A Small Fix for a Big Difference: Our Tongue and Lip Tie Release Journey

As a new mom, I quickly learned that every baby has their own unique needs—and my little one was no different. Challenges with feeding and discomfort led us to discover that she had both a tongue and lip tie. Though the thought of a procedure felt overwhelming, I knew it was the right step to help her thrive. This is the story of her tongue and lip tie release—a journey that brought relief, growth, and a newfound ease to her feeding and our connection. When they first laid her on my chest after the c-section, I immediately noticed something was different about her cute little tongue! It just looked like a heart almost, and she couldn't stick it out very far when she was crying. Obviously, it wasn't my biggest concern at the time and for all I knew it was still "normal" since no one had mentioned anything. But, later that evening our Doctor came in and told us that she had a tongue tie and that this was common and could be fixed with a quick release procedure. She immediately recommended us in the direction of Dentist near us and we called that day to schedule an appointment for the following week. This tongue tie really slowed down our breastfeeding journey, and I didn't realize just by how much. On day 3 in the hospital, we had a really rough night eating. We also found out that she had lost an entire pound during our stay. (Yes, losing weight in newborns is normal, but they don't like to see that much of a weight loss typically) We immediately knew we had to do something, so as much as I did not want to introduce formula to her, we had to supplement that evening to ensure she was getting the nutrients that she needed. I don't know WHY this made me feel so defeated, but it did. But, I also want to note that fed is best and it does not matter HOW your baby gets its nutrients, I think I was just more defeated that the thought of breastfeeding wasn't as "glamorous" or as "easy" or "natural" as people had made it seem. It was hard mentally, physically, and emotionally... and to have this tie against us made it even more difficult for our journey. The next morning, I wanted to see the lactation consultant and get some insight on how we can work around this. All that I can say, is without Kim at Pella Regional Health Care Center, we would not be where we are today. I am forever thankful for her. I cried to her and she sat there, listened to my concerns, provided me with reassurance that this was normal, and helped us work around this small bump in our journey. She immediately walked out and grabbed what they call a nipple shield to help with a better latch. When we applied this to my breast, my daughter latched almost immediately. I was relieved with joy. Hearing her suck & swallow was the sweetest sound of my life. She was finally getting the nutrients she needed and wanted. We then brought out the pump so I could try to express some of the colostrum myself to give to her through a syringe before we left. Having her run through all of that with me brought me so much peace. As a first time mom, I was the most nervous for breastfeeding and pumping. It's the one thing that confused me, seemed so difficult, and a journey not many talk about. One thing I did not know was that it can take 2-5 days for your actual milk to come in. Until then, they are just getting what is called colostrum. Colostrum holds the most nutrients and is very valuable for your baby. While it doesn't seem like a lot for your baby, just remember that your baby's stomach at birth is the size of a grape and that colostrum really does serve a lot of important nutrients! My milk came in as soon as we arrived at home from the hospital, so day 4. I was breastfeeding every 2 hours and then pumping immediately after. I really wanted to build a freezer stash for when I am not around to breastfeed. Our journey was still rocky as we were using the shield which would continuously fall off during feeds and just began to get annoying! Finally, we had the appointment for her tongue tie release where we found out she had a grade 4 (the worst) tie on both her lip and tongue. This explained a lot. The Dentist explained the entire process to us perfectly, and made sure that we were all on the same page before we moved forward with the release. That very next day, we went back in and the procedure was done in less than a half hour! She explained that she was really only in her mouth for :28 seconds - so it's a very quick procedure where they laser the tie's. While they were doing the release, they sent us to a seperate room until she was done where they then brought us to her and we tried to latch her immediately. We believe her mouth was still so numb (and she was tired) that we did not get her to latch while there, but it had already looked so much more natural. She explained us the "mouth exercises" that we were to do until our next post-op appointment in 2 weeks. This part is hard for me to do, so my Husband does them before each feed. These exercises are to prevent the tie from reattaching - the last thing we want is to have her go through it all over again. We are so thankful we did this release so soon. It will benefit her in the future, she does not and will not remember getting this done, and she is now latching and using her tongue like she should! I will say, we are still using the shield, but at this point I have to look at it as she is re-learning breastfeeding and latching with her brand "new" tongue. I wanted to write this blog post to prepare other Mom's that will be getting this done for their littles as well. It seems scary and terrifying, but it is the best decision we could have made for our little girl and I highly recommend doing it as early as possible. Without this release, we may have quit the breastfeeding journey right then and there. But for now, we are learning how to do it all over again!