Tongue tie getting worse as baby gets older

[Amigoingmad88]

Is this possible?

My second born is 7 weeks and we have for the most part been successfully breastfeeding since birth. He had a tongue tie which was assessed and I was told it was my decision as to whether we snip or not. As there were no issues, I left it.

He is still gaining weight like a champ, but the last few days we are struggling. My left nipple is suddenly damaged, baby is almost slipping on and off the breast 2/3 times during a feed, and is losing milk from the sides of his mouth. All things that would have suggested a snip bring necessary, but were not present until now.

I was told tongue tie bf generally gets better, not worse! Baby does have a bit of a cold so a bit snotty, could this be the reason?

Im unsure what to do,

I’d get it done. Our DS had a tongue tie at birth and we got it snipped when he was a couple of weeks old. We had to get it done privately as it was during Covid and the NHS weren’t doing them for some reason.

It is very unlikely it will improve on its own over time. Not dealing with it is simply storing up issues. Even if feeding appears unaffected it can cause speech issues as they get older.

The good news is that getting it done when they are so young is a minor painless process and he’ll be fine to feed straight afterwards.

@Charlie2121 that’s the thing, I’ve been told there’s no real evidence that it causes issues further down the line, and that it’s not even standard practice to check for tongue tie now unless there are feeding issues.

I’m nervous a snip could cause more problems. I’ve read stories of latch becoming worse, or even speech issues and tongue movement issues due to the snip itself

My son had a small tongue tie, NHS said to leave it but I ended up getting mastitis a few times. We had it done privately, and it made such a difference, definitely worth looking into it.

I’m not sure if there has been a policy change however I was told immediately following the birth when they did their initial checks. That was only a couple of years ago.

You may be lucky and have no adverse issues however the process to get it resolved is so simple I didn’t feel it was worth risking not having it done. I don’t know of anyone who had it done who suffered any negative reaction in either the short or long term.

It’s worth noting that the NHS weren’t interested in helping unless I could prove my baby was losing weight due to not feeding properly. I suspect they try to put people off to save them having to fund it which in my eyes is ridiculous as it literally takes a few seconds and it’s done. I can’t imagine it costs the NHS much at all.

I appreciate you may be a bit wary of any procedure involving your baby so you should do what you are comfortable with. One thing to bear in mind though is that if it needs to be done later on in life it is more painful. If it’s done now your baby will barely notice.