We will call this a guest post today. A previous client, Sara from Liberty, KY, wanted to share about her experience with Lactation Care with Elizabeth and why the approach matters.

Read on.

“I have had five babies who all had tongue and lip ties and most had bucal ties as well. My oldest’s ties were missed for years with serious consequences to her health and well being. The middle three were all revised at six weeks postpartum and received cranial sacral and chiropractic and follow-up IBCLC care.

Elizabeth worked with me after our move to Kentucky and the birth of my fourth. I was new to her but she quickly made me feel incredibly confident in her expertise and helped us make the best decisions we could for my daughter’s care. I had also never needed to pump before and she was gracious to guide me through that process. However, as valuable as she was in helping me navigate the whole process of release and after care with my fourth, I believe I learned the depth of her expertise  after the birth of my fifth.

My fifth also has ties: a significant lip tie and a tongue tie. However, he was managing and because of that fact and the fact that he had other issues (a diaphragm restriction from birth and we had discovered mold in our home and had not found a new place to live yet), Elizabeth advised that we wait and help him gain as much function as possible before considering a release. She coached me on the exercises I needed to do with him and we continued to help him improve function with cranial sacral therapy and chiropractic. To be honest, I was initially very uncomfortable with this recommendation. My only experience was with NOT having releases done and it going poorly or having them at six weeks and following that timeline. I thought if he has ties, if he has restriction, then we should just do the release. I thought this because it was all I knew – ties mean you need a release as soon as possible.

I am so thankful that I was working with someone with Elizabeth’s experience of taking everything into account! It is not as cut and dried as ‘oh there are ties, let’s do the release’. There are so many other factors at play. As time went on and we continued to work with him with cranial sacral therapy and oral exercises (we would evaluate and change or adjust what exercises I was to do when we would meet for a session), I realized that he would indeed have really not done well with a release at six weeks. His function and weight gain began to improve and his diaphragm restriction was eventually resolved. We are currently at 7 months and he is doing incredibly well. And while I do not know what the future will hold as far as a release (we will still be monitoring function with solids and speech and any other potential issues), I am thankful that I did not rush into it simply because that was what my other children needed. It was not what he needed.

I believe it is vital to have someone experienced enough to not only know when a release is necessary, but also (and dare I say, maybe more importantly) to know when a release would NOT be wise. Elizabeth has that level of experience and skill in applying such a thorough holistic perspective that you can be confident that she will advise what is truly best for your child. I could not recommend her highly enough. I have five children who all adore her and two who owe their health and successful start in life to her vigilant care and attentive wisdom. You will not regret your decision to partner with her in pursuit of your child’s health. Furthermore, if you have to walk this difficult road more than once, you will be comforted knowing that she will be walking alongside you once again with experienced eyes to see what others (even you yourself) might miss.”

We love success for families on their own terms, what works best for them. Everyone would agree babies are different from each other, women vary, feeding experiences vary, & so forth. Navigating the variables involved in a breastfeeding journey benefits from years of experience, knowledge, and an expert eye/judgement to prioritize the different challenges that can be present.

Check out our resources page for more on ties, read the blog, see videos on our Pinterest page, & for hands on care, schedule an appointment with Elizabeth or Victoria. Additional help with other experts in bodywork and infant feeding occur monthly at our Milk Party (sign up online).