Yesterday was a big day for Aoife and I. Actually the past month has been pretty busy with trying to figure out her slower weight gain. I started taking domperidone to increase the supply of breastmilk and it has worked very well. Aoife gained 2 pounds from December 3rd to January 3rd, which is amazing for a 5 month old baby.
A couple weeks ago we met another lactation consultant who agreed that Aoife might be tongue-tied given the whole picture of the problems with breastfeeding and her slow weight gain. We finally had an appointment with a dentist yesterday who confirmed the situation and clipped her tongue tie. It was quite a traumatic experience for the baby who of course was not expecting that at all. It took her a few minutes to latch on after the procedure and she was shocked and angry for quite a while. The dentist had used some topical anesthetic on her, so she had some relief when that kicked in and I gave her a dose of Tylenol right away. In the afternoon an evening, she refused to breastfeed unless we were in the bathtub. While I usually love taking baths, I wasn't relishing the thought of running a bath every few hours during the night...thankfully she was able to drink from a bottle with less pain.
This morning she started breastfeeding again and seems to be more comfortable. We have to stretch her tongue 3 times a day which she does not appreciate, but I'd rather do it right than have to have the tongue clipped again. I already notice a difference with her latch, and feeding her is already more comfortable than it has ever been. We are seeing way more of her tongue sticking out of her mouth and already are hearing some "harder" letter sounds like "ta ta ta" and "da da da". Keeping our fingers crossed for more improvement in the coming weeks.
Aoife has learned to sit quite steadily in the last couple weeks:
She can reach for toys and get them in to her mouth and stay up all at the same time. I think she really enjoys the new angle on life.
She is also really enjoying her exersaucer now. She plays with all the toys and has started to bounce in it too.
Swimming lessons started last weekend at Pointe-Claire pool. The pool is heated quite warm so that it is comfortable for the little ones. Here's Aoife and her dad at her lesson. I think they both really enjoyed it!
A couple weeks ago we met another lactation consultant who agreed that Aoife might be tongue-tied given the whole picture of the problems with breastfeeding and her slow weight gain. We finally had an appointment with a dentist yesterday who confirmed the situation and clipped her tongue tie. It was quite a traumatic experience for the baby who of course was not expecting that at all. It took her a few minutes to latch on after the procedure and she was shocked and angry for quite a while. The dentist had used some topical anesthetic on her, so she had some relief when that kicked in and I gave her a dose of Tylenol right away. In the afternoon an evening, she refused to breastfeed unless we were in the bathtub. While I usually love taking baths, I wasn't relishing the thought of running a bath every few hours during the night...thankfully she was able to drink from a bottle with less pain.
This morning she started breastfeeding again and seems to be more comfortable. We have to stretch her tongue 3 times a day which she does not appreciate, but I'd rather do it right than have to have the tongue clipped again. I already notice a difference with her latch, and feeding her is already more comfortable than it has ever been. We are seeing way more of her tongue sticking out of her mouth and already are hearing some "harder" letter sounds like "ta ta ta" and "da da da". Keeping our fingers crossed for more improvement in the coming weeks.
Aoife has learned to sit quite steadily in the last couple weeks:
Swimming lessons started last weekend at Pointe-Claire pool. The pool is heated quite warm so that it is comfortable for the little ones. Here's Aoife and her dad at her lesson. I think they both really enjoyed it!
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