Tongue-tie: BBC Radio 4, Womens Hour

[Gatorade]

I was just listening to Radio 4 and they were advertising the fact that they were going to be discussing tongue-tie in babies and whether or not it should be checked for and snipped at birth during Women's Hour today - I thought it might be of interest to some of the great people on this topic who are constantly giving out great advice. I think it's on at 10am.

[dodi1978]

I just watched the features on this on BBC Breakfast. I have to agree that services are inconsistent. When DS was born, it was only the third midwife visiting us who recognized that he was tongue - tied. DS then had to go to hospital for high jaundice levels. That evening, I was told that the specialist midwife for snapping tongue tie was on holiday, so it couldn't be done any time soon. I spent all, tired and emotional as I was (DS was in SCBU for a couple of hours) researching private options on my mobile, only to be told in the morning that it could be snapped anyway. An hour later, it was done and dusted.

[MistletoeBUTNOwine]

Link//[http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/health-26199591] tongue tie on news

[Ubik1]

DD3 had tongue tie but it was only when she didn't gain weight, my nipples were open wounds and I cried all over the midwife that anyone looked in her mouth. She was 10 days old.

It was snipped at the neonatal intensive care unit and the difference was immediate. I breasted her fir a year after that.

[Tobagostreet]

Just watched BBC Breakfast. It showed a section where a baby was taken from its mum, tongue tie snipped, handed back to mum (a bit upset) to have a comforting breast feed.

Amazed that it seems to be a fairly simple procedure, yet there is a lack of awareness/action/support sometimes .

[Cheboludo]

I'm in N. Ireland and when my son was born last year the midwife was able to diagnose tongue-tie on day 2. I was so happy that we had one of the reasons he was fussing when trying to feed and figured we'd get it snipped quickly. Turns out it is against hospital policy to snip tongue-tie in newborns. I was told that if it still affected his feeding at 4yo, then they'd look at snipping it. No matter that it was affecting breast-feeding at birth.

I'm so glad something is being done about this, I was in shock when I realised that, despite the push to increase breast-feeding numbers, something so simple was being refused. I know it may not have been the answer to our problems, but, then again, it any have been.

[whenwill]

Thank finally. Do not let momentum of this run out. It's so simple and so fundamental. On this issue Dismissive and ignorant health care professionals are everywhere. I haven't been on mn for ages but remember the thread sign here if you were told your baby didn't have tongue only to find out they did.

[Doodle1983]

Had my DS a fortnight ago and was told within hours of having him that he had a tongue tie. He was low birth weight and we decided that we were going to formula feed him - I was told that unless I was exclusively BF him then nothing would be done about it. I accepted this. Health visitor is horrified and says I should see gp and get a referral to get it snipped regardless while he is so young - which I agree with. So now I have to make an appointment at the gp's and wait for a referral to hospital. I'm told that the local hospital where I had him wont do it and will have to go to the one In the city. What a faff! My ignorance - I should of insisted it be done in hospital while we were there for three days following my EMCS

[Oblomov]

1000's of threads on MN about this.
Happened to me.
It was spotted. But a conscious decision was made by the hospital to NOT tell me. For which , the consultant later apologised to dh and I.
It later had to be snipped. Twice.

Can't believe this is on woman's hour, needing to be highlighted. You would have thought this was common knowledge, 15 - 20 years ago. Not still needing to be highlighted.

[MistletoeBUTNOwine]

Doodle, they won't snip most TT unless you're bf ing, that's the policy here anyway (York NHS trust). Can your baby feed ok?

[Knottyknitter]

db had his done a few weeks back...bottle fed unsurprisingly.


strange bit is his age. referred by dentist as affecting his gums....

at 29!

[HumphreyCobbler]

I am having DS's upper lip tie done on Thursday, and his possible posterior tongue tie. All thanks to great advice on here, particularly by Mawbroon. I had his anterior snipped privately at four days old. I would have had to have waited WEEKS to have it done on the NHS. Lucky for me I could afford it. No one at the hospital looked in his mouth, despite the fact my nipples were bleeding even before we left the hospital

I just think that midwives and gps woefully underestimate what level of people experience problems with tt. Even my fantastic lactation consultant said it is rarely a problem. But anecdotally I know at least six people who have had poor weight gain, pain when feeding (this often is dismissed if the baby is gaining weight ) and who ended up ff because they were not diagnosed or taken seriously. I know this is my own unsubstantiated opinion, but can anyone enlighten me as to the research that states it is rarely a problem? Has anyone done any research lately?

As for upper lip tie, they don't even know it can be a problem. Dentists do though, my dentist was well up on the potential tooth decay issues of a substantial upper lip tie. I am having to travel three hours and pay upwards of £400 to have this done.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-26199591

[mawbroon]

I just listened to the Women's hour piece. It is a start, getting this in the public eye, but the guy did not mention some of the far reaching consequences of untreated ties when asked.

So really, he only mentioned breastfeeding and touched on the possibility of there being speech problems later on.

There is SO MUCH MORE to it than that!!

[Doodle1983]

I'm bottle feeding mistletoe so no trouble feeding thankfully. I'm still going to arrange for a referral to get it snipped tho x

[BettyStogs]

DS2 was checked for tongue tie before we left the hospital after he was born. Apparently it is standard here now, don't understand why it doesn't happen everywhere.

[mawbroon]

My fear about them introducing checks for tongue tie at birth is that they have this lot do it without proper training.

[crikeybadger]

My dd has an upper lip tie, does anyone know if there is anywhere to get it snipped on NHS ? I'm guessing not from Humph's post.

I listened to some of the pieces on radio 4 about tongue tie and was surprised to hear that they quoted that only 3 percent of babies are affected. From the mothers I meet at our breastfeeding group, I would think this is on the low side.

[mawbroon]

It is never too late to have tongue tie revised Waswondering

He could have it done with laser. It only takes a few minutes with a wee bit of local anaesthetic.

DS1 had his done just before he turned 7yo and is undergoing orthodontic treatment to rectify the distortion in his orofacial structure caused by the restricted tongue movement.

Plenty adults get it done too.

I absolutely agree that he downplayed the long term consequences. I do actually wonder if he knows what they are, and has he looked at it from any other angle apart from feeding and speech. There is SO MUCH MORE to tongue tie than speech and feeding!!

[mawbroon]

Expect your dentist to be under informed about tongue tie. Most are!

[TongueTieUK]

We are currently featuring parents' stories of their experiences of tongue-tie, as part of our awareness building campaign.

If you want to tell your story please get in touch.

tonguetieuk.org/your-story/

www.facebook.com/tonguetieuk

twitter.com/tonguetiesuk

Tongue-tie UK is a grass roots organization (soon to be charity) that exists to raise awareness about tongue-tie and lip-tie in the United Kingdom. It has been set up by mums like you, whose babies had tongue-tie and wanted to do something to help change the level of services and awareness about the condition.

The organization is also raising funds for research in the field of tongue-tie and lip-tie. Tongue-tie UK was created by parents of babies with tongue-tie, to help other parents get access to information and support about tongue-ties and lip-ties in babies and children. We work with a range of healthcare professionals, breastfeeding experts and other support groups, in order to build our knowledge base, and in order to best serve the needs of those that we support.

Please sign up for updates and other information on our website, Facebook www.facebook.com/tonguetieuk page or Twitter twitter.com/tonguetiesuk

In addition if you are looking for UK providers (or anywhere), there is a growing international list of providers here: (two UK for the moment) - bitly.com/ttproviders and there is a Facebook support group of 13 000 members (and growing) on www.facebook.com/groups/tonguetiebabies/