Lip Tie and/or Tongue Tie: Surgery vs CST

The frenulum (frenula, plural) connects the lip to the gum and the tongue to the base of the mouth.

Julian fed so well in the hospital.  He actually performed the breast crawl to feed, finished and crawled to the other to finish feeding.  We had it easy.  I didn't have to do anything.  He had a perfect latch and the lactation consultant said if everyone was like that, that she'd be out of a job.  Things definitely changed when we got home!

I was trying to nurse Julian while in bed, in the dark, and was very uncomfortable.  I had no trouble during the day on the couch, but I allowed bad latches during the night which ruins things for a long while.  I got help when he was 3 weeks old (don't wait!).  At first the lactation consultant helped me figure out that I had over supply and fast let down, so Julian pinched off the flow so he didn't cough and choke as much.  He still gulped for most of the feed.

I went to a group for nursing moms after having a really hard time nursing.  The two lactation consultants said his latch was really bad and found that he had lip tie.  The frenulum was too long and he couldn't flange out the upper lip so it pinched me and caused a lot of swelling and pain.  I saw his pediatrician and he was not happy with the diagnosis (I don't think).  He referred me to an ENT doc who said he had lip and tongue tie and that he'd have to be gassed so he'd be still.  He said that I wouldn't have to do it (it wouldn't affect his speech), but it would only be for breastfeeding.

Julian must have been scared of the surgery because we actually had a few good days of better latches.  I decided I would wait and I tried craniosacral therapy (CST) since the lactation consultant told me that birth trauma can cause a bad latch.  We went for the first time on Tuesday and I can tell he is a little bit looser.  I now have some exercises to do with him for myofacial release and we'll go weekly  (up to 7 times) until things are better.  It is also helping his left shoulder move more freely since it didn't seem as smooth as the other.  He also favors lying on his right side and his head falls that way, so I'm hoping this therapy will even him out while he's young.  CST is working so we'll skip the surgery!