"My Baby's Tongue Tie operation"

When my daughter was born we were having trouble with breastfeeding and I was extremely sore and frustrated and upset wondering what I was doing wrong (the midwives were very helpful in Tameside hospital before we left trying to get breastfeeding established).

Then my midwife at home noticed that my daughter had tongue-tie and that this was probably the reason why breastfeeding was absolute agony for me. I was relieved to have a reason and that to hear it was an extremely simple 2 minute procedure to correct.

I however was devastated to hear that there was a 6-8 week waiting list at Oldham Hospital - there was no way that I could carry on breastfeeding for 2 more months in such agony. A friend then found a lactation consultant, called Helen Howard, at Tameside Hospital which was actually where my daughter was born (where I lived meant I had midwives from Oldham but I had chosen Tameside for my daughter's birth).

After ringing Helen distraught at my situation (all struggling breastfeeding mums will understand why I was distraught), Helen was able to get me an appointment within a week. I was so happy. A week later my daughter had the procedure and we are still successfully breastfeeding 3 months on.

Helen was our saviour. I do feel however that a simple check for tongue-tie should be a matter of course as part of a newborn's checks, especially if breastfeeding is not going well before they leave the hospital, then it could be dealt with before baby and mum are discharged.

Apparently it is a very common condition and yet nobody picked it up with us for 3 weeks and then it was only found by accident.