The Lip Tie. I'm About To Go Mamma Bear.

I believe that moms need support. 

everyone gets that support in different ways

Some need to be with friends, some call their moms

I am part of a mommy group. 

now, my social capacities are not built for a "real life" mommy group

so when I was pregnant, I lived on my "What to Expect When Your Expecting" app

I communicated with hundred of other moms due in March 2013. 

When we all had our babies, some early and some late

We started a Facebook group. 

I am daily on that group, showing off my guy and asking question about how his development measures up to their babies. 

I love it. seriously. 

So when I had a question about Easton's fangs (See that post by clicking HERE)

someone came back at me with an interesting theory. 

"check his top lip for a lip tie - sometimes that can affect how teeth come in"

hm, I had never heard of a lip tie!

I know when Easy was born he had a tongue tie  

(See that post by clicking HERE and read it in Easton's Birth story)

But when that tongue tie was clipped, I thought it was over.

so I dug into Easton's mouth (hence the angry crying face in the photo)

and found this. 

see where his lip meets his gums?

There is a "tie" attaching his lip all the way down to where his teeth should be coming in. 

He most definitely has a lip tie. 

When I got online and researched a little more I read some of the complications of lip ties

I did a little check list. 

Complications include things like painful nursing/weaning because the child gets frustrated because he cant latch and nurse, colic/reflux/sleep problems, speech problems when they get older, large gaps and teeth growing in improperly, inability to gain weight due to not being able to drink properly and swallowing too much air instead of liquid. 

Heres a good one - it also said that when there is a tongue tie... generally there is a lip tie... why didn't anyone check this?)

I went and asked my husband for a second opinion

when he agreed with me

I got angry

The kind of angry that made me sit down and start crying. 

I just pumped my brains out for 7 months thinking my son just didn't like my boobs. 

my crummy ped wouldn't give me a referral to a lactation consultant because she told me it was "too late" and he was too used to the bottle. 

He doesn't even eat very well out of the bottle. 

He takes in a lot of air because he cant even suck that properly, he's gassy. 

and hes not thriving. he's moved from the 75th percentile for weight to the 10th. 

and NOBODY THOUGHT THAT WAS A PROBLEM?

I thought it was my fault. 

mommy guilt is hard like that.

I feel bad I didn't catch it sooner. but really? I'm not a doctor. I cant let this mommy guilt get me down. 

On monday I go mamma bear. 

for those of you who have never met a "mamma bear"

A mamma bear is the mother you see storming around, teeth gritted, looking for someone to rip apart. 

anyone who has wronged her baby in any way,

 In this case the doctors and LC's and the specialist that clipped his tongue, the health nurse that looked at his teeth 3 days ago and said she thought he was getting a canker sore not a tooth ( ps - he was getting a tooth)... not OH LOOK... A lip tie!

I have been beating myself up for 8 months because my son was either not nursing, or really gassy and miserable, or was losing weight. 

And now I feel like that was why. 

I apologize for the rant... and I obviously just diagnosed my son off the internet... but look at that photo and then google "lip ties" - am I wrong?

Monday

Monday we find a solution for the lip tie. 

xx - r