Naveh's Story

I breastfed my oldest son for two years, with no problem. When Naveh was born – although he nursed without breaks, without pain or infections, and with flowing milk, he was not calm, he did not enjoy nursing and he cried a lot.
When he was three months old, I started pumping milk. Although after the previous birth, I was able to pump large amounts every day, for 7 months. This time the amounts were very small, and after pumping, I felt as if I had fasted for two days, and did not have a drop of liquid in my body. A month later, my milk ran out. Naveh did not like eating, it took him a long time to finish a bottle, and he also sucked in a strange way, so I bought another nipple that worked… until Naveh was 7 months old.

And then every time we tried giving Naveh a fruit or vegetable, he vomited.
The doctor said that Naveh simply does not like fruits and vegetables, and that I shouldn't force him. She also discovered that he weighed very little for his age, and did not gain any since he was five months old! Therefore, she recommended taking him to a pediatric outpatient clinic at a big Hospital, to find out why the child was "not thriving", and she even said that it was possible that Naveh is suffering from an emotional problem. The possibility of celiac (sensitivity to gluten) also came up. A week later, Naveh ran a high fever. An E.N.T. specialist diagnosed liquid in the ears and recommended administering antibiotics. We didn't give him anything, and that day the fever went down.
At the outpatient clinic I said that the baby's caretaker cuts off the tops of the bottle nipples, so that he can eat, and that all his bowel movements were hard, and accompanied by great pain, he had one every few days, and the feces were very dark in color, close to green. I asked the doctor if it was possible that the child is suffering from a short or tied tongue, and she didn't agree to even check it, and told me that when I returned in a week for blood tests, she would allow the hospital dietician to check his tongue(!). She decided the child suffered from sensitivity to milk, and that such children tend to starve themselves, and that he may also be sensitive to gluten and asked that I replace the Materna formula with Nutramigen, which can only be bought at a pharmacy with a doctor's prescription. I told her that I believed that he was hungry, and was trying to eat, but gave up very quickly.
I left the hospital very disappointed. I had a feeling that it was not about sensitivity but a physiological problem, but not one part of the body was examined. We changed the food. Naveh did not eat more, and after a week his weight even dropped a little. The doctor became very nervous and said that she didn't care if the child was sensitive to milk – at the moment, the important thing was that he gain weight, which is why she recommended that we go back to Materna.
Poor, confused Naveh, no longer wanted the Materna either, and we were in a serious problem, and at every meal we prepared a different formula.
Neighbors told me that they knew babies who had tongue-tie and similar problems, and they referred me to lactation consultant, Sarah Sternlieb, who determined that the tongue was tied and very short and gave me a scientific article by Dr. Furer, and stories of mothers.
When I read "Ido's Story", I recognized similar symptoms: very light sleep, heavy breathing, constant constipation, liquid in the ears, feeding while lying down etc. That night I could not fall asleep, I played back everything that I read, as well as Naveh's suffering, in my head and I was angry with myself for not realizing all of it sooner. The next day, we arrived at Dr. Furer's for a tongue and lip clipping.
Several days later, the head of the department at the Hosptial called and asked why we hadn't showed up. When I told her about the tongue-tie, she was scornful and said that its only effect was in speech, and even that, not always either, which is why doctors recommend not to clip at all. I offered to send her the article and she shouted that research doesn't interest her.

The head of the clinic was actually interested, as were the nurses.

5days after the neighbors sent me to a new path, Naveh ate a cracker for the first time. A day later -some ground fruit. Not large amounts yet, but we already begin to see a change…