Today I bit the bullet and paid for an IBCLC (Internationally Board Certified Lactation Consultant) to come out to our house. I wasn't truly comfortable with the plan given to me by the consultant at the hospital. After digesting it, it just didn't feel 100% right. Plus, as I started getting her back to breast, I was already feeling sore. Something just wasn't right.
I am so glad I did!
Firstly, she's awesome. We had a great conversation last night, she talked through our experience, familiarized herself with our background, and did her best to see if she could help via phone without charging us at all. In the end, I needed her to come and spend a little bit of time with the two of us. She rearranged her afternoon to ensure that she saw me right away. I think she could tell I was getting desperate.
She was only with us for an hour and already I think we've found our solution. And it's a simple one - Lily is tongue tied. Part of me is pissed off. She had two lactation consultants put hands in her mouth before we even left the hospital - and now we've had two appointments with another... how did they not know this?! Clipping her frenulum takes minutes and could have been done the day after she was born! There was no reason at all for us to struggle, for me to get mastitis... none of it! Her tie is a bit more posterior, so it isn't immediately obvious, but even I could see it once she pointed it out. A trained consultant, that even commented on her holding her tongue back... didn't know?? Maddening.
But, the good news is - we have a fix.
Our new favorite person in the whole world referred us to a doctor that can see us Monday to fix it. Folks, our whole world is about to change. I hope!
Having a game plan feels amazing. Once we wrapped things up, I cried I was so grateful. If this is it, I am going to drive to this woman's house and smother her in kisses.
I appreciate everyone's comments on my last post. It does make me feel better to know that I'm not alone in this. I am going to keep talking about it - I am lucky to have good listeners and this blog when I need a good word-vomit. Otherwise I am going to give myself a little bit of space to see how things go once we are on the mend, breast feeding wise. I think if that major stress can be removed - and I can sleep more consistently - perhaps my overall disposition will improve. But, as one of you suggested, I will get a referral from my doc at my appointment next week. That way I have it should I need it.
Fingers crossed that our time pumping/bottle feeding is limited!
That is AWESOME news Sarah - such a simple fix. Definitely frustrating that they didn't figure it out earlier, but hopefully that solves a lot of your BFing issues. YAY!!
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad they found out about the tongue tie. My son is a little tongue tied too, we didn't end up needing to get it clipped, but I was shocked at how long it was before someone noticed he had it. I really don't know why they don't routinely check for that in the hospital. I know of a few other moms who had their babies tongue ties clipped, and their BFing issues resolved within a day or so. I hope this same happens for you!
ReplyDeleteAs somebody who had a lot of issues getting b'feeding established, I know how hard it is - and how wonderful the support of a good lactation consultant can be. It's amazing you're sticking with it, and you deserve SO much support and congratulations, because it can be so challenging.
ReplyDeleteI just wanted to offer up a bit of advice from personal experience: don't be disheartened if snipping the tongue tie doesn't fix everything *overnight*. We had LB's tongue tie snipped at around 4 weeks and, to be honest, I thought it would literally end all of our breastfeeding issues then and there. When it didn't, I was really disappointed and ready to throw in the towel.
What DID happen was the combined effect of removing the tongue tie, working with my LC on latch and supply, and LB's mouth growing by the day; meant within a week or two I was b'feeding like a champ ... and we haven't looked back! Sticking with it was the best thing I ever did.
Hang in there, you're doing a great job xx