Hi everybody! I'm Melissa. Welcome back to CloudMom. So we all know that for young
babies the way in which they feed, they suck you know the milk out of the
mother's breast or they feed from a bottle is of crucial importance. Babies
need to be sucking properly so that they can ingest the milk that is so crucial
to their growth their development and I actually got a really great question
from a mom the other day that I wanted to bring up to you guys because it's on
a subject that we've never touched on before here at CloudMom and it's on
babies who suffer from what's called tongue-tie. Here's what this mom has to
say. Hi Melissa. I need help. My baby turned four months today and she needs
to eat every two hours. Is it because my supply is too low?
I had a supply problem because she had tongue-tie which was corrected when she
was one month old. She's fussy after most feeds like she's still hungry. If she
isn't, she seems very hungry an hour to an hour and a half later.
Could I be over feeding if I'm able to go around four hours? My breasts feel very
full but even after those times she still seems hungry. This is a lactation
problem for me and it's heartbreaking. I don't want to give up breastfeeding but
I don't want her to be unhappy or hungry. Okay this is like you know really
interesting question. There's a bunch of things here I want to quickly touch on.
Of course I have my notes, you guys know I'm a big note-taker and I'm
reading from my computer because I don't have a printer here. So let me go in
order. Okay I've never talked about on
CloudMom tongue-tie is a condition in which the frenulum, the thin flat piece
under the tongue that attaches to the bottom of the mouth,
is short and has little motion. It has less of an ability to stick out and up
tongue-tie affects about four to eleven percent of newborns it can be an
underlying cause of feeding problems, affecting weight gain. It can lead many
mothers to abandon breastfeeding entirely. Well the tongue is remarkably
adaptable. Many children will have tongue tie and not suffer from feeding
problems or from speech problems, but others will. Okay reading your question
mama, you're saying that you notice after four hours that your breasts feel very
full. That to me is telling me that you're producing milk. You're saying,
though, that the baby always feels hungry, it never seems to be satisfied, and that
one and a half hours after each feed your baby is back at it again wanting to
be fed again. So my first question, which I ask all the time, is are you sure
she's getting a full feed? Is the baby awake and full and are you emptying one
breast before you go to the next breast, burping the baby so that you know you
got a good burp so that they still want to feed and then you're at that moment
where their mouth is open and they're literally looking at you like uh-uh
I don't want you anymore I'm full. That's the point you have to be at and I want
to know whether you're experiencing that point because I have a feeling that
you're starting to feed, you think the baby's done feeding, but actually she
just needs to burp or she's falling asleep and she's actually not full. Which
is why an hour and a half later she's back at it again. The tongue-tie thing is
fascinating. I know you had it corrected, but is it possible it needs to be
corrected again I would bring your baby in and have that tongue tie be checked
out. Make sure her tongue is doing the work It needs to do to suck out the milk
and so this is a case in which I think you need to get some expert advice. I
would go to your pediatrician. I would talk to a lactation consultant and one
of the things they can do is weigh the baby before and after the feed and see
how much milk she's getting and I think that would be really interesting here
because I have a feeling that she's not getting full feed.
That's what my gut is telling me. So anyway, you sound like a great mom,
hang in there. Let's get to the bottom of this. Keep it up. There is no reason for
you to stop breastfeeding. You're producing tons of milk. If the baby is
leaving you feeling super full after feeding when the baby's full, pump it out
and I do recommend pumping after every feed, especially in the early months to
stimulate milk supply so that you build up a good you know quantity of milk and
to regulate the amount that each of your breasts produce. I think that's a really
great idea. So anyway, thanks so much for writing in and I will see you next time
on CloudMom.