How did I know that I had ties?

Hi all,

So, first thing is first.

Most often, less often that I would hope, parents are told about ties when they are having a particularly difficult time breastfeeding. Sadly, it is commonly dismissed by health professionals, so most people that I have come into contact with regarding ties have found out about them on parenting groups on Facebook.

Common symptoms for ties in infants include:
Some common Signs of Infant Tongue/Lip tie (completely borrowed from Dr Jones' blog on her website, linked below) include

• Poor latch/inability to latch
• Sliding off the nipple
• Fatigue during feeds
• Sleepy feeds
• Irritability while feeding
• Poor weight gain
• Clicking during a feed
• Dribbling milk at the breast/ bottle
• Digestive issues (such as increased gassiness, reflux, colic, vomiting, distended stomach)
• Maternal nipple pain/ damage (feels like the infant is compressing, chewing, gumming, pinching the nipple)
• Increased maternal nipple/ breast infection
• Compromised maternal milk supply

This was the case for me, and as I have previously posted, B had his ties lasered at Enhance Dentistry in Milton in Brisbane when he was 9 weeks old with fantastic results.

Soon afterwards, I began following Debbie from Breastfeeding Affirmations as she had her ties released and realised how much of my life was different or difficult because of my own restrictions.

Symptoms that I struggle with are:

• Grinding my teeth
• Clenching my jaw
• Neck pain
• Headaches
• Huge dental bills
• Restricted neck movement (I cannot do shoulder checks while driving - I can't believe I thought that was normal!)
• Speech problems
• Difficulty shutting my mouth (my family has been right all along, haha)
• Difficulty swallowing
• Problems with liquids
• Poor posture 
• Tongue thrusting

Also - I could see them. Ties cannot be diagnosed by looking at them alone, but in combination with everything else, they were painfully obvious when looking at them. Now I'm obsessed with spotting ties and can no longer watch anything with Jude Law in it.

I have decided this year to prioritise my own health as much as I can after being so burnt out mothering a newborn all through last year, and this is the first step!

Awesome people and things that I mentioned in this:
Symptoms of ties in infants - Enhance Dentistry
Enhance Dentistry
Breastfeeding Affirmations

#ItsTies

Hi all,

I am starting this blog to document my journey as a gentle/attachment parent.

Over time, it will include baby-led weaning recipes and ideas, breastfeeding information, babywearing posts and more, but for now I am covering something relating less to bub and more to me.

From birth, my baby had so many of the symptoms of tongue and lip ties. But instead of diagnosing and treating these, countless paediatricians, doctors, midwives and lactation consultants prescribed things like lactose free formula (I can practically hear all the CMPI mums groaning), sleep training, bottle feeding, nipple shields, infacol, infants friend, panadol, nurofen, even prescription wind medication - and none of this helped even one bit.

Thankfully, I am surrounded by wonderful mothers who could tell me what was "normal" for a newborn and what was not.

For weeks I resisted the idea of ties. I compared my mouth with bubs' and we looked the same. How could he be tied if our mouths looked the same? ***spoiler, I'm tied too***. When baby B was 9 weeks old, I experienced what I interpreted as a sudden drop in breastmilk supply. This freaked me out so much that I finally took on board the hundreds of mums internet-shouting at me that my baby was tied and booked him in for a formal assessment.

We had his ties lasered the same day and almost all of our problems disappeared within 4 days.

Since then, I have been a massive advocate of tie release, so much so that I have decided to have my own ties released after discovering how much of my "normal" is, in fact, not!

I know that adult tie release is an even less well known concept than infant tie release, so I will document my experience every step of the way in the hopes that some of you who are considering tie release in yourselves can make a really informed decision.