Our Trip To NY for Claire's Oral Surgery-Part 1: Surgery

We just got back from our trip to New York for Claire to have oral surgery.  As it turns out all of the breastfeeding problems we were having were to due what is called an abnormal maxillary frenum, which is basically just the skin under the upper lip that connects it to the gums.  I had no idea this was even something to look for considering 2 pediatricians and our lactation consultant didn't mention it when we were having an incredibly difficult time nursing for the first 12 weeks of Claire's life.  I actually came across a blog sent to me by a friend and was shocked as I read it and discovered their situation was exactly like Claire's!  

These were Claire's Symptoms...

• slides off nipple during nursing
• prolonged feeding (1-1.5 hours each)
• unsatisfied after prolonged feedings
• falls asleep on the breast
• gumming or chewing on the nipple
• poor weight gain (at Claire's 3 months well visit she only gained .4 pounds in 4 weeks)
• difficulty holding in pacifier

These were My Symptoms...

• cracked, bleeding nipples
• severe pain with latch
• incomplete breast drainage
• plugged ducts

It was truly an answered prayer to find this blog and see that there was a reason for all this pain, discomfort and frustration.  I couldn't believe this family from our hometown of Dallas went all the way to New York for this surgery.  I spent weeks trying to find a dentist or ENT who could perform the surgery just like the doctor in New York using a laser without Anesthesia, however I could not find anyone who compares to the experience and training that Dr. Kotlow in New York has.  His passion is to help mother's breastfeed successfully and he has been publishing articles and researching this since the 1970's.  Thankfully we had plenty of free airline miles to use so we didn't have to pay for our flight!

When we went in for her surgery, Dr. Kotlow showed us that Claire also had a posterior tongue tie under the tongue as well as the lip tie on top.  No wonder she was having such a difficult time nursing.  

Here are some photos of other babies from Dr. Kotlow's website with the same condition as Claire.  I should mention that he has had patients come from as far as Beijing, China to have this surgery performed.  We are so glad we had him to do it for Claire.

This is the maxillary frenum attachment on the upper lip...

This is the posterior tongue tie...

We are so grateful we had this corrected for Claire now, rather than later.  If we had waited she could have developed speech problems from the tongue tie and possibly dental and orthodontic problems from the lip tie, not to mention all the nursing problems she has had since birth.

She was SUCH A TROOPER!  The surgery only took a matter of minutes. She did come back from the surgery bleeding and crying with a very scared look on her face which broke my heart, but thankfully she started nursing immediately and then took a nice 2.5 hour nap.  Dr. Kotlow warned us the most painful time for her might be 3 hours after the surgery.  When she woke up I was so worried she would be feeling pain and crying.  AMAZINGLY she did not cry at all!  She is such a tough little cookie!  I could not be more proud of her.  In fact, she didn't cry once the rest of the trip until we were on the airplane flying home.  I think she just had so much fun meeting new people and seeing new things it kept her totally distracted from the pain she may have been feeling.  

I continued to only nurse as often as we were before surgery (first feeding in the morning and last before bed following a bottle) since we were traveling, driving, etc. during the trip.  She nursed fine during the trip and I honestly couldn't tell a big difference.  Then on the 3rd day after surgery (Wed. night) she went on a nursing strike and absolutely refused to breastfeed for 24 hours.  I think she was experiencing some pain during the healing process so I just let it pass and sure enough she did start to nurse again and when she did I could definitely tell a difference!  She had a much deeper latch this time, I could actually hear her swallowing and it was much harder to break the seal to remove her when she fell asleep.  Before I could barely tell the difference between nutrative and non-nutrative sucking, but now it was totally obvious!  We are going to slowly transition from bottle to breast over time until hopefully she is back to nursing more and I am pumping less!!!  

Click HERE to read Part 2 about our trip to NY!