Tongue-tie Update

Okay, so maybe it was a tad naive of us to think that clipping the tongue-tie was going to solve the problem immediately. Ben has been practicing using his tongue like that for months in the womb. It turns out it took a few more days for him to relearn how to use it correctly. It's been completely exhausting and painful for me, but we are hoping that we are past the worst of it. Now Ben is just playing catch-up on his weight.

We took Ben to Dr. Champion (Sam's ENT) yesterday to have the tongue-tie reevaluated. She said it looked great and that she didn't think he would need any revisions down the road. She gave him a full check-up and discovered that he has an ear pit. It basically looks like we tried to pierce his ear. There is usually no concern, but we'll have to keep an eye on it to make sure it doesn't get infected.

So with the tongue-tie obstacle removed we just have to work on increasing my milk supply. Ben wasn't able to properly transfer milk until that was resolved so he's behind in weight and I'm behind in supply. We are supplementing with formula until that's resolved. It's been an around the clock job with little time for anything else. We were very lucky that we caught it so early. Keep in mind that it is normal for a breast fed baby to lose up to 10% of their birth weight the first week. They are expected to be back to their birth weight by the two week well visit. Here's how Ben is tracking so far ...

10/19 - 7 lbs 4 oz

10/21 - 6 lbs 11 oz

10/22 - 6 lbs 7 oz

10/24 - 6 lbs 7 oz

10/26 - 6 lbs 9 oz

10/27 - 6 lbs 10 oz

We're on the right track and watching it closely. He's a very well tempered baby. He's been sleeping most of the time, but I think that honeymoon is about to be over. He slept all day yesterday. We could barely wake him up to eat. You know that means he was up all night, and so was I. He's been awake and eating a lot more today, so I'm hopeful that he'll sleep better tonight. The first few nights I actually had to set an alarm to feed him. I don't think that's going to be an issue any more.

Sam is in love with Ben now. He really wants to hold him and hug and kiss him. It was great having lots of family around to pay attention to him, since he wasn't getting much from us. I'll post some more pictures after I get a little sleep.