Pam Price tells of an extremely frustrating case where Mom with hamburger nipples and tongue-tied baby is discouraged by TWO MDs from having a frenotomy because it is "not serious enough" and "baby will outgrow it." Mom is now formula-feeding entirely. Pam handled her end absolutely perfectly and ethically. She did not tell Mom *what* to do, but rather loaded her with info to then share with the docs about frenotomies. So Mom consulted three experts (including our IBCLC) about a baby who could not nurse effectively, and the end result is Mom is not nursing or expressing breastmilk at all. This sort of stuff drives me absolutely nuts. I'm just prickly enough today that I'd be inclined to take off the kid gloves, and write a "follow-up report" to both docs ... though I suppose in a saner (self-protective?) moment I would just put the letter in my bottom drawer. "I have spoken with Jane Doe, who tells me she has stopped breastfeeding and breastmilk expression entirely, and is feeding her baby 100% formula. "If abandoning BF is not a serious enough consequence to warrant the clipping of a short frenulum -- one of the quickest, least-invasive procedures a newborn can have -- then perhaps one of the other likely outcomes is: the life-long health benefits afforded by lactation are truncated, baby's jaw and mouth development are hindered, emerging teeth are not afforded the hygiene that a free-ranging tongue can offer, and speech development is hampered. Heck, even "French kissing" will be a challenge when the time comes. "It has been my experience, working with nothing but breastfeeding dyads for the past xx years, that a short-frenulumed baby does not ever outgrow the condition. "Indeed, mothers whose nipples are repeatedly and continuously shredded by the desperate attempts of the baby to maintain continuous upward pressure with a tethered tongue find that they must forego their dreams of exclusively nursing their children. Breastfeeding is the safe, healthy biologic norm -- and as AAP and ILCA so clearly and strongly recommend -- it is the manner of infant care all HCPs should encourage and facilitate for all their patients and clients. "I enclose for your review several articles exploring the negative impact of tongue-tie on breastfeeding, the ease of remedy in frenotomy, and the immediate improvement reported by moms and evident in the faces of now-sated nursing babes. I welcome your call to discuss any aspect of this case." Liz Brooks, JD, IBCLC Wyndmoor, PA, USA _________________________________________________________________ Don’t just search. Find. Check out the new MSN Search! http://search.msn.click-url.com/go/onm00200636ave/direct/01/ *********************************************** 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