Tongue tie

Kandboys

Hi I was wondering if anybody else's baby has had tongue tie? My 10 week old has it and although it's not a problem at the moment (being bottle fed), I've been advised that it may cause problems when he is weaning and learning to talk? I've got an appointment with the GP on Tuesday to discuss the options so just wanted some experiences from others. Thanks!

brook2jack

Tongue tie is very common. In days gone by all sorts of problems were ascribed to it from stuttering to feeding problems and a frenulectomy (minor op where toungue tie was cut) very frequently done.

These days they are very rarely operated on and most people with them eat and speak perfectly normally. They just can't poke their tongue out at folks.

If Baby is feeding ok not a problem. The proceedure to release tongue tie is done often with just a squirt of topical anaesthetic and a quick snip. Sometimes the tie frees itself up by tearing. Don't worry ,see what the doctor says.

Mely

I am tongue tied and so is one of my daughters. The only problem we have had is not being able to stick our tongues out very far,otherwise its not noticeable.Hth.

mrcow

My daughter had this when she was born (2005). Apparently if she'd been referred before 6 weeks old, they would have cut it immediately at a day clinic. As it was, no one told us this, so we had to go down the referral route too.

We had her referred to a paediatrician and when she turned 1, she had a minor operation under GA to have it lasered.

Soooo pleased it was done. She couldn't stick her tongue out at all, not even beyond her teeth and it was deforming her tongue. Obviously it was done before she learned to speak so it's never caused her any problems. If didn't cause problems with breastfeeding or weaning.

We had the operation given following the advice that we had from the experts. I would advise you to do the same - get a referral and talk to the consultant - all cases are different. Don't rely on a GP, or annecdotal advice from here - speak to a specialist.

btw - you wouldn't believe she had such a severe tongue tie these days - watching her lick ice cream etc is just watching like anyone else.

pyjamadays

i was tounge tied at birth and go it snipped apparently!! i have no prolems other than i can't stick my tounge out very far, most people including myself find it funny. no speech problems or anything tho (unless im drinking and cant keep my mouth shut lol) :-)

Kandboys

Thanks for the comments. My health visitor was the one who said he might have weaning and talking problems but when I asked what she would advise me to do, she didn't want to know and said it's not for her to say. Helpful. It's right at the end of his tongue and it makes his tongue like a 'v' almost. My 2 older boys haven't got it.

WolfSong2000

I know an American family with a lovely little American boy (now 6) who has tongue tie quite severely - it affects his speech and obviously frustrates him, but for whatever reason (and I have tried speaking to the mother to no avail!) they refuse to do anything about it. He's a bright little boy, but he's having to have speech therapy to make himself understood and he has trouble getting the words out sometimes, hence the frustration on his part.

yellowbear

There are varying degrees of tongue-tie. Some of the smallers ties have little or no effect on speech but there are some that can have a huge impact. Get referred to a tongue-tie clinic as soon as you can. The earlier the baby has it snipped the better.

At my local hospital if they are snipped after 6 months they have to have a general anaesthetic.

If it's right at the front of the tongue it sounds like it could be quite severe.

Caroline73_2

My youngest had a tongue tie, he's 6 now.

Following his birth he couldn't breast feed as he was unable to latch on, so I fed him via a bottle which was fine.

At the time I worked in an operating department so spoke with an oral surgeon and did some research or the literature available at the time. It was divided into two camps. One side said only to snip if if caused a problem with speech or feeding. The disadvantages of surgery are that scar tissue may form and the tongue tie can 'reattach' where the scar tissue exists. When the tie is left to its own devices it can tear naturally or outgrow.

Advantages of surgery are a normal tongue with the risk of scarring. The altering Mrcows daughter had would minimise scar tissue. The mixed opinions are probably the reasons you HV is being cagey.

I opted not to have it done routinely and only later if problems occurred. My son is fine now. You can still see a slight tongue tie but he speaks and eats nicely.

Incidentally I find the practice of snipping tongue ties on children without anaesthetic barbaric. I'm not aware if they still do this or if its just by laser now, but if you do chose to have it operated on then please investigate which procedure is used!

pinkclouds

Kandboys wrote: »

Thanks for the comments. My health visitor was the one who said he might have weaning and talking problems but when I asked what she would advise me to do, she didn't want to know and said it's not for her to say. Helpful. It's right at the end of his tongue and it makes his tongue like a 'v' almost. My 2 older boys haven't got it.

That is an obvious tongue-tie!! It shouldn't affect your bottle-feeding but it would have affected breast-feeding. I have heard of the potential eating/talking problems but don't know anyone who's let it get that far.

A friend of mine has a baby with tongue-tie now and says the midwife "can't" snip it and she has to wait for a doctor's appointment. Another acquaintance has an older child who had a tongue-tie and she got her GP to snip it (when child was a baby). I'm sure there are others but those are the two I recall off the top of my head. It should be a very quick, simple snip taking all of a few seconds, hardly any blood, and baby should be able to feed (breast or bottle) and be comforted immediately. The visible reaction (to the snip) is comparable to vaccinations, so one would suppose it doesn't feel any worse to baby. If you wait till they are older (I cannot recall the exact age but I think it's mere months) then it has to be done under anaesthetic.

I find it surprising and annoying that it's no longer offered as an immediate solution (given that it makes such a difference and takes so little time - and, if still days/weeks old, requires hardly any resources). I would definitely advocate pestering an appropriate healthcare provider (perhaps your GP) to get this done asap - or else arrange for it to be done privately as an immediate priority.

brook2jack

In case anyone is interested this is a link to the nice guidelines for tongue tie. http://www.nice.org.uk/IPG149

Of note though is tongue ties often look worse in babies and tend to retract as they get older . This is why in many cases if baby is feeding ok many people prefer to take a watch and see approach.