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Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

Infant feeding

Tongue tie division

21 replies

rnicholson1990 · 10/08/2018 03:29

What are peoples experience of this procedure? My 6wo has a level 4 TT (they called it slight). We have been having intermittent problems with feeding where baby will thrash and slip off breast throughout feed becoming extremely frustrated, this has been for about 3 weeks some days worse than others. She also seems to struggle to latch, i have to put breast into mouth using flipple, she doesn't seem to open her mouth enough or tilt her head back for it, or if she does latch she will come off then go on end of nipple, however st times she has managed a good latch and had a great feed. Will tt procedure improve the issue? Have people had problems following procedure?

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Hoosey · 10/08/2018 03:45

With DS1 I had his TT separated and honestly, it made zero difference. What improved his latch was time and his mouth getting bigger. Having said that I know several people whom it has worked for. With DS2 who also has a TT I am not getting it separated but have had lots of BF support from our local BF centres so he has a better technique. It’s not perfect but I don’t have any pain now and he’s growing really well/feeding well. I would say if you want to get it done I’d try to get it done soon. It’s always a tough one but it can’t do any harm to see if it does help. The procedure sounds brutal but it’s over quickly and DS1 was back to a happy baby within a few hours. Have you had much support to work on his current latch? I found some 1-2-1 support invaluable.

WhyBird2k · 10/08/2018 04:09

I was in the same position as this was recommended to us. I am a doctor so wasn't keen as it isn't something we ever learnt about in training. What put me off more, however, was that it was being recommended by a "Breastfeeding consultant", who was a breastfeeding nurse specialist and did it privately and not on the NHS. Probably earns good money in this area. So what I'm saying is just check out who is offering and doing the procedure.

superram · 10/08/2018 04:57

I would do it, op is much more upsetting as an adult than a 6 week old. Tt adults often can’t lick ice cream and sometimes may affect speech.

fairgroundsnack · 10/08/2018 05:18

Both my DSs has this done. Procedure itself was fine and over very quickly. Seemed to help with latch, particularly for DS2.

rnicholson1990 · 10/08/2018 22:10

Thank you everyone. Its such a tough one, if only we could be certain it was the problem!

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Zarya · 10/08/2018 22:19

As Superram said, give consideration to how it might affect your DD im future life.

DH has this, and feels as an adult it was too late fix as it would affect his speech. He can't lick things or stick out his tongue and it affected his speech when young.

If ds had been tt, then he would have looked at getting it fixed as early as possible to avoid the issues he had growing up.

Childrenofthesun · 10/08/2018 22:32

I would get it done. DD2 had a "mild" tongue tie diagnosed. Got it snipped at 4 weeks and the midwife told me it was actually 75%. I didn't have any pain feeding but she didn't gain weight well. I had it done and it took about a week for her to start feeding properly. We had cranial osteopathy too, which I think helped but was maybe just confidence.

As others have said, it can also cause speech difficulties. A friend of mine had speech therapy for years as a child and was finally diagnosed with a tongue tie as an adult.

rnicholson1990 · 10/08/2018 23:56

i think my worry is because at times she can latch ok which doubts whether it is the TT an actually just uncomfortable with wind, but then maybe the TT is causing the wind

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MiconiumHappens · 11/08/2018 00:07

My DD has tinge tie and I had the same feelings as you. But I went as advised. As soon as she had the procedure they passed her to me to feed and the difference was obvious, feeding was so much easier.

MiconiumHappens · 11/08/2018 00:12

HAD tongue tie

rnicholson1990 · 11/08/2018 11:13

That's so good to know, did she have any problems with learning to latch on after or did things just go back as normal, did your baby suffer with wind?

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Myusernameismud · 11/08/2018 11:19

DH is severely tongue tied and as an adult can't stick his tongue out/lick ice creams and also has problems with his gag reflex (when brushing his teeth or eating certain foods for example he gags a lot, sounds like he's about to throw up). He said as a teenager he used to get teased by girls for not being able to kiss 'properly' but as an adult it was less of an issue as he felt confident enough to explain why.
Obviously it depends on the severity of the tongue tie, but DH wishes he'd had it done as a baby. It wasn't offered as a standard procedure in Scotland back then.

FurryGiraffe · 11/08/2018 11:35

My DB had tongue tie which wasn't diagnosed until he was nine. He had it divided under GA (he was a chorister and couldn't pronounce some sounds properly). He needed speech therapy as a child and BF was difficult according to DM- these things are in all probability related. Both my DSs had tongue tie. They could feed, but it was faffy and sometimes sore (sometimes not). I had both of their TTs divided privately and BF became much more comfortable (fed to 18 months and 2 years respectively). It was a very simple procedure and although they cried for a few minutes afterwards they were soon comforted. It's very very low risk and may make all the difference.

I understand the reservations of a PP regarding division being offered primarily on a private basis but honestly, BF support is so patchy, I'm not sure that the fact that TT division isn't being offered on the NHS is indicative of anything other than patchy NHS provision. In my area, they only seem to offer TT division on the NHS if a baby can't latch at all, and then the waiting lists are a couple of months (so if you want to BF you pretty much have to go private, even if the NHS are prepared to divide in theory). Just because someone is offering privately a procedure which isn't available on the NHS doesn't mean the private practitioner is a charlatan.

rnicholson1990 · 11/08/2018 11:44

We have been referred via NHS, appt is 4 weeks time for the assessment so i imagine if they advise to get it done it will be another after that. i wonder if as she is gaining weight well its less of a priority or because they say its "slight" (i wonder if they have a criteria?). They knew id been to private person and did advise us to follow up with them. I don't want to wait that long and the private person i saw has been great; didn't encourage us to go straight to procedure helped with repositioning etc first. But everyone has said it could be the problem but might not be i guess there's no definite with these things.

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Childrenofthesun · 11/08/2018 21:06

Regarding the wind, that is a classic symptom of TT as babies with a tongue tie tend to swallow more air while trying to latch on. Reflux tends to be associated with tongue tie too.

MiconiumHappens · 12/08/2018 02:31

She didn't have any problems with wind.

Before feeding was awkward and painful, I also ended up with mastitis as she couldn't feed properly. After was exactly as had been with older DS (so what I would refer to as normal breastfeeding) latching and feeding was all so much easier from the moment she had it done.

Also when she did that angry cry that babies do before the procedure I didn't think her TT was that bad. Afterwards you could really see how overly attached the tongue was before, if that makes sense?

MiconiumHappens · 12/08/2018 02:32

My DDs was also described as slight.

JoanFrenulum · 12/08/2018 03:07

DD had a tongue and a lip tie. GP said "slight," specialist said "wow, very thick, good thing you chose to have it done." No pressure to have it done but she did gain a lot of weight afterwards, good thing, she was a miserable little scrap before. Ten days of doing exercises twice a day to make sure it healed properly, she didn't like that much but she also didn't like weeing at that age so I would not say that was a reason not to do it.

welliwasntexpectingthat · 12/08/2018 03:13

We had exactly same issues so had it done. Made big difference, was not brutal, over very quickly. It's worth paying to get done asap if can, there's a list on tonguetie.org

rnicholson1990 · 12/08/2018 08:41

thanks for replying, had it caused problems with wind for your baby and if so did that resolve? she is always so uncomfortable and appears in pain passing wind, worse during night and early morning

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rnicholson1990 · 12/08/2018 09:08

childrenofthesun - please can i ask how you found the cranial osteopathy and how it helped?

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