Newly identified tongue tie

[Rachey22]

Apologies in advance - this might be a long one!

My 4 month old DD has just been identified as having “quite severe tongue tie and a lip tie”.

We discovered this when a private consultant was helping us “teach” her how to drink from a bottle after me EBF her since she was around 3 weeks old.

I’ve always felt that she couldn’t quite use her tongue properly and every time we tried a dummy it would just pop back out - as did any bottles I tried to give her.

I did initially have issues feeding her for the couple of weeks when she was born due to a poor latch. She lost about 14lbs and had jaundice which I struggled to clear because she wasn’t feeding well. The midwife at the time spotted a tongue tie but said it wasn’t bad and I shouldn’t be an issue. I had to feed her, pump and top her up with ebm until she regained weight. I didn’t have to do this for long and she rapidly gained weight and feeding went perfectly well after that. So much so that it was just easier to keep feeding her myself and as a ftm, I was reluctant to pass baby over (even to dad) to help with the odd feed. I thought - she’s taken the bottle before so she will be fine again when we need her to. Wrong!

So, 4 months in and I’m ready for a little afternoon off feeding or handing baby over to dad for bath, bottle and bed and she won’t take it. I try for weeks, with all the tricks to no avail. So we asked a private consultant to help and here we are with the tongue tie!!

DD can drink from the bottle now, although protests massively and I have to mimic bf’ing positions as much as possible.

The private consultant suggested I seek an opinion about the TT as she mentioned potential future issues with feeding solids and speech.

I spoke to a private provider today as I know NHS wait list is over 12 weeks and she said that unless there are any issues with feeding then they wouldn’t recommend it. She’s asked me to send a video of DD crying so she can access remotely. I’m waiting to hear back. I don’t think this provider would deal with the lip tie?

I guess I’m being a bit premature jumping on here but I wanted to see if anyone has any experience of my situation.

Did you cut it? Not cut it? Wait to see if any issues developed later? Has anyone had a revision in an older baby or toddler?

Having read a few old threads on here, most TT relates to those struggling with feeding. I guess the issue is that I’m not, not really. It would be brill to give the odd bottle but I’ve made it this far bf’ing, I can make it a bit longer and I’m thinking we’ll be onto sippy cup territory in a few months anyway? Would a revision potentially be trying to fix something that isn’t broken (and could actually cause me new issues with bf’ing as DD would need to relearn using her tongue in a new way?).

Sorry for the massive rant. I just want to do what’s best for DD whether that be now or in future.

Many, many people have a prominent or visible frenulum. Unless it affects feeding then it would be considered cosmetic. It is highly unlikely that this is the reason your baby didn't want to take a bottle or pacifier. The tongue thrust reflex is strong in a baby and designed to push things out. Lots and lots of little ones who are bf don't take a bottle, that's normal.

It is also highly unlikely to affect speech and language. As in the speech and language at the nhs trust I used to work in told us (infant feeding team) that they had never had a child referred to them due to tongue tie. I'm not saying it doesn't happen, I do know personally one person who had their child's sniped around 2 years old because it was affecting speech. Ultimately though it is oral surgery to have it divided so unless it is having an effect I would leave it. I wouldn't put my child through surgery for a what if.

Both mine had TT, both breast fed brilliantly, neither had speech or bottle feeding issues, I didn’t intervene with either of their TT

BF child 1 for 7 months then mixed feed breast/bottle, no problem.
BF child 2 until 3rd birthday, again, no problem taking water or cows milk from a bottle from 12 months.

If it ain’t broke....don’t fix it imho.

My DSs tt wasn't diagnosed until I was PG with DC2 and learned about it on here.

By then he was 2.5 and at the time we didn't think it was necessary. In hindsight I really wish we had. He only stopped speech therapy at 12, it was continuous but needs it on and off.

Before that we'd had years of no sleep, and he was still on purées at 1 as he literally couldn't manage anything else.

Thanks for all your replies.

Yes. DD absolutely has a strong preference for the boob now which l accept.

I have heard through asking friends over the last day or so of quite a few cases where it has impacted speech so I do think that now we are more generally aware of TT (as opposed to older generations), the connection is being made to it being the cause.

I do intend to get as many professional opinions as I can and go from there. The last thing I want to do is do anything unnecessary.

Jilted - sorry your DS had such difficulties. Must have been really hard for you all. Thanks for sharing your experience.

I really wish they would give us more information about this / do a thorough check before leaving the hospital.

I really wish they would give us more information about this / do a thorough check before leaving the hospital. Me too