Lip tie experiences please

[ladypop]

I think my 7 wk old might be lip tied. He was tounge tied and this was diagnosed and treated by breast feeding councillor/mid wife. Is lip tie snipped in the same way? Going to speak with her again to see if she can diagnose it and, if it is, will she get it sorted for him? We have been having bf issues for weeks, but it is intermittent and I would have thought if it was lip tie every feed would be a problem?? He feeds like a dream sometimes and then the next time he fusses and cries at the breast. Exasperated is not the word :(

My DS was tt and lip tied. It was never diagnosed so never fixed. He continued to have problems and still has speech therapy at 9. There will be others along soon I'm sure who will know so much more than me but my advise would be to get it fixed

Thanks - if the councillor I mentioned can't diagnose it, do you know where i turn to for this?

No idea how you get it diagnosed or sorted sorry. I only realised DS had it after seeing it mentioned on here then looking in his mouth. Hopefully someone will be along soon. Big not try one of the Bfing Helpline numbers, if you haven't got them just google National Breastfeeding Helpline or contact your local Bfing Support Group. The La Leche lLeague should be able to help.

My dd2 had a tongue and lip tie, we paid for laser surgery to have both released. The NHS won't do anything with a lip tie as they don't agree that it causes problems with feeding and it bleeds like mad if snipped. Laser surgery takes seconds and there was no blood loss at all. We had it done at Cote Royd holistic dental practice in Huddersfield.

There are only a couple of dentists who'll do a lip tie iirc - the Huddersfield one mentioned by a pp and Malcolm somebody in London.

My son has/had undx tt and lip tie. I basically fed through them until it stopped hurting, and consequently I don't know how much was due to the lip tie specifically iyswim. I used to do the sandwich technique thing a lot, and I often had to use my finger to roll his top lip outward after he'd latched on. He grew out of needing this eventually, although his tie is still fairly thick and visible. Dentist says we'll just keep an eye on it for now. I suspect he'll whack himself in the mouth and bust it sooner or later.

All three of mine were lip tied, and ds2 was tongue tied. His tongue tie was surgically released when he was 2 but their lips never were.

All three of them have ripped them at various points themselves by falling face first, ds2's is still half tied but no doubt he'll land on it again at some point and finish the job. It bleeds like mad for a few minutes and sometimes it heals back most of the way but it doesn't seem to hurt them too much. If they hadn't ripped them I was told they'd have to be snipped if they need braces as teens (and dd and ds2 definitely will) but wouldn't be touched otherwise.

Lip ties are incredibly common, they are considered a normal part of oral anatomy. There is no evidence that they impact on bf unless they are untypical. Typically lips still flange and the ties don't blanch whilst examined. Tt and high or unusual palates really impact on bf, evidence suggests lip ties much less so.

There are a handful of people in the uk who release them, they have usually trained in the states where the practice is more prevalent because of cosmetic preferences. A small group believe lip ties also cause major bf problems, there is scant evidence for this and the work of palmer and kotow gets cited but if you were cynical you could suggest that this amounts to mainly many photos and little research. Lip tie revisions by laser often cost 300 pounds plus and are a surgical procedure not recognised as useful to protecting bf by bodies like NICE etc.

See your bfc again and maybe you can gt some help but the lip tie is unlikely to be a big problem. Mine all have them dds is especially impressive and I have been happy to leave them well alone. She may or may not thank me for te gap in front teeth that she will be left with!

I should have said in my earlier post, the lip tie certainly didn't impact dd and ds1 in any way, shape or form. They both fed well, spoke early and, until they split the ties, weren't even aware of them.

ds2 is harder to tell, he has verbal dyspraxia and the tongue tie was intensifying his massive speech issues which is why the ENT surgeon agreed to a release. However, 2 years on and whilst he does speak now he's still missing lots of sounds despite the better oral mobility. It's impossible to tell amongst all that whether the lip tie has affected him at all, but honestly? I don't think it's made a blind bit of difference. He ripped it 2 months ago and there certainly hasn't been any improvement in speech sounds since!

£300 sounds cheap though compared to the price my dentist was suggesting it would take to fix DS teeth (should he want to).

Snipping the lip tie won't avoid the need for braces though.

Dd tore hers at 3yo but the front teeth are still gapped where it was attached, despite her adult incisors coming in when she was 5.

That's interesting. If it was snipped before the front teeth came through, would there still be a gap? Personally I like DS gap but its him that's got to live with it.

This post has lots of information on lip ties. I think the section 'Ideas for improving the latch of a baby with an upper labial tie' describes the same thing changechangechange mentions.

Jilted, for dd there's still a ridge of material on the gum which extends between the teeth and causes the gap. I have no idea if that would have been surgically removed if she'd had it snipped or if like the tongue tie release it's just a quick incision they do.. . I assume the latter.