Tongue tie

[Fuschia]

Has anyone had recent experience of this being diagnosed and treated at Kings? Was there a very long waiting list?

[Moos]

Yes, I have and to answer your question briefly, we had the op at 3 weeks.

Am on phone so can't link to the recent thread but have a search - lots of people posted incedibly valuable advice.

[Fuschia]

Moos, how long between the initial appt and actually getting it fixed?

Will look for thread

[Moos]

2 weeks. There's a new system in place whereby the infant feeding co-ordinator has to confirm her diagnosis a week after the initial confirmation - and even then the paperwork has to be done smoothly and promptly in order for you to get on the list for the following week's clinic. I chased the surgeon's PA to ensure we were listed.

However, they mentioned they're starting to run more clinics which might speed things up.

Worth pushing to get listed as young as possible as the babies are seen in ascending order of age. Some of the older babies had to wait till 5 to be operated on - with no feeding permitted after 1pm! Must be very tough.

[Fidgetsmum]

I went to the Kings breastfeeding workshop the other week and the woman there was saying that Tongue-tie is Clare Kedves' new project and she's implementing all sorts of things to get tongue-ties dealt with tmuch faster than it used to be. If you haven't seen Clare yet, I absolutely would get an appointment with her as an emergency. She may well push you through the chain as you have a number of other children to look after too!

[Fuschia]

Been told the clinic has no space before 4th January. :-(

But it can be done privately (by the same doc) for ?410 which means no wait. We don't have much choice really as when MrF's paternity/annual leave ends (after Boxing Day) I will be flying solo and atm feeding with the nipple shield which takes ages, then topping up with a bottle, then expressing, is taking up approx 2 hours out of every 3, and I can't possibly continue with it once I have two toddlers to look after

[Knomester]

Oh Fuschia I'm so sorry to hear that your new baby has a tongue tie, and that there's such a wait. I would have to say from our experience though that it will be worth every penny getting it done privately if you can get it done quickly. We had quite a delay (not because of the clinic but because noone diagnosed the tongue tie earlier) and it led to untold problems (aside from the time and hassle that you are currently experiencing). I do hope you can afford to pay privately.

[Countjc]

Sorry to hear this Fuschia, I agree with Knomester about getting it done ASAP although it's a shame they can't get you done in time. I got it in a week as I was classed as an 'emergency' due to severe nipple damage. I still don't know why there has to be so much paperwork and a delay in getting it done. My friend is a paediatrician who diagnoses the tongue tie in the day 1 check and in her hospital they do it on the day?

Best of luck with it all

Jenny

[Dulwich Born And Bred]

My boy was done at four/five weeks, I noticed it at one/two weeks. They said they were too busy and booked at the clinic to give him the snip but we begged and phoned them every single day until they got sick of us and booked us in.

My son was the youngest there but he was not seen first, he had nothing to eat for four hours :( Hope you get it sorted, it is such a stressful experience ( after labour!). Keep us updated.

[Moi23]

Both my boys have tongue-tie. I never had any specific problems with breastfeeding. I did want to get it done for my second but was told he wouldn't be referred/operated on if he was feeding alright. My question is, what sort of problems could arise in the future?

[Fuschia]

Moi23 Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Both my boys have tongue-tie. I never had any

> specific problems with breastfeeding. I did want

> to get it done for my second but was told he

> wouldn't be referred/operated on if he was feeding

> alright. My question is, what sort of problems

> could arise in the future?

Ithink I read it might affect speech?

In our case, he won't latch on at all, now, unless with a nipple shield, and even then, he keeps letting go and crying.

[Countjc]

Hey Fuschia

I ended up expressing and bottle feeding till the op. He came straight back to the breast after the op no probs. Realise much harder for you as other kids to look after so less time to express but did take the pressure off till the op.

Best of luck

[Fuschia]

i am managing to express enough atm, but need to get it fixed before mrf's paternity leave ends!

[Helen GV]

any chance mr f could take unpaid leave for the three non stats this year and then a day or two paid leave after new year? though it might work out cheaper to pay for the op of course..

sorry things are so tough for you at the moment, just read your disaster thread, absolute nightmare.

[Fuschia]

Helen, he is in a job where he is committed to provide cover for one of the two Xmas weeks... plus took a week off (managed to get it paid) before his pat leave, due to me being in hospital, and next week is taking a week's annual leave leading up to Xmas so wil have been off for 4 weeks. To cover the week between Xmas and New Year if I'm still expressing and then a few days after the 4th so the baby can learn to bf, would just be too long.

I have my heart fixed on getting this sorted early next week then MW support to relearn the feeding and then a 4 day babymoon over the long Xmas weekend!! I might be able to get part of the ?? back via a HSA policy we have, fingers crossed

[Au'Lait]

This woman will snip a tongue tie privately also. She'll come to your home and charges about ?160 I think. Her name was given to me by my midwife so I think she's pretty reputable but we got a place in the clinic at kings so didn't end up using her. If you read her blurb you'll see she was trained by Mervyn Griffiths who is a big name in the tounge tied world.

Hope you can get it sorted asap, it's not a fun game to be playing.

[Fuschia]

Thanks everybody! Will keep you informed.

Despite feeling rather fluey myself I have managed to add 20z of expressed milk to my stocks so far today and tiny baby is contendedly dozing, with a return to feeding every 3 hourly, thank goodness.

[Helen GV]

Well for what it's worth I think you are doing an amazing job!

[Fuschia]

Thanks! Moral support via FB etc and mails from my midwives in between visits are all helping to keep me going!