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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To not get a tongue tie investigated privately if the baby doesn't have a tongue tie...

108 replies

Tonguetied · 17/01/2021 13:41

My sister is having a disagreement with her DH and I suggested she put it to the mumsnet jury. She's too bogged down with it all so asked if I'd do it for her (I've NC'd because I'll be sharing this with her).

She has an 11 week old baby who is bottle fed. She was fairly unsettled at the beginning - colicky, not easy to get to sleep, crying etc. They think she may have a CMPA and silent reflux and the baby is now being treated for these things (prescription milk, meds for the reflux etc). They are also seeing a cranial osteopath to see if that might help with the various issues.

Now that she is used to the new milk, she seems to be settling down into everything - napping better, happier when awake, feeding well. She still wakes throughout the night for feeds and to be resettled but is slowly beginning to go for longer stretches.

The problem is that my sister's DH wants to take the baby to a private tongue tie clinic to have her assessed as he thinks she's got a tongue tie that, if divided, will help her to feed better, sleep better and be more settled generally. He has seen something on the NCT website with a list of symptoms and he thinks the baby has these symptoms. He thinks there's no harm in trying it as it might help and the clinic won't do the procedure if they don't think it's necessary.

My sister, on the other hand, is pretty sure the baby doesn't have a tongue tie and this has been confirmed by 4 different HCPs, including a paediatric registrar (who has been seeing the baby about something unrelated). She thinks that as the baby doesn't have a tongue tie, it's unreasonable to put the baby through an unnecessary procedure that would be painful and have risks of complications, when the baby is bottle-fed, gaining weight, eating to expectation and is arguably as unsettled as a newborn baby is. She's also worried that, as it's a private clinic that makes money from performing tt divisions, it won't necessarily give an unbiased assessment.

He thinks she is being unreasonable because she won't try something that he thinks might help (and is saying that, seeing as she won't try it, he's reluctant to help her out with the nights). She thinks he is being unreasonable because the baby hasn't got a tongue tie and she doesn't think it's right to subject her to an unnecessary medical procedure for no reason, when she's just being a newborn baby and he needs to deal with the difficulties, stresses and lack of sleep that comes with it.

Who is being unreasonable?

YABU - get the tongue tie investigated, you never know.
YANBU - don't get the tongue tie investigated, the baby doesn't have one.

OP posts:
BeingATwatItsABingThing · 17/01/2021 14:24

My DD1 had a TT and we had it snipped when she was 5w. We payed for this privately because, at the time, the hospital didn’t check for it and they wouldn’t have addressed her type of TT anyway. She couldn’t BF at all. Couldn’t latch and when she did, most of the milk dribbled out of her mouth. I still bottle fed her afterwards because of the pain her poor latch caused to me. She was absolutely fine afterwards and I’m glad we did it.

DD2 doesn’t have a TT which I’m surprised about as both DH and I have them. The specialist could hear that my DH has a TT because of the way he speaks. She checked mine and mine is actually worse than his but never caused me any issues. DD2 was checked by several midwives and a lactation specialist. I don’t feel the need to keep endlessly checking and neither does DH.

Her DH isn’t unreasonable to want to have a specialist look if he thinks she ticks some of the boxes but he is unreasonable to claim he’ll never help out at night if they don’t. That just makes him an arse!

GrossePois · 17/01/2021 14:26

I had a midwife and breast feeding specialist come privately to my house and sort my baby’s tongue tie at 6 weeks. It was spotted after birth but they were reluctant to do anything about it until she was much older. My husband has a quite a severe undetected tongue tie and he’s lucky to not have a speech impediment. The midwife said it was a 75% tongue tie and much better to sort out when young than the traumatic experience it would be when 2/3 years old. Ultimately, I think it’s worth having it checked out.

Moneypenny007 · 17/01/2021 14:26

Definitely get it properly investigated. Definitely think that was my kids biggest issue with feeding and I knew nothing about it. Ds1 was a poor feeder, speech delay the works. Ds2 was bf but it hurt like hell. Switched to bottles but again speech delay and poor pronunciation.

hannahbananananananana · 17/01/2021 14:29

YABU

Both my baby's tongue ties were missed by the midwives and one health visitor picked up on DDs tongue tie. I was breastfeeding and with my DS it was 6 months of agony and mastitis before i gave up.

We took DD to a specialist and he said it was only slight and cut it there and then, no tears from her she was completely fine and feeding was easier.

They have a duty of care so i dont think they would lie and also they couldn't cut a non existent tongue tie anyway

IScreamYouScreamWeAllScream · 17/01/2021 14:35

Some tongue ties are very visible and some are only visable/discovered by a tongue tie specialist.

But, if the baby can feed well from her bottle and weight gain is fine then even if there is a tongue tie it probably doesn't need to be snippped.

As the baby gets bigger the frenulum and tongue will naturally grow, and sometimes the frenulum actually stretches, as the baby learns to eat and talk and then there is no impact of the tight frenulum.

In some cases, it will need to be cut as it is tight and causing issues.

But irritable, colic, unsettled and crying are all normal for an 11week baby tongue tie or not!

IScreamYouScreamWeAllScream · 17/01/2021 14:36

If any concerns at all best to get checked.

Look on tongue tie association website for registered practicioners

DishedUp · 17/01/2021 14:38

Tongue tie is essentially an arbitrary diagnosis.

Everyone has a lingual frenum. Some people have high or fibrous attachments that limit the movement of their tongue, in babies sometimes this can cause difficulty with feeding.

However if someone has a high frenal attachment or a 'tongue tie' that is left it won't cause them any harm as long as they can eat. So if the baby is gaining weight and able to feed then even if they do have what could be classed as a tongue tie it doesn't really need treating. You only snip a fremum if its causing limitations to the babies feeding.

Sometimes when people are older they find their frenum limits activities and get them snipped. But it doesn't mean a tongue tie was missed.

TestingTestingWonTooFree · 17/01/2021 14:43

Several midwives told me my baby didn’t have a tongue tie but I could see that she clearly did from comparing images on Google. We got a specialist who are divided it and I think it help with feeding. I agree however that babies don’t sleep through the night early generally, that’s nothing to do with feeding.

CoRhona · 17/01/2021 14:45

DS1 had it and had it cut.

Op, if it was the other way round and your sister who wanted it looked at and her DH saying it wasn't worth it, I reckon you would think differently.

If either parent has real concerns the other party should be doing all they can to allay them. The other staff they've seen are not tongue tie experts.

thisismytopsecretname · 17/01/2021 14:48

I would have it checked.

My eldest was checked in hospital when I asked, by a midwife, then a paediatrician when after days and days of trying and being shown how I was still struggling to latch and feed. No tongue tie they said. Went home, issues continued (mine also had horrendous silent reflux too which didn't help) I had to stop feeding in the end and expressed instead because it was so excessively painful. I had a midwife come in every day for two weeks after coming home so all in I had help for three weeks and I still couldn't do it, this midwife also said no TT. My nipples were in shredded it was awful. I bottle fed in the end. Took child to dentist for the first time at a year, dentist spots a 75% tongue tie.

Second child, similar issues I insisted to every man and his wife checking for tongue tie. Nope, nothing there. Child got seen for her two year check and the Health Visitor points out a significant top lip tie! It's actually clear as day I can't believe I didn't notice it. No wonder she couldn't latch properly, her top lip doesn't lift up. Was told this will break on its own.

In hindsight I absolutely wish I'd have gone to a specialist. They won't do a procedure for something that's not there, these are health care professionals, that's a ridiculous notion.

FedUpAtHomeTroels · 17/01/2021 14:54

@nervousnelly8

If he wants to have it checked, why should she have the final say in stopping him? They won't snip a non-existent tongue tie.
This. She doens't get to refuse him having a say in their baby's health. They will only check for tongue tie, it isn't a terrible procedure. Only if the baby has tongue tie will they talk about snipping it, which is also very fast and will make a huge differece if needed.
NameChange30 · 17/01/2021 14:58

YABU in the way you've framed this problem.
You keep referring to an "unnecessary procedure" which is ridiculous. You can't get a tongue tie division for a tongue tie that doesn't exist. All the father is proposed is to get someone qualified in tongue tie to do a proper assessment and confirm whether or not baby actually has it. That's absolutely fair enough.

I was told DC1 didn't have tongue tie - he did.
I got DC2 checked for tongue tie by an expert - she said it was very mild and advised against dividing it, so we didn't do it.
It wasn't a waste of time or money as it put my mind at rest. Priceless when you have a baby.

Rooroobear · 17/01/2021 15:06

I don’t think there’s any harm in getting g it checked and if it’s not tongue tie then at least they will know. Being reluctant to help out at night because your ds is a bit unsure about getting it checked is pretty immature and I would be telling him so.

Potentialscrooge · 17/01/2021 15:07

Withholding help at night time. What a Prince among men.

Absolute dick. That’s the stand out from your post.

Tell him he can take her on his own, and pay for it, watch her go through the pain and the discomfort of the actual process and do all the care afterwards for the week it takes for everything to settle.
Where do we find these idiots. Because of course everything online we read is true...

Rooroobear · 17/01/2021 15:10

Plus if it is tongue tie it’s much easier to get it snipped now then when they are older. My dd’s tongue tie was spotted at 1 day old and caused no end of issues with bf, snipped 2 weeks later (so quick and dd cried for about 1 minute) feeding was much better after.

NoIDontWatchLoveIsland · 17/01/2021 15:45

A tongue tie has to be pretty severe to affect bottle feeding, and I think one of the HCPs would have picked it up, or there would be issues with weight gain etc

Godimabitch · 17/01/2021 15:56

I think they should get it checked if one of the parents wants it checking. If she wanted to get something checking and he was saying theres nothing wrong then you'd encourage her to get it checked.

I would be annoyed if I thought DH was causing our baby to be unsettled at night and then expected me to deal with it while being unwilling to look into things that may make our lives easier.

DishedUp · 17/01/2021 16:01

To the people saying you won't get a tongue tie procedure if the tongue tie doesn't exist, everyone has a lingual frenum with different levels of attachment. You can quite easily snip a frenum that would never have caused any problems. Of course you can have an unnecessary procedure

Tonguetied · 17/01/2021 16:36

Thanks for your responses.

My sister's issue with it is that it is clear her DH is looking for a magic fix to a problem that doesn't exist... ie the baby not sleeping much through the night. My sister also finds this really hard (who doesn't?), not least because she's doing the vast majority of the night shifts. But she also accepts that this is part and parcel of life with a newborn. He wants the baby to have a problem (that she clearly doesn't have) so that it can be fixed, and hopefully make everything better.

As stated in the OP, most of the problems that she had at the very beginning have been ironed out, really. She's pretty settled. She doesn't sleep loads at night, but, as mentioned by a few of you, this is totally normal at this age.

I (and my sis) totally get that he's the baby's parent too and is entitled to his say. But if it seems clear to everyone around (apart from him) that the baby DOESN'T have a tongue tie, largely because she DOESN'T have any of the issues that are frequently present in tongue-tied babies, as detailed in a lot of your posts (also, FWIW, my DD had her tt snipped at around 8 weeks because of problems with breastfeeding), then it's not really unreasonable of my sister to think it's unnecessary.

OP posts:
IsabellaMozzarella · 17/01/2021 16:39

Tongue ties are easily missed. Numerous HCPs told me my DC didn't have one, struggled for 5 months. Paid to see private specialist. Tongue was 80% tied. No harm in checking.

Worldwide2 · 17/01/2021 16:40

I havent read everyone's responses on here but my son had tounge tie and I was breastfeeding fine. Had a specialist look at it and she said tounge tie doesn't affect bottle fed babies and most babies will grow out of it. If your baby is feeding and filling nappies I don't think there is a problem but that's only my experience.
As for your dh what an unreasonable arsehole.

NameChange30 · 17/01/2021 16:41

I totally see your point but I can still empathise with him.

"He wants the baby to have a problem (that she clearly doesn't have) so that it can be fixed, and hopefully make everything better."

I felt a bit like this with DC2. Weirdly I kind of wanted it to be tongue tie as it would have been a relatively simple fix. As it is her issues were due to other things which were more complicated to sort and also just took time. And sometimes as you say it's not an issue, it's just how babies are.

However, I still think it's worth ruling out tongue tie once and for all, for his peace of mind. It certainly helped me to rule it out. Honestly if they can afford a consultation why not just do it? As long as he agrees that's the end of it and if the tongue tie specialist says it's not issue, he accepts it and moves on.

Lougle · 17/01/2021 16:46

DD1 had an 80% tongue tie divided 3 days after a midwife told me she didn't have one. The fact that a GA is needed if it's divided later is enough that I'd be happy for a specialist to take a look. You can't divide a tongue that isn't tied. The actual procedure took around 3 seconds with DD1 (I refused to let them take her without me, so they had to let me hold her). As soon as I fed her she stopped crying.

Firenight · 17/01/2021 16:48

A TT can affect speech and oral hygiene going further and multiple HCPs missed my eldest's. No decent practitioner wouod divide without a proper consultation ans i wouks definitely get it looked at.

MrsBobDylan · 17/01/2021 17:13

Op says 4 HCP have confirmed no tongue tie (one of which is a paed so not under-qualified) so baby doesn't have a tongue tie.

What a lot of discussion for a non-issue.