), tomatoes in any way shape and form, and garlic... Boo. I tried all that with Preston but it didn't seem to matter too much. Then our lactation lady asked if I'd tried the 'no dairy, no peanuts, no soy'... Instead of cutting everything, I thought I'd start with just ONE. So that's what I've been doing this past week! I haven't had any dairy whatsoever in 6 days. Even though I didn't think I ate a lot of dairy, I do! Mostly in Greek yogurt form. It hasn't been too bad, but really makes you think about all the cholesterol we eat in dairy products. I've always taken a calcium supplement (since I'm pretty lactose intolerant and don't eat/drink much dairy) but find that without dairy in my diet I'm actually eating MORE calcium since I've been actively searching for it in other sources! It has been rough though and I miss my yogurt (and ice cream)!
Long story... I've noticed an improvement even just this past week with Preston. Our lactation lady also mentioned that reflux peaks around 4 months and his increased fussiness may also be related to the growth spurts babies experience at 3/4 months, then again at 6 months and 9 months. I am waiting till Preston's 4 month appointment on the 24th to talk to my pediatrician more about it (I called and talked to him this week already and he mentioned that the only medical reasoning would be if he wasn't gaining weight and growing OR couldn't get his tongue past his gums which he can). We have an HMO so we'd need a referral anyway. We also have an ENT we work a lot with at my work who takes our insurance so if we get a referral for a frenulectomy I'll have it sent to his office to consult.
On the other hand, if Preston continues to be doing well I probably won't get it done... Even though there's no downside, I'm a little torn since it's congenital (genetic) and usually more common in males (Matt has the same thing)... It sounds crazy, but I've grown accustomed to his cute smile with his little heart shaped tongue and knowing that it came from Matt... And Matt's just fine ❤️ (As a side note, Matt wants me to have it done regardless!)
