Tongue tie and breastfeeding

[pooka]

Hi all

HV says she thinks ds has tongue tie. He's now 7 weeks old. Putting on weight fine - rose from 50th centile to 75th and has held that between 3 week and 6 week weigh ins. He isn't easy to feed, and HV thinks that the restlessness when feeding, head shaking and screaming may be more to do with the effort involved for him to feed than wind, as I had thought.

Does anyone know whether this is something that will improve as he gets older? I only ask since I have a friend who's son had his frenellum cut at 10 days old as she was having a really rough time feeding him - gave up in the end. It's not sore, and I suppose that despite it being more of an effort for both of us, the weight gain and maintenance is a sign that I should just leave it. But I'm concerned that b/feeding ds will never be the pleasurable and easy experience that I had with dd.

Do any of you experts have any advice?

Thanks!

hmm i don't know.. i think i woukld carry on feeding him!

fwiw my ds was just like yours and he isn't tongue tied...

dd1 has/had a tongue tie and she was a pain to feed to begin with but at around 12 weeks it seemed to just click, i think her mouth got bigger and it stopped being an issue. we had additional probs with b/f she was small (25th percentile) and my boobs were huge 36H!

i would just keep going, i found expressing and giving bottle help to releave the stress a bit

she also found obe side easier to latch too than the other

my ds1 and sisters ds2 were both bf for many months and both were tongue tie and neither had any problems. Hes clearly putting on weight and your not sore so i would think it will get better

oh you can tell a tongue tie by the shape of the tongue when they stick it out, it makes the tongue heart shaped at the end

No advice but DS had a tongue tie which resolved itself. He wasn't easy to feed - used to fuss quite a bit but I still enjoyed it. He was windy too and was very sick after feeds so feeding was often very protracted. I worried initially but as he was thriving didn't push for it to be snipped even though my GP was keen for him to have it done. Glad I didn't!

Thanks all - so quick!
Oh there's no way that I'd give up. And I do enjoy feeding him. it's jsut that I'd like to think that it may get easier as he gets older. Glad that it appears that this might be the case. Thanks again

Oh and he's got his 6 week check (late) next week and I think I'll ask for a second opinion as I'm not convinced it is heart shaped.

both my dd's tongue are quite distinctive.

Mine has tongue-tie! Hasn't affected him at all, never affected his feeding or anything that I can think of. He's now 22 months old and it has got better, no-one notices unless we point it out. Doesn't affect speech either. Relax and enjoy your baby!

Definitely need to relax more (vodka???). Do have a tendency to obsess (is he getting enough attention/is dd getting enough attention/is it good that he sleeps more than dd/is his fontanelle depressed....the list is endless!

DS had tongue tie, although I didn't realise untill he was about 7 months. Well, not strictly true, I did but at the time he was unwell with jaundice and in those tiring first days it got forgotten . I am concerned about it, both me and DS found feeding hard but he is a little piggy and put on weight beautifully well.

If you are finding it ok to feed and you are not concerned. I am in two minds as to have it cut still. I work as a nurse and recently saw the worst consequences of having an aneasthetic imaginable. However, he is not speaking very much, and seems to do throat talking, like making brruuum car noises with his thoat as opposed to his mouth. Same with quacking noises. If you were to decide with your GP that the op would be a good idea, it is worth bearing in mind at this young age an aneasthetic would not be needed, but at about 8 months it is.

Next time your baby cries, or yawns, look at the under side of his tongue. If he has tongue tie you should be able to see that the tongue is attached quite far forward in the mouth. DS's is attached to his bottom gums. HTH and good luck!

hi my ds (3 weeks old) has tongue tie, when he cries his tongue forms a v shape and the frenulum reaches right to the end of his tongue. We are toying with the idea of having it clipped as want to avoid any future probs (speech, social etc) his feeding is going well , just probs latching on one side (same as with DD who is not tongue tied) and he is putting on weight. towards the end of a feed he starts to get fidgety and pulls and tugs at my nipple and i think this is wind as having a nightmare settling him after feeds however now you've said maybe it is frustration towards the end of a feed when he's slipping off his latch ??? nice to find someone else who seems to having similar troubles

Hi buttonmoon. Will ask doctor next week about clipping pros and cons. Am a bit pXXXXXd off that it has taken 7 weeks for it to be noticed, if tongue tie is what it is. He definitely seems to reach a point where the nipple falls out, and then its a case of "encouraging" him to carry on to get the hind milk, I think. Might still be wind, though. We shall see....
I'm also glad I'm not the only one

Lactation midwife is very pro clipping and mentioned all pros of doing it.....so that they can lick an icecream, tongue kiss, fetch food out of back teeth and therefore prevent cavities in teeth, as well as preventing any possible speech problems and eating problems when being weaned. TBH no one at hospital or community mw noticed DS's either...my sis did!! Doc seems fairly not bothered, as does health visitor who said that there is a risk of infection (?) Anyhow, he can't have it done in our county and will have to go to Southampton or Bristol and then we will have to pay However I have visited some websites that contain great information on it and they all seem fairly pro too. here

My ds, 5wks, is also tounge tied and I've heard that it's not that easy to get it clipped - I've also heard talk of Southampton.

He seems to be feeding OK, makes lots of clicking noises though and I've got a bit sore this week.

Both my boys were tongue tied, both diagnosed at birth. The first one was not clipped, despite us seeing a specialist. As he got older it became obvious something would need to be done - he struggled to eat anything more solid than mushy food because his tongue couldn't move the food around and all the food got stuck in his teeth as his tongue couldn't get it out. We got him fixed at the age of 2.5 in Southampton in June. We went privately but it was done in the NHS ward. It cost £350 which I think was excellent value for money. My baby was clipped at 10 days (same doc, but his was done before his older brother's). He cried for 3 seconds and it didn't even bleed. It massively improved the breastfeeding and I am so pleased we had it done. I wish we had pushed the issue further with the older boy, as no anaesthetic or pain relief required.

my 5 month old is tongue tied but he has no problems latching on, in fact he likes to suck so much he was using me as a human dummy and i was getting only 1-2 hours sleep a night so i now give him 2 bottles of formula a night to keep him going and hes slowly streatching out his tongue himself.