While we were still in the hospital, Liam’s pediatrician came by to check on him.  He gave us some basic care instructions for us to take home and one of the things he mentioned was making sure their nose is clear since babies are “nose-breathers”.  That struck Kile as amusing, almost like it was a character flaw.  Like an assumption upon his person or something.  So he started referring to Liam as “Nose-breather”.

Now, we still haven’t gotten the hang of breastfeeding.  And if we’re going to be completely honest here, we haven’t really practiced it much lately.  Maybe once or twice in the last week.  And, following the whole “honesty” thing, I feel guilty about that.  Even though I know there are legitimate reasons for breastfeeding not working right now, I still feel guilty.  That’s a mother’s perogative, I assume. 

I’m 95% certain that Liam has a “tongue tie“.  Ever heard of this?  The basic is, there’s a little membrane of tissue underneath the tongue and in tongue-tied babies, that membrane is tighter and attached further forward than is normal.  This causes problems with breastfeeding and in some cases, with speech later on.  For a while, I wasn’t sure if he had this, but I’m feeling rather sure about it lately.  For one thing, check out that picture.  The link above to information on tongue tie has a picture as well and I see a big similarity.  While the link’s picture is a little more dramatic, I’ve seen several pictures on the web that would lead me to believe that YES, Liam has a tongue tie. 

I should go see the LC about this, but I’m wondering if this isn’t an issue that the pediatrician will be able to address.  We have an appointment with him in a couple of weeks, so I’ve been planning to ask him then.  I’m not sure what I want to do about it.  If the doctor thinks it’s an issue that could lead to complications in Liam’s life and functions later on, then I’d be interested in a “frenotomy” or a clipping of the frenulum.  But I don’t want to subject Liam to that if the only benefit would be a better ability to breastfeed.  On the flip side, I don’t want to NOT do it, only to have to do it later on.  That would only be more traumatic for the little guy.

In the meantime, we’re trying to keep a sense of humor about the whole thing.  We refer to Liam as a “tongue-tied, nose-breather” all the time.  He doesn’t seem to mind.  I’m still pumping, six or more times a day.  I have a pretty fantastic supply, so at least I don’t need to worry about that.  Liam is feeding very well from the bottle and gaining weight faster than I would have ever believed.  Things are going pretty well, tight frenulums aside.