Jennifer writes:

My own  baby's tongue  also looked "normal" at first glance, in that there  
was no visible frenulum, but she caused me unbelievable pain and shredded  
my nipples within 12 hours of her easy, unmedicated   homebirth.



~~
Debbie and all,
 
Oddly enough just this Thursday I followed up with a baby, now 1 month, who 
 had a shallow, painful unworkable latch that transferred no milk, and baby 
had  lost lot of weight in the first 6 days before I saw him and his mom. 
In the  meantime, baby has had some CST for pretty severe right-side 
tightness all along  the trunk, shoulder and neck. He started gaining but continued 
to have classic  posterior tongue tie issues: no workable latches,long 
bottlefeeds with milk  loss and fatigue with lots of breaks, trouble managing 
even slow flow assistive  feeding devices and no energy/patience for assistive 
tube  feeding,  mild laryngomalacia, and some congestion as feeds progress 
and afterwards. I  checked under the tongue at our first visit and neither 
saw nor felt anything.  Baby's tongue extension was really good, but only with 
mouth small, unable to  gape normally unless yawning, then tongue was way 
back behind gumline.  I  kept thinking there had to be something there but I 
palpated nothing that day,  the underside, center of the tongue was smooth 
and relaxed. THEN, Thursday, when  the baby was crying really hard (after a 
brief attempt at breast again, he  latched for a few seconds with a NS and 
actually got almost half an ounce, but  then became 
disorganized/fatigued/stressed.)I wanted to see if he could tube  feed on a finger, and he could only 
get flow going for a few seconds before  giving up, and got angry/frustrated 
fast. Hence the crying, while we readied the  bottle. SO I looked again, 
and for some reason with the tongue under tension  during the crying, THEN I 
felt the frenulum, small,short and very tight and  even slightly off-center. 
( Maybe has something to do with the neck muscles  being so tight and 
pulling the hyoid and therefore tongue?) Anyway, mom was able  to get an 
appointment that afternoon with our dedicated, skilled, and really  supportive local 
Ped ENT who the other ENTs think is nuts for releasing that  little piece of 
skin. Right afterwards baby latched with NS and we all went HEY  when for 
the first time ever we all heard a swallow at breast. Baby still has  other 
issues to work out, but at least has a better shot, and it struck me as  odd 
that I really know what to palpate for, and when the tongue was resting and  
relaxed that day it was not under tension enough for that teeny little 
piece of  skin to show its presence and restrictive nature. It reminded me of 
something  Dr. Coryllos always said when I was learning to recognize the 
restrictions: "If  it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's probably a 
duck." This baby's  tongue totally "acted" like a physically restricted 
tongue and the baby's muscle  issues just didn't seem to be explaining his 
feeding issues enough for me. Hope  that helps.
 
Peace,
Judy, off for vacation Sunday..    aaaahhh...:)
**************A Good Credit Score is 700 or Above. See yours in just 2 easy 
steps! 
(http://pr.atwola.com/promoclk/100126575x1222846709x1201493018/aol?redir=http://www.freecreditreport.com/pm/default.aspx?sc=668072&hmpgID=115&bcd
=JulystepsfooterNO115)

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

Archives: http://community.lsoft.com/archives/LACTNET.html
To reach list owners: [log in to unmask]
Mail all list management commands to: [log in to unmask]
COMMANDS:
1. To temporarily stop your subscription write in the body of an email: set lactnet nomail
2. To start it again: set lactnet mail
3. To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
4. To get a comprehensive list of rules and directions: get lactnet welcome