Delay in help has meant failure to breastfeed
Baby born with a complete tongue tie meaning he couldn't latch at all. Paediatric doctor day after birth confirmed this and put in a referral to have it cut at Maxfax. This was a Wednesday. Heard nothing and chased on Friday I was told it hadn't even been looked at yet. Several midwives in the meantime confirmed tongue tie was stopping him feeding and I had to resort to formula as my milk was slow to come in. I chased Monday had no progress. Tuesday when I rang I got told I had been referred to midwife support for feeding. In other words as he was my first they didn't believe me and thought I just wasn't coping. That Tuesday midwife [name redacted for privacy] visited and witnessed me breaking down crying at the response. She witnessed the baby struggling to latch so put in a fresh referral. In total it took 2.5 weeks from the initial diagnosis to have his tongue cut which they didn't even do fully as afterwards I still had excruciating pain feeding with shields and [name redacted fir privacy] (midwife) advised he was still tied further back and that was probably the reason. Once again I am waiting for the team to "look at" my request for an appointment. Why can't mothers just be believed and an appointment booked? He is now 4 weeks old and has nipple confusion and won't even go on the shield now and we're still waiting for the rest of his tongue to be cut. This has directly affected my mental health causing me to feel distressed, depressed and now panicking and at a loss as I want to breastfeed my baby but I feel I may now have no choice but to bottle feed as I have been let down by the system.