February 15, 2018 (Updated April 10, 2023)

Valentine’s Day Recap

by Anne Mauney, MPH, RD

66 comments

Hi guys! I hope you had a nice Valentine’s or Gal/Pal-entine’s Day! Ours looked a little different this year vs. previous years… 🙂 (Please ignore our hot mess of a couch in the background, lol… new parent life/the tidying struggle is real.)

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In the past, when we didn’t go out for Valentine’s Day, Matt has usually made us some sort of epic feast at home, and he was talking about doing that this year, but it would have involved an evening grocery store trip, a decent amount of prep and clean up, etc. So I told him that what I’d rather do was take that time that he would have used at the store and prepping, and instead go on a nice family walk before it got dark out and then order delivery. 🙂 It actually ended up being perfect… easier logistically and more quality time together, too.

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When we got back from our stroll it was getting dark out, and my mom stopped by with some Valentine’s gifts for us and for Riese! So sweet of her. We invited her to stay and enjoy some bubbly with us – pink, of course, for Valentine’s Day! This pink champagne was a gift from my college BFF Kris just before Riese was born and this was the perfect time to bust it out. In the research I’ve done, one glass of alcohol is fine with breastfeeding, so I’ve been sticking to just one, and I usually have it during or right after a feed so it has time to work itself through. This one was enjoyed during a feed – the last feed of the day, actually, so by the time she ate again in the early morning it was well out of my system.

valentines cheers

When our dinner arrived (sushi via UberEats), my mom headed out and Matt and I settled in to enjoy it. Riese actually let us finish eating before melting down – quite nice of her!

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We all ended up going to bed early – around 9 – with Riese, which was nice because it was a busy day yesterday! I met up with my friends Kathleen and Chelsea first thing for a workout, but we forgot to get a photo. I missed last week’s group workout (I was too tired to commit to a morning workout), but this week I was ready for it. Felt good to move, as always; the morning logistics were complicated and kind of annoying, but I made it work. Riese woke up around 4 to eat, so I fed her, and then I dozed a bit until 5:45 when I got up and pumped so I could leave a bottle just in case. This way I also wasn’t trying to work out with uncomfortably full boobs. I did some snacking while pumping – still enjoying the last of my Oatmeal Banana Coconut Cookies! They made a nice pre-workout snack – I think I had 3 of them.

banana coconut cookies healthy

In exciting news, Riese has started to sleep a lot longer now – she usually makes it from about 9 until 3 consistently now, and we’ve had a few nights where she has gone until 4 or 5 even. The only problem with this is that I wake up usually around 3 or 4 either way because my boobs are so uncomfortably full of milk. I’ve ended up getting up and pumping most nights – on the bright side, this is an easy way to build up my freezer stash quickly – but obviously on the downside, I’d like to actually get more unbroken sleep too. So… for my mama readers who breastfed, how did you handle the transition to your baby sleeping for longer stretches? Did you just let your body adjust? Or did you use it as time to build your freezer stash?

Anyway! When I got home from my workout shortly after 8 Riese was just about ready to eat and quickly getting hangry so I had time for a) food, or b) a shower. Clearly I went with food and never ended up making a shower happen yesterday… oh well. Thankfully it was a more strength-focused workout vs. cardio so I wasn’t really sweaty. Glam mom life over here. 😉

post workout snuggles

I went to my mom’s group late morning yesterday but didn’t have time for lunch with the ladies and babies afterward because we had a doctor’s appointment for Riese! Matt actually worked from home so he could take a couple hours off and come with us to the doctor in the afternoon, which was great to have him there. This appointment was to assess whether Riese has a tongue or lip tie that might be interfering with breastfeeding efficiently. (The lactation consultant I’ve been seeing referred us to them.) The doctor said her tongue has a tiny bit of a tie but likely not enough to do anything about (she referred us to another specialist to do some exercises to help with tongue/jaw strength since her suck isn’t quite as strong as it should be), but that she does have a lip tie that she would encourage us to have taken care of. Bummer… I was really hoping they would say everything was fine and send us on our way! We are leaning towards doing it (but not for a couple weeks because they wanted us to meet with the other specialist first to make sure she agreed on the tongue looking fine… so that way if we need to do both we could do them all at once), but I’d love to hear from those of you who did this procedure with your child – pros/cons/thoughts? Did it really make a difference with feeding? Was the recovery hard for the baby? It breaks my heart to think about her in pain, but obviously we want her to be able to eat well and gain the weight she needs to, both now and down the line, so… thoughts? (Also: hi to the blog reader we met at the doctor’s office! Sorry I didn’t get a chance to chat!)

I will leave you guys with my new favorite photo – I am officially obsessed with hooded sweaters with ears. So freaking cute!

hooded sweater with ears baby

Have a nice day guys!

- anne

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66 comments
  • Ashley
    So jealous of your long stretches! My little guy didn't start sleeping longer stretches until about 5 months. I found that we would have a couple weeks of long stretches, then back to crazy wakes (hi teething. I see you.), so I didn't wean from nursing/pumping at night until after 6 months or so. Plus, having the freezer stash built up almost effortlessly was amazing, and it has taken so much pressure off. I had a hand pump next to my bed (Medela, same as my regular pump so all parts were super interchangeable) that made half asleep pumping less of an event. Keep doing great - she's adorable!!
    Reply
    • Anne
      I'm sure the long stretches are only temporary - we will see!
      Reply
  • Megan B.
    Do you follow Katie Bower over at the Bower Power blog? She now has 5 kids and I think 3 or 4 of them had tongue/lip ties. She wrote about it on the blog, so you may be able to search for it. Or just reach out to her. From what I remember, she said it was like night and day after getting the procedure done. . . made a HUGE difference. And I think it's a pretty easy procedure too, though it's never easy to have your baby cry or in pain. :(
    Reply
    • Anne
      I don't - I'll check that out. Thank you!
      Reply
  • Megan
    This is the exact same situation as us. my son always was a good sleeper and would sleep from 8-4am. My baby is 5 months old now and sometimes i still really struggle with the waking up full and wanting to pump. I work full time out of the home so i felt i needed a good size freezer stash being away from him so long. I used that 4 am time to feed off of one side and pump the other. My right side produces much more milk than the left so i would feed him on the left and pump on my right. I did it for a month or two and slowly lowered the amount of milk i pumped until he slept longer and i felt better. Now he sleeps 7pm-6am and depending on what i eat the previous day i will still wake up pretty full. I do my first pump of the day when i get to work and can usually suck it up until then. Pumping can lead to being such a mind game. The more you pump the more you need to pump because your body will keep making that much milk. Good luck!
    Reply
    • Megan
      Let me specify by saying i was like you and my body would naturally wake up at 4 or 5am in pain because i was so full. I would never set a alarm to do it. Sleep as much as you can! If you and your baby are sleeping then sleep!
      Reply
  • Ashley
    Personally, sleep was my most precious commodity--more precious even than the freezer stash :) If you're not having supply issues, I would try to just enjoy your sleep! When my baby started to sleep longer stretches, I tried to avoid pumping (or only pumped the bare minimum I needed to be comfortable and get back to sleep) until my body synced up with his new schedule. It might make for a day or two of discomfort, but your body will adjust remarkably quickly! I built my freezer stash by pumping in the morning, either immediately following the first morning feed or during the baby's first nap of the day. As long as I was consistent, my body would adjust to make the extra milk at whatever time I pumped my extra "freezer stash" pump (and the morning is a higher supply time anyway).
    Reply
    • Sarah
      Agree with this 100%! I took the approach of sleep when the baby is sleeping. It would take a few nights, but my body adjusted really quickly when he started sleeping longer stretches. And it also adjusted when he decided to start waking up again during the night and needed to be fed :)
      Reply
  • Lara
    Amira had both tongue and lip which we got taken care of when she was 2 weeks old. The stretches we had to do for her after were definitely uncomfortable for while we did them, but once we finished the two weeks of prescribed stretches, she started latching so it was a win for us!
    Reply
  • Meghan
    Hi Anne - I'm the reader that said hi in the doctor's office yesterday! I was there because my son (who's about a week younger than Riese) was getting a frenectomy for both an upper lip and tongue tie. I debated the procedure like you did, but I think that I am ultimately going to be happy that we did it. We have had a lot of feeding issues, esp. pain and nipple damage on my end, which the ties were likely causing. I've noticed a difference on one side already with how he latches. The other side I don't feel as much of a positive change yet, but that's likely because I still have some healing to do. I can tell you that the first night was definitely rough, but only for a few hours. Some skin-to-skin time, singing, nursing, one very small dose of infant Tylenol, and then a good night's sleep were what he needed. He's been his normal happy self so far today, which has surprised me! For us - we made the decision to do it because I knew that I wanted to continue breastfeeding (my son really likes it, and I do too!), and I needed to be able to do it without being in pain and constantly taking "breaks" from nursing, where I'd pump instead. I talked to a few friends and family members who are pediatricians or pediatric dentists, and they said that at this stage, when he's already over 2mos., the tongue tie likely won't resolve itself unless we did the procedure, so we could either have it removed, or I'd likely naturally switch to more of a pump/formula/bottle feeding schedule instead (which sounded exhausting and overwhelming to me). A pediatrician friend did say that the lip tie would likely resolve itself within a few years - e.g. - the kid falls down and hits his mouth or gets knocked in the mouth with a toy. But my son's was a more advanced lip tie and so it made sense to take care of that, too, while we addressed the tongue tie. Ultimately, I'd recommend that you think about your comfort level, concerns over her weight gain, and plans/goals for feeding Riese. And check in with your gut on whether you think that you can continue working through the issues you're having without having the procedure done. If you do it, Riese would be in a little pain for a short time, but she'd move past it quickly and in the long run should not remember it and would likely have a better feeding relationship with you. One last thing - my husband and I also met with a chiro specialist before the procedure (I'm guessing the same practice you'll be going to!), and I definitely noticed improvement from the exercises that she had us do on our son leading up to the frenectomy. His jaws loosened up, which made me feel more confident that doing those exercises + the frenectomy would lead us to a resolution on our end. Maybe for you, you'll see enough of an improvement from those exercises without needing to address the tie? Just something to consider as you move forward. Good luck making the decision! And it was nice running into you!
    Reply
    • Anne
      Hi Meghan!! Nice running into you too, and thank you for sharing this with me - sorry you guys have been struggling, too, but I'm so happy to hear it has already made a difference! How are things going now 2 days out? We are meeting with the chiro on Monday... will see how that goes! But I think we are definitely going to at least need to do the lip tie procedure...
      Reply
      • Meghan
        We are doing well, thanks for asking! He doesn't like the exercises that we do in his mouth to prevent reattachment, but I don't think anyone would. He deals with them and recovers quickly after fussing for a bit! I don't think he's in pain anymore, and the areas are healing really nicely. I hope the meeting with the chiro goes well! And good luck with the procedure - she will be fine!
        Reply
        • Anne
          So glad things are going well so far! :)
          Reply
  • erin
    I let my body naturally adjust when my kids were sleeping longer stretches at night. There was no way I was getting up to pump at 3am:) If you are really in pain pump enough to be comfortable but not so much that your body keeps thinking you are doing a full feeding at that time. I'll also say that while I think it is good to have a freezer stash you really don't need to go crazy. Having 1-2 days worth is more than enough. Just about everyone I know who went crazy building a freezer stash ended up eventually tossing a lot of it. I work full time out of the home so I was always pumping at work for the next day. So other then for the very first day of daycare I did't really need a reserve.
    Reply
  • Allison
    Here is my best tip regarding avoiding waking up super engorged in the middle of the night. I would pump every night 2-3 hrs after the baby went to bed (usually this would be 10-11 pm). This a) creates a great freezer stash and b) will keep you from being more engorged in the middle of the night. Now, it may not be ideal if you are going to bed most nights at the same time Reise does, but very soon her bedtime will start to shift earlier - most likely closer to 7 pm. Also, I personally preferred to stay up a bit later and pump before going to bed, rather than having to wake in the middle of the night to do it. Of course, if you skip pumping at night altogether, your milk supply will adjust quickly within a few days, so that will solve your problem too.
    Reply
    • Anne
      Yeah... for now I just go to bed with her at like 8:30 or 9 since I sleep so much better the first stretch of the night and need to bank that sleep time when I can! But as she goes down earlier this is a good call to pump before bed!
      Reply
  • mary
    my little one was sleeping through the night at 5 weeks and i still got up to pump around 2:30am every day. it was SO hard but it made all the difference in the world in terms of building my freezer supply because i was able to get a TON of milk quickly and easily (10+ oz)! i ended up doing this until about 9 months. it was truly exhausting most days, but i wouldn't recommend skipping it even though it's soooo tempting - your supply will definitely diminish and you will likely overwhelm baby during the first feed in the morning with very full boobs! i also tried to appreciate that quiet time (my only alone time all day!) to meditate or snuggle with my kitty or read. you'll get back to restful sleep eventually :) good luck mama.
    Reply
    • Anne
      I know it's SO easy to get a tom of milk at that early hour - pumping in the evening I get only a fraction of that!
      Reply
  • Sian
    The challenge with pumping to relieve engorgement is that you’re telling your body you need milk then. When Penny was about 7 weeks old she started sleeping for 6 or 7 hour stretches but I tried to just push through it. I found feeding her around 10/11 then right when she woke up at 5 or 6 worked for me. That said, I don’t lean towards engorgement. You’re doing great!
    Reply
  • Meg
    Anne, Our son had both a severe Class 1 and Class 2 tongue tie (front and back tied, heart shaped tongue, full 9 yards) and lip tie. We revised the front part so his tongue would detach but we initially decided against revising the back tie and lip tie because the LCs indicated it would really only affect breastfeeding and it felt selfish to put him through a surgery for that when it would only be an issue for a few short months and bottle feeding pumped milk was working great. Fast forward to 8 months when he couldn't get any solids down (constant gagging, terrifying) and our daycare speech therapist noted his tongue and upper lip were completely static and his baby speech wasn't developing like it should and we visited a pediatric dentist. He advised us of the long term risks of both ties (speech issues, cosmetic issues, sinus troubles, etc) and gave us more information about the revision procedure. We went ahead with it that day-it was a 5 minute procedure with a laser pen device. We had a rough/cranky/snowfall walks in the carrier initial 24 hours (followed by 10 days of stretches 10 times a day, but the lip is only 5 days of that). We got a new baby from the procedure (even thought he was a super easy baby before). He could immediately eat solids, started verbalizing more, snoring less, less gas and slept through the night consistently within a week (we were at 2-3 wakes still at 8 months before it). After waiting and learning he was probably in discomfort from it all, I so wish we had done it sooner. It was hard to get a bigger baby to tolerate the stretches that are required and we could just tell how much better he felt right away. It feels super scary and you never want to intervene unnecessarily, but for us it was a very positive experience (I'm due with our 2nd in a few weeks and have the dentist's cell to text him pictures right away so we can get in ASAP if she has similar issues). I would talk to the specialist, see what they recommend and make the decision as a family, but you should hear positive experiences too :)
    Reply
    • Anne
      I'm so happy to hear it was such a positive experience for you guys!
      Reply
  • Alexis
    While messy with leaking for a few nights, I tried to sleep so my body could get adjusted to my daughter's new schedule. However, I wasn't working so a big freezer stash wasn't as big of necessity as it is for others. Both of my daughters had lip & tongue ties that interfered with feeding. they had to have them done twice bc for one we didn't do the exercises/stretches afterwards correctly.strong enough so it reattached. I would recommend going in and doing it in front of the dr so they can ensure you are doing it correctly instead of just watching them show you how to do it. The procedure was quick, while horrible to hear the cries and latched immediately after to comfort and made a world of difference for feeding. Another concern is that later on it can effect speech.
    Reply
    • Anne
      Good tip to have the doc watch us make sure we are doing the exercises correctly!
      Reply
  • Kim C.
    My son had a lip tie and a tongue tie. A local pediatric dentist recommended that they both be revised and we decided not to. We were never able to get breastfeeding down, so I ended up exclusively pumping until he was 9 months old and ended up with a freezer stash that lasted until he was 15 months. I really hated exclusively pumping, but we made it work. He is almost 3 1/2 now and has had no issues with gaining weight, eating, speech, tooth decay, etc. which are other issues that can be associated with lip and/or tongue ties. However, I'm due with baby #2 in 2 weeks and if she has the same issues and it is recommended for us to revise them, we will more than likely do it this time. I really want to be able to breastfeed this time around. Exclusively pumping was a lot harder than I had originally thought it would be and I'd just really like to experience breastfeeding with baby #2. Sorry if this is not be super helpful, but it at least provides another's experience with making the decision whether or not to revise lip/tongue ties. :)
    Reply
    • Anne
      I really don't think I could exclusively pump... that would be so hard. I'm impressed you made it work!
      Reply
  • Brittany
    As for the breastfeeding at night when they sleep longer stretches, I personally always had a small supply at any given time so I took advantage of the chance to pump when he first started sleeping longer stretches. This kept my production going since it leaned to being low anyway and filled the freezer. Then eventually I tapered that down and my body adjusted but in my personal case the less he ate at night, the less and less I produced and at 6 months we stopped nursing entirely. I know many moms though who had stellar stores of milk and could adapt to sleeping all night, So do whatever you think suits your and Riese's needs for milk I guess! you're awesome mama!
    Reply
  • LP
    Our baby had a lip and tongue tie and it made an AMAZING difference for her when we got them clipped for both breastfeeding and her mouth mobility- sounds like yours is not as severe, but I think if you think you have it, get it done- the older they are and the longer you wait, the worse it is for everyone during and after. We had to do some daily mouth exercises with her to make sure it didn't grow right back because they heal so quickly, and that was a bummer, but the difference it made for her feeding issues made it totally worth it. Good luck! We're local too and saw Dr. Pham at Metro ENT in Bethesda and loved her- so compassionate.
    Reply
  • crystal
    I would use that extra time you wake up during the night to pump until you have a freezer stash you want. When I wanted to drop that night one, I pumped or manually expressed enough to take the edge off and then went back to sleep. My morning supply was high enough that my baby would eat from one side and I'd pump and freeze the other side. I ended up donating a ton of milk to a local milk bank here in PGH. So if that's something you haven't thought about, definitely look into milk banks near you. you end up with a large freezer supply which was great when I couldn't feed a full week because of medication.
    Reply
  • Amy
    My son had both tongue and lip ties corrected when he was 12 weeks old. He had a laser procedure that took like 5 minutes to do. I breastfed him immediately after and he was a bit fussy for the rest of the day. After that he was totally fine and we did the stretches the dentist prescribed. It made a huge difference in his ability to latch strongly. Before the procedure, my breast would slip out of his mouth easily and he wasn't getting the good hind milk because it took so much effort for him to eat. He also started gaining weight better. He is now almost 15 months and still nursing. Best of luck to you with whatever decision you make.
    Reply
  • Liz
    I let my body adjust - sleep is EVERYTHING!!! Recently, I had to build up my freezer stash for a solo weekend trip I had planned, so I added in a pump session for a few weeks before I went to bed. Bodies are amazing!!
    Reply
  • Wendy
    My son was diagnosed with a tongue tie at about 10 days old. We got the procedure done as he hadn’t gained as much as we would have expected. Quick and easy! Seriously took 1 minute. And it made such a difference. At his next weigh in he was back on his birth centile (that all soon changed when he learned to roll and hasn’t stopped moving since!). In terms of full boobs because of changing in feeds...I didn’t pump but I didn’t need to build a freezer stash (I am in the U.K. and had quite long mat leave). But, I agree with what another poster said. I would often pump around 10-11pm once my son was sleeping for longer stretches- and that totally helped with the engorgement issue!
    Reply
  • julie @ peanut butter fingers
    chase had a tongue tie and i was such a mess when we took him in but the procedure took less than a minute and made a WORLD of difference for both him and nursing! also, something i didn't realize at the time is that a tongue tie/lip tie is often hereditary and so if you have more kiddos in the future, it's something you can even have them check for right in the hospital. we're planning to do this when baby #2 arrives in june just because chase's tongue tie was so dramatic (he couldn't extend his tongue out over his lower gum line at all) so we can hopefully have it fixed quickly and save some of the stress for both the baby and me if it happens again. really hope everything goes smoothly for you guys -- i know it's so easy to get stress out over all of this stuff as you're just figuring everything out!
    Reply
    • Anne
      That's good to know about the hereditary situation - I didn't realize that!
      Reply
  • Emily McDougall
    My son had a tongue and lip tie. I took him to an ENT that was recommended by our lactation consultant and pediatrician. He can now stick his tongue past his gums! Totally worth it in my opinion.
    Reply
  • NC
    I would go to a preferred provider , Facebook has a tongue and lip tie group that will point to a specialist in our area . You should get both of them addressed with a laser not by snipping .. I had to do it twice with my son and the difference is huge. As your supply picks up and if she does not drain it then you might have clogged ducts or mastitis like I did . You won’t regret doing the procedure and I wished I had done it earlier , as far as recovery you will need to exercises to ensure it does not reattach . As far as enforcement , I always pumped in the night till 8 months when my son started sleeping , it helped me build a stash and eventually when my periods returned I had a massive dip every month and he stash helped .
    Reply
    • Anne
      Yes, the doctor we saw does a water laser type thing, not a snip!
      Reply
  • Jennifer
    My daughter had moderately severe tongue tie and mild lip tie and we had them both corrected by a pediatric dentist who specializes in laser frenulectomy at 3 weeks old. Procedure literally took 20 seconds and she only cried for about 5-10 seconds. You do have to massage the surgical site six times a day for 4-6 weeks so it doesnt reattach, and that made her cry but only lasts 15-20 seconds. She also had to do suck training exercises to strengthen. I am SO happy we went through with the procedure. Within two weeks she was breast feeding like a champ and we havent had any problems since (she will be 4 mos this week). We also went to a chiropractor, as another reader said, to help loosen her jaw muscles. It is not typical chiropractic manipulations where they jerk the neck around but rather very gentle massage on the tight muscles. It made a world of difference.
    Reply
    • Anne
      The other specialist we are seeing is a baby chiro - fascinating stuff! I'm so happy it worked for you!
      Reply
  • Lisa of Lisa's Yarns
    Your Valentine's Day meal looks amazing - I can't wait to enjoy some sushi! I would have opted for a walk and ordering in, too! :) When we went to our breastfeeding class, the instructor talked about how much you could drink while nursing but now it's escaped my mind - I need to find the notes we took. But I do remember that she said one of the best times to have a drink was while you were nursing because your body would be metabolizing it while you were nursing so it definitely wouldn't be in your milk. She said to have your husband poor you a glass of wine to enjoy during your last feed of the night. :) I also can't wait to have some champagne or wine after the baby is born! I know all these things I gave up will be worth it, and I haven't missed wine all that much but lately a glass of crisp white wine sounds soooo good!
    Reply
  • Emily
    I would pump a few hours after the last feeding so I could appreciate that longer stretch. My son had significant lip and tongue tie. We saw a specialist and got a horrible feeling from them. I also went to my trusted prenatal chiropractor . I did some research and spoke with several friends who are speech language pathologists because I was worried what affect it could/couldn’t have on articulation, eating etc. The SLP and Chiro strongly discouraged the procedure and all research shows that it does not impact anything later on in life. We felt the harm of the procedure was more intrusive than using the nipple shield to nurse until his muscles had developed enough to nurse efficiently. We haven’t had any regrets with not going through with the procedure. As with anything else, trust your gut. Everyone has a different opinion when it comes to parenting.
    Reply
  • Megan
    I let my body adjust and still managed to EBF (while working an office gig) for 9 months. You have plenty of time to build your stash. Sleep if you can! You could also try a dreamfeed at like 10 or 11 to try to stretch her sleep a little longer - I think I used to do it about 11 and it was great.
    Reply
  • Roadrunner
    Love, the hood with ears! Very nice! And exciting that Riese is almost sleeping through the night. That day is coming....
    Reply
  • Brooke
    My son 5 days older than Riese and has started longer stretches of sleep as well at night. If you want your body to sync with her feedings then try to sleep through the discomfort/engorgement otherwise your body will still think it needs to produce milk for that night feed. The body is a remarkable thing. Also, don't worry about drinking alcohol and feeding Riese, the new school of thought is that not much is transfered to your milk. You can definitely have more than one drink and feed baby safely. And if you do have more to drink and aren't comfortable feeding her, you can save for a milk bath.
    Reply
    • Anne
      Wait. Milk bath?!
      Reply
      • Brooke
        Yup! https://www.motherrisingbirth.com/2016/11/breast-milk-bath.html
        Reply
  • Elizabeth
    Wow those are great stretches of sleep for her age. If you pump when you wake up your body will keep making that much milk at that time, so it is actually counterproductive. It is better To let your body adjust.
    Reply
  • Meika
    It's awesome that your dr's are recognizing tongue/lip ties as actual issues! It was the first thing the nurse in the delivery room noticed about our son after he was born. We had it taken care of at two weeks (very quick, nursed him immediately afterward and he stopped crying - crying actually makes it easier for them to do). After a summer of a LOT of vomiting and my return to work, he refused to nurse any more. I was heartbroken and it wasn't until I visited a lactation consultant for some pumping issues I was having that she noticed his tongue tie wasn't completely corrected and his lip tie was terrible. Now we have to go back for both of them at almost a year old. Had the dr's in the hospital, or his pediatrician, or the ENT who did the initial procedure noticed, we would have had a much less stressful experience with him as a newborn, he wouldn't have been put through unnecessary tests, I wouldn't have been on an elimination diet for 6 months, and he'd probably still be nursing, thus saving me HOURS a day at the pump.
    Reply
    • Anne
      Ugh, I'm so sorry you had that experience!
      Reply
  • Kris S
    Yay! Glad you enjoyed the champagne and could share it with your mom! :) Amazingly cute photo ;) Disappointing news about the lip tie, but at least now you know what's going on rather than wondering. Hope the jaw strengthening works and that you get a good second opinion to help you make a decision you're comfortable with either way. Bisous!
    Reply
    • Anne
      The champagne was excellent! Thank you again! xoxo
      Reply
  • Nicole
    So, the last thing that was going to keep me up at night during the infant stage was my boobs. Let's be real, wasn't going to happen. I let my Body adjust and it would only take a day or two when there was a change. As far as lip ties, I got my baby's done At 4 weeks by Laser and I highly recommend. Changed her nursing so much for the better.
    Reply
  • Laura Allen
    Emerson had both a tongue tie and a lip tie and we had both lasered when she was two weeks old. The only thing that is hard is that you have to do exercises to make sure it doesn’t grow back – these obviously weren’t pleasant and since Emerson cried hysterically when we did them, we skipped the exercises…And the tongue tie started to grow back, which resulted in the doctor shoving her finger back there to “break “the new growth. That part was traumatic. The lip tie exercises were easier to do, so hopefully you’ll be able to do them without any problems. Also, I’ve heard from other people that other doctors did not ask them to do exercises so I’m not sure if it was just our doc. I’m not sure how much it helped with feeding, since breast-feeding hurt that first month. I do know that it can interfere with teeth coming in so that’s a good reason to have it done
    Reply
    • Anne
      Our doctor did mention the exercises... sounds not fun to do but important!
      Reply
  • Kacie
    Both of my babies had a tongue and lip tie. With my son we only repaired his tongue, with my daughter we did both. I SO wish that we did both with my son but were told it wasn’t that bad. Well, now going through it the 2nd time, it made such a difference (for us) when we got both the tongue and lip tie repaired. With my son I ALWAYS had minor pain with feeding, he never got a great latch, and his nursing sessions were long. With my daughter, I have no pain, great latch, short and efficient sessions. All that being said, I was still able to breastfeed him for 10 months (my supply ran out when I had to be away from him full days and pumping wasn’t working). And he always gained weight well. Just wanted to share our experience! :)
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  • Heidi
    I had my tongue tie corrected with a laser (quick and easy) in my 30's! Mine was quite moderate but I do wish that it was fixed when I was younger as it did cause some issues. Good luck with whatever you decide.
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  • Mary
    Hi Anne! I’m expecting my second baby in the late summer, and I wondered if you could share what that seat is that Riese is sitting in on your table at dinner time? We had a similar, hand me down, for our first, but the fabric didn’t handle some attic heat very well. I may need to replace it, and that looks perfect. Thanks!
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  • mary
    i just saw this article and thought it might help you! https://slate.com/human-interest/2018/02/tongue-tie-advice-can-a-frenectomy-improve-breast-feeding.html
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    • Anne
      I saw that! Very interesting...
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  • Katie
    Hi! My daughter also had a tongue tie. We had the release done at 2 weeks old. It immediately made breastfeeding easier and the difference was so noticeable! I held her during the procedure, which took 5 mins. I cried more than she did! There are exercises that need to be done after which is probably the worst part of the whole process because they don’t like you messing with their mouths! I am also a dietian and lactation consultant. I see so many babies that get the releases and immediately do better. I was able to breastfeed until my daughter was around 14 months, and I’m pretty sure would have given up long before that if we didn’t get the procedure done :) feel free to reach out with any questions!
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    • Anne
      This is so great to hear! Thank you!
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  • Rachel
    I just want to say, if you do the procedure, don’t be afraid to be a wimp hide in the waiting room! ;) I had my husband hold him and I sat in the waiting room and cried, but it was over in about 30 seconds with zero bleeding and an easy recovery. I didn’t see an instant improvement as some people say, but over time it allowed everything to improve and it was well worth it!
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    • Anne
      Yeah I'm definitely going to hide somewhere else... I don't think I could stand to see it done even though I'm sure it's fast!
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  • Calla
    Your body will start to adjust to the dropped night feedings! It usually takes about 1-2 weeks but by the end of the second week you will not wake up leaking, engorged, and uncomfortable! Personally, I never woke to pump because I preferred the sleep and just wanted my body to match my daughter's food requirements.
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    • Anne
      It seems my body is already starting to adjust, which is good!
      Reply