Tongue Tied

(TMI alert- this post contains blood, gore, and breastfeeding. But it's important, so read it anyways.)

Little Mister doesn't have any words yet.  But that doesn't mean He isn't a talker.  This little dude has a ton to say. He LOVES a good conversation.  He'll strike one up with anyone!  So it's sort of an irony that it turns out that Little Mister was born tongue-tied.

I'm a little ashamed to admit that in all the babies I've fed in my life (dozens), I never really knew about this (apparently quite common) affliction.  Did you know that midwives have been snipping the too-tight frenulums of newborns since forever?  There are records from the 1600s, from the middle ages, even the bible.  People in rural corners of the world cut them with sharp rocks.  Apparently, everyone knows about this but me.  And probably a bunch of other moms who also suffer from ignorance, which is why I want to preach some tongue tie here.  

Because when I say suffer, I mean it.  Little Miss nursed like a champ from, literally, the first minute of Her life.  When Mr was born, I figured, heeeyyyyy.  I got this.  This is my third time around, right?  I nursed my last baby for a long time, like a pro.  I'm pretty much an expert.
So when He was born and finally handed to me, I went to feed Him and was all kinds of surprised that it didn't really work out.  I attributed it to both of our exhaustion from a sort of intense birth, and let it go.  And then He screamed all night.  ALL. NIGHT.  And most of the next day.  Because He was hungry, and I could not get Him to eat.  Eventually, He did start to nurse, but it was a struggle every time.  

He would suck in air, get a belly full of it, arch His back and scream.  He would work terribly hard and not get much out of it, get frustrated and hungry and tired and scream. There were very few positions I could hold Him in to get it to work out at all, and then it would take 40 minutes for Him to get enough to be full.  Every. Single. Time.  Forget nursing in public or under a cover or when He was already tired.  It was always a pretty painful experience on my end. And even though He'd take nearly an hour sometimes to nurse, at four months He was still needing to be fed every two hours.  Including at night.

If this hadn't been my third time, and if I wasn't such a stubborn person, I'm not sure I'd have stuck with it at all.  Especially because, to my great frustration, when Mister was given a bottle of expressed milk He would suck that thing down in minutes, settle into a comfy milk-coma, and sleep for hours.  For about a month, I had resigned to giving Him a bottle every evening, when He was already tired and simply refused to nurse at all.  He clearly preferred the bottle and, frankly?  I was a little offended.  

J and a couple of experienced friends noticed that He couldn't stick out His tongue, and encouraged me to have it looked at.  But I was like, pffft.  Whatever, we will work it out.  He'll grow out of it, we'll get the hang of it.  No need for snipping my poor little baby.  

But at four months, feeding every two hours? I have had enough baby experience to know that He was truly hungry at each waking, and to know that wasn't normal.  So I decided to bring it up at His next appointment.  

But I didn't have to.  His pediatrician noticed that He had fallen off His growth curve, and took a look without me mentioning it.  She sent us straight to ENT, that moment, where the doctor took one peek and said, "Oh yeah.  We're going to snip that.  Nurse! Wrap him up!"  At which point my eyes bulged out of my head like a loony toons character and I started stuttering.  "oh, uh, ah, you're, he, but, um.."
In a whirlwhind it seemed, the nurse wrapped Him like a mummy in a sheet so He couldn't move.
The doctor, with a flashlight headband on as if she was going spelunking in there, opened His mouth, took a pair of surgical scissors, and just cut it.  Just snipped the thing under His tongue like some kind  of macabre arts and crafts project.  Scissors.  What, was she going to patch Him up next with some elmers glue?!  Blood squirted all over.  The sheet was all splattered, the nurse and I and Mister all looked like extras in a vampire movie.
He SCREAMED.  And screamed and screamed. And screamed for 20 minutes.  After five everyone left so I could "calm Him down".  At ten I started to cry a little. Not going to lie.  I was thinking, "What have I done to my poor innocent baby? How could I do this to Him?!"  After 20 minutes He wore Himself out and fell asleep.  We went home.  The rest of the evening He was clearly sore and cried every time He nursed.
But.
That night?  He slept twelve hours straight. And in the morning, someone had abducted Him and left me with a new baby.  He wasn't in pain any more.  And overnight, He went from nursing every two hours to every four, and sleeping 8 to 12 hours through the night.  We went from nursing 45 minutes at a time, with a struggle, to under 10 minutes.  Easy.  Under a cover, sitting up, laying down, in the dark, in a park, in the house, with a mouse, in the rain on the train.  Yes I can nurse Him, yes I can, I can nurse wherever I am!
It was that awesome.  It was the best scissor snip ever, and totally worth it.  This was five months ago now, and I still marvel at the difference it made in both our lives.  He is now healthy and growing and strong.  When I feed Him we cuddle and it's nice, and there is no frustration or pain for either of us.
I wonder now whether His "colic" was just crying from hunger and being too tired at the end of a day to fight for a little milk.  I wonder how many other moms have no idea about how much this little problem can interfere with breastfeeding and how fast and simple the fix is.  How many moms stop nursing because of it.
I know this post comes far after the fact and is kind of personal in nature if you're squeamish about these things, but on the off chance that it might do for someone else what my good friends who noticed His tongue tie did for me, I had to shout it out.
If you are having trouble nursing, have your baby checked! By someone who knows, like a lactation consultant or a good pediatrician.  If you're wondering whether to snip it, DO IT.  Do it yesterday.
Google it, people.  It's a thing.   And if your friend is having problems like I was, don't be shy.  Don't be, shall we say it , tongue tied.  Speak up!  You'll be thanked for it later.  To my friends who badgered me into getting it done?

Thank you!