Tongue Tied Part 2

I had a real hard time doing the mouth exercises. The dr was great and even had videos online to show you, but I just felt awkward. Her mouth was very slippery since she started to drool a lot. She would cry in pain after I did it. I was so uncomfortable doing it. I knew it had to be done, and I feared that it would stick back together so I just did it the best that I could. I had dh do it at night to make sure that it was being done hard enough.

At first everything was great. She was eating from a normal bottle and was sleeping on her back. Then things started to change. She was doing that head shift thing again. She didn't want to eat in a normal position. She wanted to eat lying down. She would get really frustrated and scream when she could not latch. She is old enough that when she saw the bottle coming toward her she knew what it was and would freak.

Feeding her became a nightmare. I had to keep trying different positions and bottle angles. I finally gave up on the silicone nipples and went back to the rubber. That seemed to solve the problem for a few days. Then she had the same reaction with those.

She would get so worked up that I had to walk away. I would cry bc I knew she was hungry but she could not eat. I thought to myself what did I do to my baby??? I tried more of the mouth gel and that seemed to help.  Finally we called the dr. He said that the baby might be congested and to try the nasal aspirator. I got some good boogies out which did seem to help. She was fine the next day. I would suction her nose before feeding and she was ok.

Today I went to feed her and it happened again. I started to cry in frustration bc feeding her used to be easy and fun. Now it was torture. I finally got her into a position where she was almost standing up and she latched on and finished the bottle.

I went for my follow up apt and I told him about the weird feeding position. He said that she should be feeding at the same angle as if I were breastfeeding.  He took a look. The top lip was perfect. The tongue was bad. The tongue had stuck back together and that is why I was having feeding issues. He pulled on the tongue and it started to gush blood. It poured out of her mouth and all over her shirt. She started to scream.

I started crying bc I did not pull hard enough. I thought the tongue was fine bc it did not look tied down. I guess the tip was fine but she was also tied down underneath and that is was stuck.

He asked me to get out a bottle. I only had the small rubber nipple. He told me it was too small. I explained how I started with the large silicone but then she would only eat with the rubber.

ERGHHHHHH so  now I have to keep doing the mouth pulls for another week and pray that this time it does not stick again. I also have to use the silicone nipples.