Tongue tie

pinkclouds

Caroline73 wrote: »

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!

I believe it depends on the age of the baby/child. However, I'm reasonably sure you can get anaesthetic drops for babies - if you are really want to use them. The down side is it numbs the mouth so they can't nurse after the snip and thus cannot be as readily comforted.

^That might be a couple of years out of date though... I can't remember which friend told me this. But the OP's GP or paediatrician should be able to advise further.

kate1979

Both my children have/had tongue ties. We left DS's intact as he had no problems (at first) feeding but had DD's cut as breastfeeding was a problem. Unfortunately it didn't help.

Both are excellent eaters and talk (babble in DD's case) for England. DS has no issues relating to his tongue-tie, and of course DD's is no longer there.

I also have a tongue-tie, quite a severe one, and have had no problems whatsoever, apart from being unable to stick out my tongue which is not really an issue!

thebillet

Our grandson had a tongue tie operated on recently (a month or ago). He was six months now seven, the biggest problem was for his mum, trekking over for checks that could have been done locally. He had a general anaesthetic (a bit of gas I think to relax him) and the whole thing was over and done with in a jiffy. He shrugged it off without complaint, looking at us as if to saw, "what's the problem? I'm fine" and he is! Hope your little 'un is fine also.

Kandboys

Thanks so much for all the comments- I really do appreciate them. I'll take a look at the NICE guidelines to get more of an idea before Tuesday. It would help if my MIL didn't go on about it all the time - like there is something wrong with him!!! Stupid woman

brook2jack

Between 3 and 10% of children have tongue tie. It's difficult to say accurately as it's often misdiagnosed ie normal tongues diagnosed as tongue tied.
Most will not need treatment and will not cause problems now or later. It is controversial as to when or even if to treat if child is feeding ok as the research is not conclusive as to benefits apart from those for breast feeding.

This is a link to a bmj article giving an overview on tongue tie and even the two authors have different opinions on its significance (mostly in relation to breast feeding). http://adc.bmj.com/content/90/12/1217.full.pdf

For most people it's something they and no one else (apart from their dentist) notices.

Blanc

Hi, just some information for you, my daughter, born 32 years ago and was tongue tied. This did not affect her feeding and doctors said it may correct itself over time. It didnt and she couldnt pronounce certain words and was referred to a speech therapist and I was told she was lazy. She was very shy and could not pronounce certain words, no matter how she tried. She was 3 and I took her to the doctores who refeered her. She would not let the consultant look at her tongue so he decided to bring her in for the operation as she was distraught when been checked over. She was taken in and after the operation the consultant said she was severely tongued tied and it would not correct itself. She was let out that day and I am been honest, she did not stop talking from that day onwards. She needed speech therapy for a few weeks and had to be corrected a few times to learn how to say some words properly. It was a battle with the speech therapist at the time who insisted she was just lazy and lost her patience with my daughter. It was a relief for the consultant to say that she was seriously tongue tied as at the time it felt that it was all my fault. Thankfully all worked out well for my daughter, but it was stressful at the time. As someone else has highlighted that there is different degrees of this.

GobbledyGook

If there is a tongue tie that is causing a problem then asked to be referred to someone urgently - the sooner it is sorted the better. Often the breast feeding helplines can help with who to be referred to better than a GP I've found - probably because of the impact it can have on feeding.

All 3 of my children have had tongue ties - I had the same as a child. With my eldest I didn't realise and ended up in agony BF'ing because it was massively impacting on her latch. Hers was snipped at 14 weeks. My younger two were spotted sooner due to looking for it and it saved problems.

You will sometimes have to fight if you don't have a supportive GP. With my youngest I was told by a GP if it was causing problems just to give him a bottle. So if it's impacting feeding (bottle or breast) make sure they are dealing with your referral as a matter of urgency.

Kandboys

Luckily it's not causing him any problems. He's thriving! He was 10lb 5oz born and is now 14lb 6oz at 10 weeks!! It's just if it causes him problems in the future really

mummyemm

I noticed my son had a tongue tie when he was 3 weeks old ( he is now 15 months). My HV said that we could be referred to a midwife who was specialised in cutting the tongue tie. I was breastfeeding him and he had some problems latching on properly and also suffered from increased wind (likely due to the poor latch). My HV suggested the cutting could help with these problems. We opted to have the tongue tie sorted to help with the breastfeeding (it helped loads) and I also wanted to prevent him needing a general anaesthetic when he was older incase he developed speech or feeding issues.
The procedure was done at 5 weeks, it involved swaddling him, one midwife supporting his head, the other lifted his tongue, quick snip then given to me to feed him.
I am glad we got it done, especially when he pokes out his tongue. I know he will appreciate it when he is licking an ice cream during the summer!
I would recommend, if you can, getting it done when he is young.

Kandboys

Shamelessly bumping this up in case there are any other experiences!!