I’m Hannah!
I’ve been through the fire of breastfeeding challenges, tongue-tie, colic, and reflux TWICE and came out the other side with happy babies who breastfed past a year.
Now I share what I learned so you can find help sooner than I did.
I was in my nursing chair, frustrated and desperately trying to get my baby to latch without the nipple shield. “Why won't you just latch?!" As a first-time mom, I had no clue what was normal or not when it came to breastfeeding.
It had been three months of hell for us. Breastfeeding challenges, colic and reflux symptoms - stuck in a vicious cycle. I’d tried everything: diet changes, chiropractor, gas drops, tummy massages, probiotics, homeopathy… I was hanging on by a thread.
But I had been missing a key puzzle piece. My amazing birth provider had checked for ties but said there weren't any. So I dismissed ties as a possibility for months. That was Mistake #1.
After exhausting everything else, I finally asked the pediatrician to double check. Lo and behold, they found 3 ties: A posterior tongue-tie, a lip tie, and cheek tie. Relieved to finally have an answer, I brought her in for the release the next day. Mistake #2: Rushing because I wanted a quick-fix.
Mistake #3: Zero research. No prep, no game plan, no team.
One month post-op, nothing had changed. The release wasn't the quick-fix I had hoped for. I felt defeated. Maybe we’d have to end our breastfeeding journey after all.
Where It All Started
But I refused to accept that. My daughter's constant discomfort gave me the push I needed to keep going. There had to be answers and I’d find them myself.
Around that time, my sister-in-law mentioned her Bowen Therapist and suggested asking if they treated babies. I was skeptical, but we had nothing to lose.
Where It All Changed
That 5 minute Bowen Therapy session changed everything. My colicky baby was gone and in her place was the smiling, happy baby that I knew had been in there all along. Within the next week, she was breastfeeding without the shield. It had taken us 4 months to find help. If only I had known sooner!
I didn't stop there. I learned we might’ve had better results with the release if we had gotten more support and prepped ahead of time. I wanted to do my best to fill in the gaps. I researched tongue-tie professionals through social media, listened to their lectures, took their courses, practiced oral motor exercises, jaw strengthening, tummy time, and stretches with my daughter daily. I saved everything in my notes app - just in case we ended up having another tongue-tied baby someday.
The results spoke for themselves: She went from unable to latch, to exclusively breastfed for 18 months. From tension and compensating, to hitting every milestone. From colicky and barely sleeping, to being so happy and an easy sleeper.
If you're in that nursing chair right now, wondering if you're missing something, wondering how long this will go on - I see you. You're not failing. You need support from someone who's been there.
It took 4 years of compiling information and supporting my daughter to find everything I should have had from the beginning. As a brand new postpartum mom trying to survive, there's no way I would've found it all. I could've gotten help so much sooner with a roadmap - with someone who had been through it to be my compass.
That's when I decided everything in my notes app needed to be shared with other moms so they could get help sooner than I did - especially if local help is scarce. No mom should have to spend 4 years figuring out what should have been there from the start.
I created The Tongue-Tie Directory Guide so you don't have to go through what I did. So you can have the best chance at a successful breastfeeding journey.