"Extended waiting for baby tongue tie appointment"

I had my second baby at the beginning of December 2018.  From very early on there were evident feeding issues.  She took 3 weeks to regain weight lost after birth and continued to have low weight gain after.  Alongside poor weight gain my daughter appeared distressed most of the time.   My health visitor has been very supportive as I have continued to try to breastfeed and manage the distress displayed by my baby.     When my daughter was  6 weeks my health visitor brought a breast feeding specialist to my home for an assessment. This specialist identified that my baby appeared to have a tongue tie and suggested I be referred to the tongue tie clinic.   

From this referral I was initially offered an appointment at the breastfeeding clinic 3 weeks later.  The specialist nurse I saw, confirmed that my daughter did have a posterior tongue tie which could be affecting feeding.  However, we then required to be put on a further waiting list in order for this to be addressed.  I was offered the first available appointment, which was in early April-  7 1/2 weeks later and  10 1/2 weeks after the the tongue tie was first identified in January.  When I attended this clinic I was advised that my baby was on the absolute upper end of being able to access the service due to her age (16 weeks).  Had the appointment been just 2 days later we would no longer have fit the remit of the service. It was also highlighted that by 16 weeks my daughter was likely to have adapted her own feeding style, which could impact how effective the procedure would be at improving feeding.  

 I would highlight that every professional I have met on this journey has been highly supportive and offered helpful advice.  However, given that my daughter has had low weight gain from birth, alongside obvious signs of distress I feel that it was unacceptable that the waiting times for an appointment to address her tongue tie were so long.  Whilst waiting for appointment I have required to attempt to express regularly to increase supply/top up feeds and have been supported to restrict dairy from my own diet to assess whether it is impacting upon feeding/distress.  It is impossible to know whether earlier intervention for her tongue tie would have addressed the feeding issues or distress experienced.  However, the fact that it might have made a difference but was not available has been frustrating and below the level of service I  would have expected.  It also falls far below the service standard detailed in the information leaflet provided by the NHS, which indicates that appointments will be offered within 1-3 weeks of referral and the tongue tie division carried out on the day if suitable for the procedure.