**This post is for me to look back on later when we have another one or for someone to see how we have handled things these first three weeks.
We have been exclusively breastfeeding (EBF) since Edward was born. The first two days were awesome. He was latching fine even with his tongue-tie and my semi-flat nipples. On day 3, everything changed. My milk came in and my nipples weren’t cooperating so he could get a latch since my boobs were so engorged. We started to get frustrated and the nursing was starting to become something I wasn’t looking forward to. Because he was having a hard time latching, he started to sleep more and it became harder to wake him up to eat. It really started to worry us that he wasn’t waking up and staying awake enough to eat for more than 5 minutes when we had been told he needed to eat for at least 10 minutes.
We finally had enough and called Alina, our doula, to see if she could help. She came over and helped a little. We got the pump together so I could pump and we could give Edward the bottle so we knew he was at least getting a decent feeding every once in awhile. She also recommended that we call a lactation consultant (LC) to help us figure out whether it was the tongue-tie that was causing the issues or the flat nipples. We called the birth center the next morning and one of the other midwives there happened to be a LC and she came over that afternoon.
Andrea, the LC, arrived at the exact time that Edward wanted to eat, so it was great. She was able to see how we struggled to get him to latch. He was down to 8#4oz so he had only lost 10oz which wasn’t yet 10% of his body weight (normal for newborns) but we wanted to get him back to eating and gaining since we didn’t want him to fall below 8#. She was pretty confident that the tongue-tie wasn’t the issue and that it was more the nipples and the fact that he has a tight jaw. Her big concern was that he wasn’t waking up to eat and we had to wake him constantly while eating. We ended up getting a nipple shield so there was a better latch for him to grab on to and also supplementing with a syringe while I am feeding him. This meant that I had to pump a decent amount to make sure that we had the extra milk in the fridge for each feeding. It also meant that instead of just me having to wake up throughout the night for feeding, we both had to get up and turn on lights. It was exhausting.
Even though the LC said that she didn’t think the tongue-tie was a problem with feeding, Darrell and I debated a lot on whether to get it clipped or not. We did some research online and I asked one of my friends who is a Speech therapist what she would recommend. We didn’t want him to have issues later in life, so we went ahead and got the frenectomy (clipped the tongue-tie). Our reasoning was that it would be easier at one week to retrain him in the use of his tongue rather than wait until later when there will be more of a setback on retraining. Our midwife, Loren, came over and did the frenectomy at our house. It was about a 5 minute procedure and was done quickly. Since the frenectomy, his latch has gotten better and we were able to drop the syringe and nipple shield after a few days. The first couple of days were definitely hard as he now had more motion with his tongue and was pushing the nipple out instead of latching on. We had to do a lot of tongue training, but two weeks later, everything is great! It still occasionally takes awhile to get him latched, but nothing like that first week.
I have been lucky in that I haven’t had any issues yet with my breasts. I found out when my milk came in after Pixel that I was allergic to the disposable nursing pads, so I pre-prepped this time and got some cloth ones for this time. I only started with two sets so I could make sure they would work for me. They do, so I went to Target and bought 3 more sets and I just wash them with the cloth diapers. The only issue I have had with the cloth nursing pads is that they don’t stay in place very well. I am constantly readjusting them and making sure that they cover my nipples before I start feeding Edward otherwise I end up completely soaked.
My one concern has been going out in public and him needing to eat. Since we have such a hard time with latching and everything, I usually need to use both hands and the boppy to make sure he can latch properly. I am proud to say though that on Saturday (6/22), I fed him in public with no issues. 🙂 Big day for both of us.
