Getting tongue tie snipped, worried...

[featherbag]

As the title suggests, I'm taking DS to get his tongue tie snipped on Monday. He'll be 7 weeks old, corrected age 39 weeks gestation. I'm really frightened of taking him, as I'm scared it'll really hurt him. Can anyone share their experiences of this so I know what to expect please?

We had it done privately at home and it was all very straightforward. DS (then 10 weeks) was swaddled nice and tight and lay on the floor while I held his head and shoulders still. She used a rounded end pair of scissors (brand new and sterile - and we got to keep them afterwards) and did a quick snip. There was a tiny bit of bleeding which she just dabbed with some gauze and then he was put straight onto the boob for both comfort and also the healing properties of the milk :-)

He did cry a little but was soothed by the boob (a technique I also employ for his vaccinations). I think it did upset him a little bit as it was healing - we used calpol a couple of times - but the improvement in feeding for us made it all worthwhile. We also had a few exercises recommended to do afterwards to encourage the correct movement of his tongue and she talked us through what to expect as it healed (basically a i diamond shaped area at the site of the snip)

It wasn't nearly as bad as we thought it would be - over very quickly and definitely worth it.

I'm sure you'll both be fine - lots of cuddles afterwards and feeding (if you can) work wonders!

My dd had her tongue tie snipped when she was 7weeks at Kings. It was absolutly fine and the right decision as bf had been a total nightmare up until then. As soon as it was done she was brought back into me and bf. She latched on well immediately and after about 10 mins gave me a lovely smile. I cried more than she did. And I think she only cried because it was a long day, they advised we didn't feed for a few hours before so that they were hubgry when it was done and the swaddling upset her. I know she wasn't in much pain and I didn't need to give her any calpol after. It took about 2 weeks for her to trully relearn how to bf properly but I had tons of support from an amazing bf group. Now my 14 month old dd is still breast feeding, infact, I can't get her to stop and will be posting about this soon!

Thanks for the replies, I feel a bit better but still dreading it!

If it helps we didn't get our DD's tongue tie diagnosed until she was 23 weeks old. BF-ing was awful and I ended up relying on expressing - think milk factory. Looking back I'd never do it again and it will be the first check I do if we have number 2!

I just had DS tt snipped this week, he is 20 weeks. Like you I was dreading it but it honestly wasnt that bad. He cried a bit but no more than when he had his 16 week injections. A little bleeding but after a feed that had stopped and he was laughing at the doctor that did it. I only wish he had been diagnosed and treated earlier.

If it helps most clinics won't do a TT division without anaesthesia after 4 months as by that time the tongue tie tissues is starting to be enervated (nerves growing into the tissue). Before then no anaesthesia is required for obvious reasons....

DS had his tt snipped at 4wks. He cried but more because he was held down I think. Back on the boob and he was calm within a nanosecond.

Please don't worry - it will honestly be over before you know where you are!

Try not to worry - I cried more over DS getting his snipped than he did!