Have you had your baby's tongue tie divided?

[mickey1984]

Have you had your baby’s tongue tie divided?

If so I would be grateful if you could answer the questions below to help me with a project I am currently working on. It would be useful to know your county (however this isn't a necessity), but please don’t add which city/town/village. Likewise I don’t need to know any names of practitioners who performed the division:

Did you have the tongue tie divided by an NHS or private practitioner? What influenced your choice?

If the procedure was done on the NHS how long did you have to wait (from diagnosis to procedure)?

Since having the tongue tie divided what has been your experience of breastfeeding (e.g. made no difference, so much better….)

Many thanks.

East Anglia. Done privately because told that Bedford (nearest clinic, an hour away) don't 'do' posterior ties, and that there is 4-6w waiting list. Ffs even I could see the tie, dd had severely restricted tongue movement and was causing me immense pain at every feed. Division made huge difference, took a while to be pain free but happened within a few weeks.

We did with DD2.
We went private as it was about six weeks for a referral on the NHS and it was affecting breastfeeding.
Going private meant we got seen and divided the same day as there was a last minute cancellation, but would only have been a week at most anyway.
It made an immediate difference and meant that breastfeeding improved straight away.

Sorry- meant to say we are in Cheshire, travelled to Manchester for the procedure.

mawbroon,

I am sorry that you had a negative experience, however I am not the person to take your frustration out on. I suggest that you take the matter up with your NHS Trust.

Get used to it OP.

I am pretty sure that I will not be the only parent you ever come across who has found the NHS to be less than useless on this matter in some places.

that's a bit unnecessary mawbroon.

i don't see why they OP should get used to people having a massive moan about something that isn't her fault

Midwife diagnosed tie at 10 days and sent us up to the hospital to have it divided the same day which was great.

However, feeding co-ordinator (who was really nice and stayed on after her shift had finished to see us), said there was no tie and sent us home with latching advice.

Just before she turned 4 months and after becoming a google expert, we decidedly to get it checked privately. She had a lip and 2/3rds tongue tie which was lasered and feeding improved immediately (no razors on nipples!).

We are in Nottinghamshire.

Cambs. Private division as was a posterior TT and they don't do it on the NHS here. Knew I could bf as previous DC had. Took about a week post division to get bf sorted. Not sure the NHS cared much. Could have been referred to a hospital in the next county but 4-6 week wait and nipples were practically falling off as it were.

Our DS was done in London NHS at 4 weeks. He was referred at birth but the waiting list was 4 weeks. I wish we'd gone private because we waited too long. It should have been done immediately. I don't know why senior paediatricians can't do it there and then in the antenatal ward. The procedure took seconds and was performed by a midwife. He couldn't breastfeed at all before and after 4 weeks of painful and ever-decreasing breast pumping, my milk had gone by the time he was better.

I thought Mawbroon was showing her anger at the system rather than the OP.

I have to say that I was only able to successfully get my ds's PTT and ULT treated successfully due to the information mawbroon has kindly shared on mumsnet, because not one single NHS person I have EVER talked to has known jack shit about tt and its relationship to breastfeeding. Or even seemingly been able to diagnose it adequately.

I diagnosed Anterior TT at four days old, which we had privately snipped as waiting list was three weeks. The substaintial upper lip tie and PTT was lasered at vast expense at five months old.

Two experiences:

First, ds, diagnosed as tt at birth but deemed unnecessary to snip by mw. We had it done privately at 4wks as we'd just missed postnatal cutoff and were relocating a few weeks later. He was a almost 100% tt, anterior. Didn't really improve feeding and we had problems weaning onto solids too.
That was Hampshire.

Second, dd, deemed not to be tt at birth, diagnosed as 'mildly' tt on day 4 but again told it shouldn't affect feeding. Finally Referred at 4wks and waited 10 days before done on NHS this time. This was only last week and difficult to tell whether it has improved things yet. South Norfolk.

If you're setting up a service, one thing I think could be improved ime is the aftercare. There was none for us and dd was very distressed by the procedure for a while after; it would have been good to have a number to call in such eventualities.

Did you have the tongue tie divided by an NHS or private practitioner? What influenced your choice?

NHS surgeon in maxilio facial clinic. My personal experience is that the NHS is better than private for some things, particularly child related. I did look at private lactation consultants but I was a bit wary of using one without a personal recommendation.

If the procedure was done on the NHS how long did you have to wait (from diagnosis to procedure)?

TT was diagnosed by the paed in the post birth check in hospital. I was told it shouldn't impact on breastfeeding and was discharged. At my 8 week check with the gp she looked at me disparagingly when I mentioned it, put her finger in my daughter's mouth for half a second and then told me the feeding problems were not the baby's fault (I just about managed not to burst into tears). I begged the HV and she told me not to mention anything to the Gp but to go to an NHS drop in clinic in the next county but not to mention she had sent me. That was a weekly session so another few days of pain. The amazing lactation consultant said it was a bad tongue tie and referred me to her local Nhs hospital. A week or so later and it was done. Again, the surgeon said it was a tight tongue tie.

The time from diagnosis to treatment?: 11 weeks of total trauma, pain and hungry desperate baby.

My GP later admitted she knew nothing about TT having not come across it before (she has been a GP for over 20 years)!

Since having the tongue tie divided what has been your experience of breastfeeding (e.g. made no difference, so much better.)

Much much much better. The result was immediate although if took about a month for the damage I had suffered (bruised, cracked nipples etc.) to heal.

Feeds took 20 mins rather than 2 1/2 hours and my DD was much less windy, seemed much less unhappy.

I fed her until she was 14 months old.

I am in Hertfordshire but DD was treated in Bedfordshire. As an aside after giving birth again two years later the paediatrician in the hospital told me the NHS didn't treat TT. She got a ranty lecture from me to set her straight!

Snipped privately at 14 weeks, as was at the end of my tether and my nhs appointment was still 4 weeks away.

immediately stopped the long, crying trapped wind episodes, and excessive spit up began to reduce. 2-3 weeks later, feeds were around 1.5 hours apart instead of constant, and about 30 mins instead of hours. Feeds got "finished" again. My supply had to settle down before it all came together. She still has a shallow latch, but draws in more rather than just jaw action.

I live in Notts, where nhs referral was for, but snipped in Leics

ds2 is 3 weeks old and the local TT specialist received his referral this morning. His secretary called me to bring ds over to the hospital. An hour later we were there and it took the specialist all of 30 seconds to diagnose and divide it! NHS by the way! very happy. we are in northants.