Tongue-tie ... has anyone had it corrected?

[Millie1]

I think there are two schools of thought on this subject, the most common being to leave a tongue-tie untreated until the child is older and then see how the land lies, so to speak - but I'll ask my question anyway!

Has anyone had a tongue-tie corrected in a baby of about 5 months? If so, what's involved?

We haven't actually been to see a consultant yet but two Lactation Consultants have suggested that it might be a good idea to have DS's tt corrected now and said that it would be a simple snip to correct it. However, one of these ladies referred me to a third party who spoke to a consultant who said (sorry, getting long winded!!) that even now this would have to be done under a general and that he wouldn't do it before DS is 2 yrs old.

We will probably make an apt to go and talk to this man and have the tt assessed by a professional but I'd be interested to know if tt's can be done now and without a GA.

Thanks.

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Twiglett, thanks for such a quick response!! Re feeding, he's putting on weight and feeding well however tongue is not covering lower gums resulting in bad latch (working on it) and bruised nipples for me - can't begin to imagine how it'll feel when teeth come through - eeeek!! Fed DS1 til 14 mths and would like to try to do same with DS2 - if he wants it but getting bitten won't help! Main reason though, for wanting it done early, is to avoid potential speech problems and also if it's done now it'll be over in 5 mins rather than waiting to later and it being a much bigger deal. We live in NI and it's a pretty small place so don't know whether the consultants will all share same view.

Most of the tongue-tie sites I have been on say that it does not affect speech whatsoever. As for surgery, it very much depends on the extent of the tongue-tie, if it's bad then yes he might have to go under. Otherwise they can do it at the surgery, but most GPs would prefer to wait as it may snap on its own. But in any case, babies tongues are continually growing and it will not be until your son is 2 that they can tell whether or not it will cause problems later in life.

The only problems I know of are poor hygiene in the mouth (because the tongue can't get round all the teeth properly) and inability to do french-kissing, which may not seem appropriate now but when he's 16 that might be very important!

I would leave it, there is absolutely no evidence that it causes speech problems, (I've spoken to a speech therapist about it) so if you get the feeding right (and I do empathise on that one!) then I would leave well alone.

my dd has a slight tongue tie which means her tongue is heartshaped at the end, had problems latching her on but got there eventually (after bruised nipples and soreness, when we brought it up at her 8 week check the GP said they tended to not do anything unless it was a major problem because the stringybit can stretch and will do over time, but to bring her back if we wer at all worried, my sister and cousin both had it too. my sisters went untreated but she did have some speach therapy when she was older, mainly just sound exercises to get the stretch the stringybit and my cousin had the op under general i think. so have seen both sides and would have to say we are going to wait and see with DD.

Yep, a few days after birth. They didn't want to do it but I had to insist. I wasn't very well informed either way but I didn't want any bfing problems to occur as I was so far away from any help/support. It was a quick procedure and (maybe coincidence) he seemed to latch on better after the "snip". He came back into me with his little hands plastered across his mouth bless him but no tears, blood or treatments afterwards.

Hi Millie1, my ds (now 10mo) has quite a severe tt. We had lots of problems in the start with bf (incl a bout of mastitis) but we both got the hang of it and eventually bf for 10mo (just finished at Easter). He is already making sounds he 'should be having difficulty with' (eg. da, la, na) and judging from the mums I've spoken to about this most children can adapt to the tt and have none or little speach problems.

I think it would be very difficult to do the 'snip' without a GA as their heads need to stay as still as possible. The op with a GA takes around 15mins. We saw a consultant at around 4-5months old and the advice was to 'wait and see', but I couldn't help but do lots of research on it in the meantime. Admittedly my ds' tongue does appear to have grown/stretched as it can now come out past his front teeth (but not past lip and cannot get into gum cavity) and I think this has come about since he's started to actively chew his food and experiment with new sounds. We have decided to get the op done around 2yrs as we think the benefits of getting it done outweigh the risk of the GA.

Here are some old MN links I bookmarked. Hope you find them useful (yours will now join my list!).

Tongue-tie - did it correct by itself?

Tongue tie - do you have any experience of this

how exactly does tongue tie affect breastfeeding

Tongue tie

Tongue tied?

tongue tie (2)

Thanks everyone for all the information and for sharing your experiences ... and for all the links Karen, which I've read and bookmarked. Admittedly, we are keen that, if DS's needs done, it's treated sooner rather than later and preferably under local, but that depends on discussion with consultant - assuming we can find one with experience in this!! I can't help but wish it had been discovered in hospital rather than later on and then we'd just have asked for it to be done immediately!!

Karen ... hope you pick this message up! Just want to ask a question about feeding. DS has just cut his first tooth (yikes!) ... did you have problems feeding once the teeth started to appear? Most of the time his tongue doesn't sit on his gum as he's feeding so I'm a little worried about what he might do it my nipples! Any advice?

Also .. you might be interested to know that I spoke to a speech therapist whose speciality is in children with severe oral disorders (for want of a better word) ... she told me that in 20 yrs she's never seen tonguetie effect speech (well, only once and that child had other problems which were more to blame than the tt). Also, if the tongue tips the back of the top teeth, he should be able to make the sounds he needs to. Was very reassured after conversation with her.

Hi Millie1, sorry, have only just picked this up!

When my ds cut his first two bottom teeth it took a couple of days for him to get used to them and it did 'grate' me slightly but not enough to make me stop the feed. When he got the tops ones I got really anxious, but he just 'scratched' me again for a few days and we got past it. So your ds should be able to adjust.

My ds did bite me a few times when the bottom ones came through as he used to 'gum bite' me quite often before but it didn't hurt me. So after a few firm 'NO's' he stopped (took about 3-4 feeds ie 3-4 bites!). HTH

As for the speech, thanks for the info. I too had heard it was unusual to affect speech and my ds is already saying sounds he should 'be having difficulty with'. eg. da, la, na etc. The oral hygiene, however, is the thing that worries me. We've just requested a referral to see the ENT consultant again so will let you know when the date comes through and if he says anything of interest.

Thanks Karen ... would be interested to hear how your apt goes.

don't know if it's too late -
my sister's ds2 was tongue tied , when he started to talk he was given special exercises to do.....he's 6 now and it's mostly 'self corrected' - still has a little speech therapy at school I think

Both mine had a tongue tie, feeding was hard (very poor latch, much pain for Mummy!) but we managed. DS tongue tie stretched out and you'd never know it had been a problem by the time he was 12 months old (feeding DS got easier and less painful after about 3-4 months). DD still has tongue tie, her tongue can just cover her teeth if she sticks it out as far as possible. Feeding DD never really got comfortable. DD is just 2 now and the tongue tie does not seem to be affecting her speech at all, she is very articulate for a two year old. Unless you are having great problems feeding, I would just leave it alone and see what happens.

PS DH also has tongue tie and he has no problems with speech and is still a pretty good kisser!!

Thanks for the info Chelle and Hana.

Funny about your ds, chelle, cos litteraly in the last couple of weeks my ds' tt has stretched ALOT. He can now stick it out past his bottom lip (he does still curl the lip in a bit which might be misleading). It's still very heart-shaped at the tip but he has much better mobility with it than before. Soooo cute seeing it poke out. The referral for the op will take some time so we'll def leave it to see what happens over the next year.