# HELP Flat Tongue?



## Harper (Jul 10, 2003)

This is for a friend who has a one week old baby. She is suffering exhaustion, and some PPD and now some breastfeeding problems. She went to the doctor and a lactation consultant and was told that it was a problem that her ds had lost 6 ounces in a week. I know my dd lost some ounces in the begining too and nobody thought it was that big of a deal. The LC told her that "he was not getting the job done at the breast meaning that he is not latching right and more imiportant that there is something wrong with his tongue. The baby had a "flat tongue"...the way he sucks doesn't coax the milk out of the nipple the way it should." The LC had him suck on her finger watched my DF nurse and siad that she didn't hear the sound you would hear if the latch was right and the milk was flowing.

So she is now upset because she thinks she has been starving her ds for the first week of her life and is now supplmenting with formula and pumping. She is frustrated because she pumped only 1 ounce her first time out.

SO, any advice? I'm wondering why he is doing so much better on a bottle than a breast. I get the impression that she has stopped breastfeeding altogether and is just offering a bottle.

I really want to be able to encourage her but I need some help.

Thanks everyone!


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## coopnwhitsmommy (Jan 13, 2005)

first off...if baby is only a week old he is still learning HOW to get the milk out. Giving him a bottle won't help him learn how to nurse. Second pumping an ounce on the first try is GREAT what was she expecting at this point baby is probably only east 2-3oz at a time. an ounce is wonderful. The more she puts baby to breast the better he will get a nursing. My sons lost 9 and 12oz their first weeks too.


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## Kathryn (Oct 19, 2004)

Getting an oz out is wonderful! My dd lost 7 oz and my midwives weren't even worried. I'd tell her to get a 2nd opinion with a different lactation consultant and have her make sure it's a Internationally Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) and not just one of the LC's at the hospital.


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## stafl (Jul 1, 2002)

She needs to stop with the bottles. I'm not saying supplementation isn't necessary (sometimes it really is), but there are other ways of doing it that don't jeopardize the breastfeeding relationship. She needs to find a different LC, fast. Instead of supplementing with formula, she needs to make sure those supplements are breastmilk instead (disclaimer time - if she's been supplementing with formula more than a few days, and has created a supply problem as a result, she can't stop the formula cold turkey until after she increases her supply to meet baby's demand). Pumping one ounce in her first try is AMAZING!!! It's even more amazing that she did so with such a very young baby. Some women are never able to get so much when they pump. Pumping is not natural, it's hard work, and you have to trick your body into giving milk to a plastic machine. At least when this all started, it seems she had no supply issues, which makes me wonder if the latch issue was really that serious. A six ounce loss in the first week of life isn't that much, but if her baby started out smaller than average, they would make a huge deal out of it. I think the general rule is anything more than 10% of baby's birthweight is too much of a loss. But now that she's started bottle-feeding formula, she most likely does have supply and latch problems, serious problems, that will be really hard to overcome. Not impossible, I did it myself, but it takes commitment and lots of hard work to get past problems like that.

If I were her friend, I'd get her a copy of Jack Newman's book about breastfeeding answers and solutions. The ball is in her court now. How hard is she willing to fight to make breastfeeding work?


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