AIBU to think that tongue tie should have been picked up by HCPs before baby is 10 months old?

[fourquenelles]

I am asking on behalf of my DD, a first time mum, who is hughly worried about what happens next now that a doctor has identified that my DGS has tongue tie. The baby had difficulty latching so was not breast fed (something my DD was very upset about at the time). No HCP/HV identified tongue tie back then. He is having it snipped this Friday. DD is worried about how long it will take to heal and how much it will hurt him.

Does anyone have any reassurances and/or experiences to share of tongue tie being identified and treated as late as this?

Just to say tongue tie is no longer considered a issue in the US and isn’t treated.

They went through a 'tongue tie isn't an issue' phase here too. My ds ended up needed his cut at 2 and then again at 4 because it affected how he ate and how he spoke. He was fine both times so hopefully your dgs will be too.

Midwife told me it was my choice of DSs tongue tie was treated, I had it done because I really wanted to breastfed and he couldn't latch at all (80-90% restriction). She said by toddler age they have usually either stretched or been ruptured by an enthusiastic parent with a spoon!!

DH has tongue tie. He's 55! He can't stick his tongue out, but other than that it doesn't affect him. No idea if he was breastfed or not though.

Thank you so much for the reassurances. I'll pass on your comments to my DD.

DS had 95% tongue tie and couldn’t breastfeed either. He had it cut pretty young, under 6 months or so, it took seconds and he was over it in a couple of minutes. Hopefully it’ll be the same for your grandchild OP.

2 with tt in my house, 1 treated at week 3 and the bf was totally different after, 1 not treated and thankfully he was fine. Friend didn't treat a to and she had to at 3 as he had speech issues.
Baby will be fine

My son was done at 2.5 years,he had no issues with it done late but as parents we noticed he overnight was more confident speaking...and also much louder

Just a quick update. DGS had the snip this afternoon. He is fine and drinking juice. His mum had to face the wall so he couldn't see what a wuss she was being. Thank you for all the reassurances.

My DS has one and it was diagnosed at birth, it was something they automatically checked for. They advised me not to bother cutting it because it wouldn’t affect him at all. I followed their advice and he is now nine, TT still in situ and he’s fine with it.

It’s not really something that needs to be treated unless it severely affects feeding or talking. I agree in your DD’s case, it should have been checked for and spotted sooner if she had mentioned issues with latch.

Ah she wasn't being a wuss just a caring mother who didn't want to see her baby being 'operated' on. I had to face away when my son had to have some teeth removed recently - he's 14! The worry never leaves does it

I’ve got one (40) DNephew has one (13) DS has one (7). Were all fine. No issues with eating, talking, singing, drinking or snogging (for those of us old enough to know about such things!) none of us need it sought treatment. It’s a none issue for all of us. If DN and DS want them done as teens that’s up to them. We’d get a specialist to do them.

2 DDs. 1 struggled to latch but I perservered through tears and it turns out she was tongue tied. Affected her speech till 5. Other DD's TT cut at 7 days and breastfeeding was a joy. No speech issues.

I was upset at the missed diagnosis and was investigating having it cut at 5 when her speech started to improve. Personally I would get it done and complain so they get better at identifying it.

Both mine had tongue tie, breast fed both for an extended period (7 months & 3 years)

Neither has speech, eating, latching issues neither did I opt for snipping.

Oh I’m so glad this thread came up! My DD is 5.5 and was fully breastfed as a baby. She did the usual clicks etc but because she was thriving they didn’t treat. Now she has a little trouble with certain sounds and I’m wondering wether i did her a disservice by not getting it done when she was a baby. She can’t protrude her tongue at all ( completely heart shaped). The snogging thing did cross my mind - life is hard enough as a self-conscious teen! I’m wondering wether to get her seen by a specialist for advice.

I am tongue tied (48). Ds now 13 also tongue tied. No issues. We were speaking about this in work the other day and my boss who is 50 only discovered she was tongue tied because I told her she was. She said she always wondered why she couldn’t poke her tongue out or whistle with her fingers and I said she was probably tongue tied. I took a look for her and sure enough she is. She thought everyone was like it.

I thought that in the UK they had gone back to recommending having it done? I hope so. I would recommend it done, as standard.

Both of mine had to have theirs done twice, because the first time didn't work properly.

Doesn't hurt them beyond having a strangers finger in their mouth, bleeds quite a bit though for a few minutes - but just superficial. Heals very quickly. I took my ds to a specialist because I didnt trust the NHS to diagnose it. They said he was fine, specialist graded it straight away, was diagnosed straight away (2 days old) and snipped within a week.

I have also been diagnosed with one since as an adult and it is the cause of my snoring. I can pay for it to be snipped but as it takes much longer to heal as an adult it's pretty pointless me having it done now. Didn't affect my speech but tbh even kissing for a long time can be painful because of it.

No TT doesn't automatically cause a problem, but there is a huge variations in how tied a tounge is. Some can be quite a thin peace of skin which stretches over time. Others can be thick and totaly hold the tounge in place and as the tounge is a strong muscle it either doesn't cause a problem causes some issues or can be totally restricted. So just saying you have one and don't have a problem isn't helpful.

It was once routine to snip them at birth as most babies where breastfed and in order to avoid any potential issues. Then they decided it wasn't necessary as most babies where bottle fed. However serve TT will even effect bottle feeding, so they have relised that they need to assess and treat if needed. Unfortunately not all HPC's are aware of the possible issues though.