After Peter Andre and wife Emily recently revealed their guilt over missing baby son Theo’s tongue tie, mum-of-one Natasha Rigler shares her first-hand experience of the condition.
From the second she was placed in my arms, Molly seemed clueless about breastfeeding. The midwives all stood perplexed as her little head bobbed up and down, unable to get a latch, and no one could explain what was going on.
During our first night as new parents, my husband and I were handed a little purple syringe and shown how to extract that all-important colostrum (first milk) before dropping it into her mouth. I can’t say it was something I had never envisaged us doing together.
Molly’s feeding issues didn’t go unnoticed, and we were kept in hospital for three days. During that time, I was given a pair of silicone nipple shields to aid Molly’s latch and, as she appeared to begin feeding, we were sent home.
Given that I was a first-time mum, I had no idea that excruciating pain wasn’t normal, and during one feed, I noticed lots of blood mixed in with my milk. I also didn't realise that a baby shouldn’t be clamped to your breast for up to 12 hours nonstop. But if Molly wasn’t, she would just scream and scream.
Molly failed to put on weight and, despite daily visits from midwives, there was no explanation for her feeding issues.
There was clearly a big problem, but instead of trying to dig deeper into the issue, the midwives would simply try to get her to latch, fail and then tell me to ‘keep trying’ before leaving. During one visit, my exasperated husband asked how on earth I was supposed to do it if they couldn’t.
No one mentioned tongue tie. My baby wasn’t gaining weight and, given the NHS’s stance on breastfeeding, formula was never suggested. I felt so miserable, alone and completely exhausted.
Finally, nine days after Molly was born, a breastfeeding consultant visited and immediately diagnosed a severe tongue tie. She was astounded that, out of all the midwives we had seen, no-one had spotted it.
Molly was immediately booked in for a tongue tie division the following day and the relief I felt was overwhelming.
But despite the procedure, things failed to improve.
Even though it had only been 10 days, it all seemed too late for Molly. Once she’ d had her tongue tie snipped, we were ushered into a private room to feed her. But she just didn’t know what to do. I barely had any milk, as breastfeeding hadn’t been established, yet was told to express into a bottle and feed her. It was impossible.
Once home, I made the decision to switch to formula and, for the first time since she was born, Molly slept well and began to put on weight.
It was such a hard decision, but I was so stressed and Molly wasn’t thriving, and when she was placed on those scales and the dial rose by a few ounces, I knew I had absolutely done the right thing.
The NHS are such huge advocates of breastfeeding, yet I feel completely and utterly let down. If Molly’s tongue tie had been spotted at birth, it would’ve avoided so much stress and worry - not to mention my guilt for switching to formula.
I specifically recall one day, when we had driven Molly to meet my family. The journey took several hours yet her nappy was bone dry when we got there. Looking back, she was clearly dehydrated. It makes me feel physically sick when I think about it now.
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Peter Andre's wife Emily feels guilty for not noticing son Theo's tongue tie