Have you had your baby's tongue tie divided?

[mickey1984]

Have you had your baby’s tongue tie divided?

If so I would be grateful if you could answer the questions below to help me with a project I am currently working on. It would be useful to know your county (however this isn't a necessity), but please don’t add which city/town/village. Likewise I don’t need to know any names of practitioners who performed the division:

Did you have the tongue tie divided by an NHS or private practitioner? What influenced your choice?

If the procedure was done on the NHS how long did you have to wait (from diagnosis to procedure)?

Since having the tongue tie divided what has been your experience of breastfeeding (e.g. made no difference, so much better….)

Many thanks.

[FurryGiraffe]

My DS had his tongue tie diagnosed (privately) at day 5 and snipped (privately) at day 10. Posterior Tongue Tie and community midwife said it wasn't there so didn't bother trying to push for NHS referral. Fortunately for me the money wasn't an issue.

Division of the tongue tie made a huge improvement. He had a very tight posterior tongue tie and while he could latch, it was painful (particularly on one side) and he was on and off a lot. Post division we were pain and faff free- he's still BF at 13 months.

We're in Suffolk.

[JustPretending]

Yes - in the greater London area by an NHS clinic.

We went NHS as I believe it's important not to encourage a two-tier healthcare system (but that's not to criticise those who chose to speed things up & go private, TT is painful).

We waited 10 days for referral. It made a huge difference to feeding & DC is now ebf.

[NickyEds]

DS had his tt diagnosed at birth by the mw that delivered him. Every other mw he saw also confirmed tt. His was snipped at 17 days after a referral at 14 days (it was a Friday so had to wait till Monday). If I had my time over I would have had it done privately on day 1. We didn't as hcp kept saying it wouldn't effect feeding. Only got referral as Ds was still not gaining weight after 12 days and showing bf consutant blood stained breastpads saying I was going to stop bf.

Feeding became painless within a day or 2 of having it divided but various other problems meant DS is mix fed.

We're in West Yorkshire

[GeordieMama]

We're in England and had it done privately as there was a 5 week wait to have it done on the NHS so not sure how I would've been able to breastfeed!
DS wouldn't latch at first after having it done and it took a few days to teach him to do it again. His latch was then very painful for me (Vasospasms) until he was about 4 and a half months. He's now 7 and a half months and still breastfeeding. I'm glad we went private for the TT now as the ongoing support from the lactation consultant that performed the division is the reason we got over the many hurdles.

[GeordieMama]

Just to add, the TT was diagnosed at birth and meant DS couldn't get enough milk and lost 11% of his birth weight until the lactation consultant showed us how to finger feed him. The NHS midwives had started to push formula feed top ups with a bottle at this point.

[spottydolphin]

yes. 3 out of my 4 boys had/have TT but only 2 of them were snipped (first not diagnosed early enough)

Did you have the tongue tie divided by an NHS or private practitioner? What influenced your choice?
Both NHS. With ds2 i didn't know there was an option of having it done privately. with ds3 we were prepared to go private but had it done quickly on nhs so didn';t need to


If the procedure was done on the NHS how long did you have to wait (from diagnosis to procedure)?
ds2 had to wait 2 weeks and we had to travel an hour away to get it done
ds3 was diagnosed and snipped the same day :-D


Since having the tongue tie divided what has been your experience of breastfeeding (e.g. made no difference, so much better…
breastfeeding was less painful immediately but I did still have somw pain for a few weeks while my nipples healed, baby learned to latch better and we sorted positioning out


I am in West Sussex

[bakingtins]

In south glos.
TT divided on the NHS day1, but only because I had the same issue with DS and knew who to ask for, and made sure we were seen before discharge. Feeding improved immediately.

[Poosnu]

In London, divided privately on day 4 (anterior tongue tie) and week 6 (posterior tongue tie and upper lip tie which were missed by first tongue tie specialist).

Time was the main deciding factor - an NHS referral would have been around 8 weeks. Also I don't think that upper lip ties are revised at all on the NHS.

Breastfeeding improved significantly after the first division, and the remaining problems were completely resolved around a week after the second division (following a few days of adjustment for DD).

[Freyathecatt]

In spite of being checked by four midwives, my son's tongue tie wasn't identified until he was five weeks old by a lactation consultant. She did the referral to the hispital, but our appointment was five weeks later. Considering my son lost over 10% of his body weight and we were having real issues with breastfeeding, we had a private practitioner snip his tie. His feeding did improve, but unfortunately we never really got it together after that so we mix fed.

We were in N London at the time.

[fairgroundsnack]

We are in Surrey.

I had DS's TT divided privately. I was told that I would have to wait 8-10 weeks to have it done on the NHS. Given that DS lost 20% of his birth weight at day 6, waiting this long didn't seem like a viable option for us.

BFing was better following the snip.

[mawbroon]

No, I didn't get his tongue tie divided as a baby because nobody I came into contact with raised it as a possibility. I only learned about it on Mumsnet years later and yes I did go on to have it revised when he was older because it was the root cause of numerous health problems.

It is not as simple as snipping it and then feeding is fine. Sure, that happens in some cases, but with some ties, there is more to it, especially posterior ties.

You also have to bear in mind that not all tongue tie dividers are equal. Some people who notice no difference in feeding may actually find that eg the snip was not deep enough and the tie is still actually there. Or an anterior tie may be snipped and a posterior tie missed.

What is your project?

[feeona123]

Had my little girls done at 5 weeks.

Was mentioned while I was still in hospital and also on 5 day home mw check - although no one have me any advise on what to do, just that she might have TT.

Weight went down further and it was only having an appointment with my own mw on day 11, that I was told to refer myself to the bf support at the hospital where she was born.

2 appointments at bf support and she was referred. Hospital only cut once a week and due to Easter Friday I had to wait nearly 2 weeks.

She was 5 weeks and 1 day when she had it cut, at NHS hospital in Berkshire.

It has made a huge difference. Since the cut she has been gaining about half a lb a week, before this she kept dropping weight. She is combined fed so she has 2 bottles a day but I feed the rest.

I wish it had been done quicker but I didn't look into doing it private due to cost reasons.

If the mw in the hospital had given me advise on what to do, then she wouldn't have dropped the weight and we wouldn't have needed to give her as much formula.

[mickey1984]

@mawbroon.

My project is an evaluation of tongue tie division services, with the intention of eventually setting up an NHS community tongue tie division clinic in my area.

[sweetheart]

My son's tongue tie was divided by an NHS practitioner, we had it done because he couldn't feed, was dropping weight and was jaundice.

We had to wait approx. 3 weeks because he was born in December so a reluctance from our GP to refer him and the bank holidays slowed the process down significantly.

In the 3 week period we had to switch to bottle feeding but following the divide procedure I managed to reinstate breast feeding with my son.

[bronya]

Did you have the tongue tie divided by an NHS or private practitioner? What influenced your choice?
PRIVATE - SIX MONTH WAITING LIST ON NHS.

If the procedure was done on the NHS how long did you have to wait (from diagnosis to procedure)?
N/A

Since having the tongue tie divided what has been your experience of breastfeeding (e.g. made no difference, so much better….)
WENT FROM FAILING TO THRIVE, CONSTANTLY CRYING BABY TO HAPPY, CONTENT, THRIVING BABY. NO FURTHER PROBLEMS.

[ImAMonkeyMess]

NHS

4 week wait. Initially the tongue tie was identified at birth but deemed not to be serious enough to correct. At the time it was corrected, we were told it was severe!

Helped a bit but we never really managed very well so we combine fed. Think he'd learned to do it his way (extremely painful) or not at all by the time we had it sorted. Will definitely be on the lookout this time and go private if need be.

Hampshire

[museumum]

We are in Lothian (Edinburgh). Diagnosed at an nhs bf clinic at 1wk and snipped at nhs hospital at 3wks.
Fed ok-ish before but needed some expressed top ups from a bottle. Fed perfectly afterwards and still (9mo old). We went to another bf clinic the week after for help with relearning latch.

[museumum]

We only had to wait two weeks as we went to a Friday bf clinic and the TT consultant appts are Fridays too - if we'd dropped into a Monday or Wednesday bf clinic the snip would still have been that Friday so only 8-11 days.

[FraterculaArctica]

Had it done privately at 7 weeks after diagnosis by a private lactation consultant the previous week. Posterior tie. He was eating enough and gaining weight fine before the division but suffering badly with wind and silent refluxy symptoms, constantly squirming in discomfort and lots of screaming. These symptoms improved substantially within 2-3 days after the snip. Now 9 weeks, we are getting follow up support with feeding.

We were told it would be a 2-3 week wait to have it done on the NHS in a city an hour's travel time away, and there would be no follow up support, so decided to go private.

Cambridgeshire.

[MsJupiter]

We had DS's posterior TT snipped at an NHS clinic. I didn't really understand that I had a choice as I have never used private healthcare although if I had another child I would pay for a private consultant as the diagnosis was very late and the waiting time was critical.

The waiting time was 3 weeks. This may not sound long but he was referred at 8 weeks so was 11 wks when he was diagnosed and snipped at the clinic. He was the oldest baby there by far and found the procedure more traumatic than any of the others. His weight had also reached a critical point by then (way below 0.4 centile) so he should have been seen as an emergency case. Three weeks is a long time for a poorly baby.

Following the procedure, he did not feed for many hours as he was so traumatised. When he did feed the difference in latch was immediate and dramatically different. Unfortunately by this point his weight was so low he needed formula supplementation to get his strength up or he would have been hospitalised. Within a week he had started to fill out and over the next couple of months became a gorgeous fat baby with chubby thighs and wrists. He reached the 50th centile and has followed it since. Of course it is hard to tell how much weight he would have put on with breastfeeding alone following the procedure but the difference in latch leads me to believe that he would have been fine if the procedure had been carried out sooner. As he had been demanding less milk from me, it would have taken a while for my breasts to catch up with production and although I pumped and fed as much as possible, this didn't happen so we combination fed till 9 months.

For us the main problem was getting referred in the first place as every midwife, health visitor, GP, paediatrician and even bf counsellor we saw did not think there was a problem. I had so many feeds observed and they all said it was fine, he seemed happy and satisfied but was probably just a small baby. It didn't seem right to me but they were the professionals so I trusted them. It was only when I saw the bf counsellor for the 3rd or 4th time and pointed out yet again the heart shaped tongue they eventually referred me. At the clinic they diagnosed him in 30 seconds. It's such an important issue that all HCPs need to have a better understanding of.

I'm in Greater London btw.

[mawbroon]

Well, mickey1984 hopefully it will be a well informed clinic and not one that turns people away:

-because posterior ties "don't exist"
or
-because your baby is "gaining weight fine"
or
-because it's just a "mild" tie
or
-because they are not breastfeeding any more (or at all)
or
-because "it will stretch"
or
-is staffed by HCP with this woeful lack of knowledge

etc etc etc

Is it just for young babies or will there be provision for helping older babies and children? It seems that the care for the older ones with tongue tie is even worse in the NHS We had DS1 done privately. Even that was no guarantee. The first guy didn't revise it properly, so we had to find somebody who was a specialist and have it done again.

It would have saved a lot of heartache if I had encountered people who knew what they were doing right from the very beginning.

[minipie]

Did you have the tongue tie divided by an NHS or private practitioner? What influenced your choice?

Private - because it could be done almost immediately, ie within a couple of days, and because there would be a set appointment time rather than waiting in a crowded TT clinic.

If the procedure was done on the NHS how long did you have to wait (from diagnosis to procedure)?

n/a

Since having the tongue tie divided what has been your experience of breastfeeding (e.g. made no difference, so much better.)

So much better - though it took a week or two to see full results. And not only BF itself was better - DD was much less windy, seemed much less uncomfortable, stopped having silent reflux episodes, slept better, fed less often. All round much happier baby (and parents).

[minipie]

Sorry, forgot to say I'm in London.

[pearlgirl]

3 of my four boys have tongue tie - only ds4 has had it divided.
It was a posterior tie that the local Maxo facillio ? Consultant refused to divide on the grounds that it wouldn't make any different - we saw him at five weeks after v slow weight gain, a very unsettled baby and had pushed for a referral - I don't think I have ever seen DH so angry as when he refused to divide it . It had been spotted by a very experienced breast feeding counsellor, with whom I am fortunate to be friends. The health visitor agreed and made the referral.
Having bf the older three successful ( a bit of a shaky start with ds 1 , which I would now attribute to tt) I really wanted to bf ds4 as well. Another chance conversation with a medic friend led to me asking for a second opinion and ds4 was referred to next city - he was seen at 9 weeks by the NHS consultant, who said it was only a small tie but that she would divide it that day if we wanted - we did and ds4 bf with causing me pain for the first time and became a more content and peaceful baby. He began to gain weight as he was able to fed more effectively.
I really wish we had had it done earlier and that my little boy had a more content start. Having started to bf he is still occasionally bf now several years later.

[pearlgirl]

Meant to say we are in North Yorkshire