Frenulectomy

Judah had his appointment with the ENT this morning. My impression was that this would be a consult, but once I was taken back to the exam room the nurse informed me that if Judah needed the "surgery" it would be performed right then and there. What?! I'm not prepared for that! Andy wasn't even with me, although he was in the vicinity of the doctor's office. 

I asked if they could wait until Andy arrived before performing the Frenulectomy (that's what it is called, or "tongue-tie surgery"), and was told yes, so that was a relief. Meanwhile, the ENT came in the evaluate Judah and swiftly determined "yep, he's tongue tied and would benefit from the surgery". In fact, he actually needed the tissue under his tongue and the tissue under his upper lip clipped. Clipping both would allow him to open his mouth wider and stick his tongue out farther. 

The procedure was quick, but torture. I had to cradle Judah and hold his arms down while a nurse held his head back and the doctor pried his little mouth open and made the two cuts. Andy was not able to be right there with me because we had Gabriel with us and didn't want him to be scared when Judah screamed. And scream he did, I could hardly handle it. The worst part was he was so happy and smiley right before she did it, he had no idea what was coming, I felt terrible. The doctor scooped him out of my arms to try and distract and calm him while I pulled myself together, then handed him back to me so that I could comfort and nurse him. Poor little Judah bear, he was hysterical, and he had a mouth full of bloody gauze and tears streaming down his face. Truly a moment I will never have the luxury of forgetting. No mother should have to look down at her baby with a mouth full of blood. 

Thankfully, Judah only cried for about 3 minutes before I was able to get him to latch and calm down. The bleeding ceased then and he seemed okay. We left with our instructions for follow up care and headed home. Judah fell asleep on the way home, which I was so thankful for. When he woke up, he seemed fine. 

The success rate for a frenulectomy at this age is 50-75% (whereas if the problem had been detected at 1-2 months, the success rate is 90%+). So time will tell if Judah will benefit in terms of nursing, but this "issue" can also affect speech if not corrected as a baby, so we may have also prevented any future speech issues. The doctor indicated that Judah likely had this problem early on but his signs were not evident enough for me or anyone else to know. This is so frustrating because all of what we have been going through could have been avoided. To that end, I had her check Gabriel while we were there because as I recounted the nursing issues I had with him as well, she seemed to think that this may have been his problem too. Sure enough, as soon as she looked under his tongue, she said he still had a small tongue tie left and that he had one as a baby too. His current tongue-tie, however, should not affect his speech. 

Oh my, what a process this all is. I feel so bad for Judah, but am hopeful that he will not feel any effects of the procedure and will be able to eat more efficiently. So. If you know anyone who is having breastfeeding issues with poor weight gain and low milk supply (among other signs), encourage them to seek help early on and have their baby's frenulum evaluated, it will either rule it out, or prevent a lot of heartache down the road!