What to expect on the day

"I was very anxious leading up to the appointment, due to a terrible experience previously. I’m not sure how feasible it would be, but personally, I think I would have benefitted from reading some success stories or “what to expect on the day” stories from previous parents who have had the procedure with Vicky."

I regularly seek feedback form the parents I work with to help make my service family centred.  I received the feedback quoted above recently and this post has been created with the help of the family in question. I would like to thank Nicola France for providing her personal account of what she experienced, to help other parents to know what to expect on the day that I visit (and beyond)

From the moment I suspected that my second baby might have a tongue tie, I was instantly nervous about the whole process. My first baby had an undiagnosed tongue tie for 5 months and we unfortunately had a difficult experience having the procedure performed. This time, I knew I would opt to take a different route and started to research private tongue tie practitioners. I came across Vicky’s website and asked my husband to arrange an appointment as I was too nervous after last time. I was worried that I would accidentally agree to something I did not fully understand, or everything would happen too quickly for us and we’d be left in the same state we were last time. However, the exact opposite was true.

Vicky arrived on the day and after expecting her to whip my daughter out of my hands and start setting up a load of scary equipment, we instead sat on the sofa for a informal chat. I have never before been asked about my breastfeeding journey and been allowed to say every word I needed to say. It’s a very emotive subject, and often those who are there to provide support in the early days, simply do not have the time to hear you. The first part of Vicky’s visit was everything I needed it to be and I no longer felt like a failure for my inability to grow a functioning tongue in utero. Myself and my husband also learned things about breastfeeding that we had no idea about - which was a surprise as I had previously breastfed my son for 2 years so we thought we knew a fair amount! Throughout this I also fed my daughter and shared my concerns, then when we were both ready, Vicky asked to check her tongue. She did so and let us know that she thought she would benefit from the procedure but that it was entirely our decision whether we wanted to go ahead or not.

We were given plenty of time to decide after having the ins and outs of the procedure and risks fully explained to us. Then my husband helped Vicky find an appropriate space for the procedure to take place - they chose my dining room table as it had the most natural light over it. Vicky asked us for something for our daughter to lay on and something to swaddle her in to make her feel safe and keep her hands away from her face - we chose our (clean) changing mat and a cellular blanket. As I was nervous, I returned to the sofa while my husband helped by supporting my daughter’s head, 
but before I had enough time to become worried, it was over. My daughter cried a little, and there was a small amount of blood on the dressing that Vicky had used to apply pressure to the wound, but that was it. It took a couple of minutes for me and my daughter to relax a bit, and then she fed until asleep. Once Vicky was happy that we were comfortable and that the wound had stopped bleeding, she let us know that we could call or email her with any concerns. The follow up call(s) we’re so valuable and Vicky did not sign us off until we were all confident enough to fly solo! I’d honestly recommend Vicky to anyone. I have had total confidence restored and I have a very happy, very chubby baby as a result. Thank you!

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