**Disclaimer: I am not an expert on ties, I cannot diagnose or evaluate these. I can make recommendations on where you can have them evaluated
Lucy was so tiny and new, at least her nine pound eight ounces looked tiny compared to my 21-month-old. After nursing for nearly two years, no one could tell me I didn’t know everything about breastfeeding a baby. I am a super pro (except looking back I knew nothing). I would take videos of her latch, looking at how amazing she was that she could nurse so well. I remember thinking that the discomfort would go away once I adjusted to nursing a new baby again. Surely this was just from that because her latch *looked* great.
Such a happy baby, smiling, sleeping 3+ hours at a time. All of the pee and poop diapers, and overall a “great” baby. My supply was incredible, I was practically drowning both girls and would have to allow my let down to empty into a bottle or even a cloth in order to not choke and gag the girls when they were nursing.
However, Lucy had all of the puke, holy hannah the amount of vomit that child would have. Around day 3 we realized she was now 8 pounds 6 ounces. That means she had lost over a pound. By day 5, she was 8 pounds 9 ounces. At two weeks old, she weighed 8 pounds 13 ounces. Someone mentioned supplementing breast milk since babies should be back at birth weight by two weeks. Remember though, my supply wasn’t actually an issue, so what’s the deal??
That’s when I started researching like crazy. I was trying to see why she wouldn’t be gaining weight, why would she be puking all the time, why, why, why, why. I was driving myself crazy. I insisted the doctor put her on anti-emetics (anti-nausea medication), they kept telling me it was a problem with my milk supply. Finally, they put her on them and it helped, a little. I finally came across the “flipple” method from The Milk Meg. Essentially where you place your nipple on the baby’s nose and flip it down into the mouth. This allows for a deeper latch, we started using this and had some relief. Then I was in pain again. We have thrush. All. Freaking. Three. Of. Us.
That’s when I came across an article about ties. There are numerous places you can find an oral restriction in the child’s mouth. In the instance of Lucy, it was found on her top lip just like the picture of Baby’s below.

I have seen others under the tongue, and some way behind the tongue. An oral restriction is simply something that prevents the mouth (tongue, lips, ECT) from moving in a manner that is expected by normal anatomy.
Instead of clipping Lucy’s lip tie, we started figuring out ways to work around it. She had osteopathic manipulations, we did stretches with her lip, and we worked on positioning, finding the koala hold to be the best for a deep latch.

Comparatively, we had Baby’s tie clipped immediately. I had so many issues with Lucy’s I didn’t want to risk the same struggles with his lip tie. I went back and forth on clipping his tie. Trying to figure out if it would truly be worth it, this is a procedure that can’t be undone. I reviewed the risks; bleeding, soreness, infection, and scaring are listed on Reaves Dental. I also researched the benefits, even speaking to a local dentist who specializes in clipping ties. I finally scheduled Baby’s frenectomy with our primary care physician.
The day of the appointment, I was a nervous wreck. I thought that this would be quick and easy, but I didn’t think about the emotions that would play into it as well. We were brought into the procedure room, everything already set up. In this case, they used a small pair of scissors to literally clip his tie. The procedure itself was over in a blink; the bleeding lasted a little longer, but the relief that I felt when we got a great latch on the first try was tremendous.
Hindsight is 20/20; I know way more now and would make different decisions for Lucy had I known then what I know now. However, she is currently 7 and still lip tied, and doing extremely well.
