Kirsten and all,

I also worked with a mom whose baby had a tight frenulum.  I had worked with
her with baby #1, so we were well acquainted.  Mom was reluctant to have the
frenulum clipped.  Nursing wasn't 'that' painful...However, when it was
clear that things weren't getting any better she finally took baby in to see
the head of the ENT dept at the hosp she worked in and he said "Oh, wow!
Yeah, let's clip that now."  It was clipped - baby had a HARD time.  There
was some bleeding, and baby cried inconsolably.  Dr. said this sometimes
happens - no big deal - baby will be fine.  I saw them the day after the
clipping.  Took one look under the tongue and went "OH MY!!"  The clipping
sight was bright red, swollen and looked infected.  I said to mom - "You
need to have this looked at now."  They took her in immediately, got her on
antibiotics (it was infected) and after 4 or 5 days baby was finally able to
latch and nurse pain free (for mom and baby).  Feeding during those days was
near impossible on the breast and difficult at best on the bottle.

There are times that things don't go as planned.  There is always that
couplet who has the worst possible outcome in what is typically a very
simple thing.  Yes, on the whole frenotomy is a rather simple procedure -
usually what the baby hates most is being swaddled tightly and having their
mouth messed with.  And under most circumstances, it is a quick and painless
procedure that follows with baby nursing much better and more comfortably.
I would say that when I counsel parents with a baby who is tongue-tied I
tell them just what I said here:  Usually it is simple and quick with great
results - however, there are those circumstances that don't go as planned -
but with time and patience, you and baby can work through it.  Last I heard,
my client and her baby were BF beautifully and happily.  :)

Hope this helps,

Jaye Simpson, IBCLC

             ***********************************************

To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail
To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest)
To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
All commands go to [log in to unmask]

The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(R)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html