Tongue-tie - did it correct by itself?

[Karen99]

Advice needed from any mums with a tongue-tied dd or ds!

My ds is 10 weeks old and has a tight frenulum (sp?) which attaches to the very tip of his tongue. All chat pages etc seem to have both sides of the arguement - it will correct itself AND get it corrected asap.

We spotted the tie at two weeks of age and the tongue does appear to have grown on either side of the tie, but there are no signs that the frenulum is starting to stretch or lengthen.

What have you done and at what age? Any advice greatly welcomed!

[Angiel]

My dd was tongue tied. It didn't cause her any problems and unless it interferes with feeding, I would think it was unlikely that anyone would suggest you had it corrected.

I don't know how it might affect speech because my dd sorted hers out herself. She jabbed herself in the mouth with a plastic saw and broke the frenulum, it bled for a little while and has been absolutely fine since.

[Karen99]

Thanks Angiel. At what age did this happen for your dd? I'm tending to leave it and see. My HV said most correct themselves within the first year, but she didn't mention how (growth, cut etc)

BF was hard the first four weeks, but my ds finally got the hang of it with his short tongue and is gaining steadily...

[Bobsdad]

I was born slightly tongue-tied and at the age of 30 it's still there ... not severe but annoying sometimes. Wish my mum and dad had done something about it!

[princesspeahead]

had a friend whose son had this - they were told not to worry about it and only have something done if his speech was being impaired - in the end they took him in and had it snipped under general when he was about 18 months I think. There wasn't any problem with his speech but they just felt happier about it. My mother (GP) felt it was a little silly to go through the general if there was no need, but he was fine.
don't know if that helps at all!!

[Bekki]

My ds (now 3) has toungue tie. It was noticed almost immediatley by a midwife and she said that it might cause problems with breastfeeding (which it did) but that it was very rare for a child to develop speech problems. I had to give up breastfeeding because of his toungue tie and I asked my gp about having it snipped, he laughed and said that that never happened anymore, only if there were speech problems. I knew that that was wrong and I do know of people who have had it corrected in their children before they were speaking. My son can speak perfectly and only now is he realising that his toungue is different to everyone elses but it dosen't bother him. It does stretch eventually but if it does reach right to the tip of his toungue then there might be problems. I would leave it well alone until he shows signs of problems.

[mears]

Tongue ties can be separated by surgeons without general amaesthetic. I was a t a conference and listened to a paediatric surgeon who separates them and did his own son. If the tongue tie is making feeding difficult, it probably should be done. Yes there is an opinion that it will stretch on it's own. Not all surgeons are skilled at doing it. It is painless and there is no bleeding. There are no nerves there or blood supply. This surgeon says he believes that all children should be able to stick their tongue out at someone, lick an ice cream or french kiss. Severe tongue ties can prevent those activities

[Karen99]

Thanks for the info everyone. I think we'll see what happens over the next few months. We too might find chewing on something will do the trick or it may grow. If it hasn't corrected itself by 1 year we may go for a consultation to get it corrected. B-Feeding took four weeks to get established, but he now guzzles every feed and is gaining steadily. Cheers.

[HAPPYFACE]

MY DD IS 21 MTHS AND MIL MADE JOKED AT HER EXPENSE WHEN SHE WAS ONLY A FEW WEEKS OLD MAKING FACES ETC I LOOKED INTO IT AT THE TIME AND SINCE SHE WAS BF FINE ASSUMED HER TONGUE WAS OK.
STARTED TO NOTICE FRENULUM VERY CLOSE TO FRONT OF TONGUE WHEN SHE WAS 18MTHS AND SEARCHED INFO FINDING THAT IT CAN ACTUALLY CATCH ON BOTTOM TEETH AND GET SORE.
TOOK HER TO DOCTOR WHO REFERRED TO ENT AND CONSULTANT SAID HE WILL SNIP IT SINCE SHE WON'T BE ABLE TO STICK HER TONGUE OUT OTHERWISE.
SINCE HAD LETTER FROM NHS SAYING IT'S A YEAR WAIT.
HAS ANYONE HAD THIS OP(FRENECTOMY) DONE PRIVATELY, I HAVE TRIED TO ARRANGE IT BUT HAVE'NT BEEN SUCESSFUL. THE BUPA HOSPITAL MY ENT WORKS AT WON'T OPERATE ON CHILDREN UNDER 3- EVEN THUOGH THIS ISN'T EXACTLY AN OPERATION.

[Karen99]

Happyface, I'm due to see the Docs on Wednesday about my ds's tie. He has sent a referral for ENT consultation and I have 20 weeks wait for appt (I thought that was bad enough, but better than your 1yr!!). We are going to enquire if private appt is quicker. Will let you know what they say about doing the op or not. We would still like to leave it until he is older to see if it corrects itself, but will wait and see what consultant says. K.

[Karen99]

Consultation with ENT scheduled for end of Oct. Will update string then.

[Karen99]

Going to the consultant on Tuesday. Will let you know the feedback.

[Karen99]

We've just come back from the consultant and I feel a bit better about my DS's situation. I thought his tt was quite severe cos the frenulum is connected right to the end of his tongue, but the consultant liked to refer to severity in relation to functionality rather than cosmetic reasons. As DS established bf (after 4 hard weeks in the beginning) and has now started solids successfully (even though I think he slurps more than licks) the consultant didn't regard this as severe and therefore doesn't warrant correction at this age (4mo). However, if it affects his speach down the line then it may be necessary. He said in most cases he sees feeding and speach aren't usually affected and most corrections are done around 5yrs when the child him/herself wants it done as they look different to their friends (now back to cosmetic reasons). Plus the operation is done under General anesthetic, which a 5yr old copes better with than an infant.

So I hope this feedback has helped anyone else in a similar situation to us. Fingers crossed his speach won't be impaired and who knows it may stretch/release itself during his toddler years.

[Angiel]

Glad to hear you got on ok Karen.

[Karen99]

Thanks Angiel