Unlike formula, breast milk contains antibodies that help your baby fight off viruses and bacteria. Breast-feeding lowers your babies risk of having asthma or allergies. Babies who are exclusively breast-fed for the first six months without any formula have fewer ear infections, respiratory illnesses and or bouts of diarrhea. Breast milk is perfectly designed for your babies needs at every age and stage. It has the appropriate amount of carbohydrates, proteins and fat. It also provides vitamins, minerals, digestive enzymes and hormones. All of these things create the perfect food. When your baby goes to the breast through and the saliva enters into the nipple through direct breastfeeding it then sends a signal to the milk inside the breast of the mother to provide a message that then is generated to formulate exactly what the baby needs for the day or for the age of the baby. For instance, if the dad came home after missing the mom and the baby all day long and starts kissing on them and then the next day wakes up sick he has already exposed the mom and the baby to whatever virus or illness that he came down with before he even knew he was sick. The baby through his saliva at the breast sent a message to the breast milk to make antibodies to protect him from being sick. Now the baby is better protected because the body was given the correct message and the milk became once again the perfect food. However, if the mom became sick, the baby is actually better protected by staying at the breast than being removed from the breast and bottle-fed. Once again before the mom even knew she was sick the baby was exposed and through the saliva passing through the nipple into the breastmilk was then given a new message of what to do and how to protect the baby and provide all the antibodies that the baby needs. Most babies will experience either no symptom or minimal signs of illness and will recover quickly.
You may be wondering if your baby has a tongue or lip tie. You may be suspecting that there is a problem with your baby’s latch. Maybe you cannot get a painless latch. Perhaps you feel like you do not have enough milk or your baby is not satisfied at the breast. Perhaps you have added a supplement of either pumped milk or formula to fill your baby up and to get proper weight gain. Perhaps your baby is not having good outputs of poop and pee diapers. Maybe your nipples won’t heal and you have sore cracked or bleeding nipples or even missing pieces due to baby latching too shallow. You may even be experiencing plugged milk ducts and or mastitis. You could even have a good latch and your baby is gaining well but your baby is struggling with how fast your milk is flowing and they cough and choke and sputter at the breast. These are just some of the signs that a baby will exhibit or mom will experience if their baby is tongue and or lip tied. It is not uncommon for this to be missed by your pediatrician, or another lactation consultant or lactation counselor. It is highly recommended that if you are experiencing any of these symptoms that you have your baby assessed by someone that is well-versed and educated in tongue and lip ties. I would highly recommend that you follow your instincts as a mother and insist on getting a second or third opinion which ever the case is with an IBCLC who is an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant. A lactation consultant who is known for their ability to help moms with a difficult to latch baby or a baby who is struggling at the breast. I also recommend seeking a preferred provider for an assessment and evaluation and the ability to do a tongue and lip tie release.
What is the importance of doing good wound care management known as tongue tie and lip tie stretches after having a tongue and or lip tie release?
Once you make the difficult decision to have your baby’s tongue and or lip tie release done you will learn about wound care management or lip and tongue tie stretches. It is always important after having a good and effective tongue tie and lip tie release done that it is always followed up with stretches to keep the wound from closing up prematurely. I often refer this to being similar to physical therapy. If you had injured a part of your body and you wanted full range of motion to return you would have to stretch and move that particular part of your body until it healed. If you did not do exercises and you left it immobile it would heal up in a less than optimal function. Less mobility and possibly restricted in motion. Which brings me back to doing good wound care management and or wound care stretches. Some physicians tell you not to do any stretches and or just swipe your finger back-and-forth across the wound. This is ineffective and does not promote proper healing. You may have even heard someone say that they had a tongue tie release done on their baby but it grew back or that it didn’t help with their breastfeeding at all. For me this is a red flag. If the wound care was done correctly along with an effective Tongue tie and or lip tie release which would have given the baby full function and ability to move the tongue properly with a good roll of the tongue to feed on the breast and or bottle. Within three days of having a tongue and or lip tie release without having effective stretches done the moms would often complain that breast-feeding is becoming painful again or the baby is not feeding as effectively as they were after having their release was done on day one. The point of having effective stretch is to keep the most optimal function and elevation of the tongue. If this is you and you are struggling after having your baby’s tongue tie and or lip ties released, you may want to consider getting more support with a IBCLC, a bodyworker who does oral, neck and sacrum adjustments for babies which can help remove any remaining tension left in the body from being restricted by oral tethers and of course someone that can help support you with good wound care support.