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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

Original poster

baby's tongue snipped to help mum bf

52 replies

tarumpybum · 05/01/2010 22:47

shown here

Thoughts?

OP posts:
SolidGoldBloodyJanuaryUrgh · 05/01/2010 22:49

Well I don't think I want to watch it but it's my understanding that 'tongue-tie' not only interferes with BF but needs snipping anyway otherwise the baby will have speech problems.

llareggub · 05/01/2010 22:51

I didn't watch it all but presumably the baby had tongue tie so the procedure is standard, is it not?

SleighGirl · 05/01/2010 22:53

dc2 had a partial tongue tie which was snipped.

It made the differece between being able to bf pain free or giving up. The pain prior was horrific, I had square nipples!

llareggub · 05/01/2010 22:53

My DS has tongue tie and it didn't cause any pain at all with feeding. He is babbling well so the speech therapist is pretty sure he won't have speech problems. We made the decision not to snip but it was a difficult decision for us to make.

Original poster
tarumpybum · 05/01/2010 22:54

no the baby didn't have tongue tie I don't thinik, a doctor has decided that babies can feed easier if the bottom membrane under the tongue is snipped away.

OP posts:
fishie · 05/01/2010 22:55

i watched it, jsut the snipping bit not the wittering. wasn't harsh or brutal but looked quite sinister with cotton buds circling and weird camera angles.

MrsKitty · 05/01/2010 22:55

Don't have sound on computer so couldn't hear the piece, but don't understand why this made the News - Snipping for tongue-tie isn't a new procedure AFAIK, and is fairly standard practice. Of course, if this Doc is saying that all babies should be snipped to "make BF easier" then that is a bit bizarre.

SleighGirl · 05/01/2010 22:55

babies can have partial tongue tie, as mine did, it wasn't obvious at all but it made a huge difference to her feeding.

All babies are different.

fishie · 05/01/2010 22:56

why don't you think the baby had tongue tie tarumpybum? i haven't got any sound on this computer so you will have to explain.

hambler · 05/01/2010 22:58

that is the impression I got tarumpy, and thought, hmm, that would be because mother nature designed babies' tongues wrong for breastfeeding .........?

SleighGirl · 05/01/2010 22:59

pre mass bottle feeding in the 60's/70's babies were routinely checked at birth for tongue tie and those that were affected had it cut there and then the practice only stopped because most bottle fed babies can cope with bottles just fine.

CrosswordGeek · 05/01/2010 23:01

If it is done for medical reasons for the BABY's sake, I'm all for it. If it is because the Mother is finding it painful in the first few weeks, I'd see it as totally selfish and unnecessary.

SleighGirl · 05/01/2010 23:04

crosswordGeek, so 3 weeks later you are screaming in pain and none of the bf practioners can get your huge baby latched on without you being in agony then I should carry on enduring it, oh and the abcess it gave me???????

Bf dd was never completely pain free but I carried on, I could not carry on with the level of pain I experienced until her partial tie was snipped!!!

It wasn't until I had 2 more dc that I found out that bf really doesn't hurt AT ALL.

ZephirineDrouhin · 05/01/2010 23:05

Not sure why this is news either, although I understand that it is under-diagnosed.

I think it used to be far better understood that tongue-tie was a common reason for breastfeeding difficulty. I read somewhere that midwives used to keep one fingernail sharpened for precisely this reason.

BertieBotts · 05/01/2010 23:06

It did seem that they were recommending it for all breastfed babies regardless of tongue tie - I didn't hear them mention tongue tie at all.

It makes me a bit suspicious considering how keen some doctors are in the US about circumcision. I wonder how much they charge for this procedure and whether it costs more or less depending on whether tongue tie is diagnosed first?

thisisyesterday · 05/01/2010 23:08

if the baby wasn't tongue tied there wouldn't be anything really to snip!

crosswordgeek, how much do you know about having tongue ties snipped>?

i'll let you hear my side of it.
my first baby had tremendous trouble breastfeeing. he latched on fine, but slipped off immediately. to feed he had to be held on to my breast with one hand, and i'd use the other hand to feed the nipple into his mouth and keep it there.
I did not have one single pain-free feed in 4.5 months. in fact, i cried my way through nearly every single one of them.

feeding a tongue tied baby is not just a bit painful in the first few weeks. it's excrutiatingly agonising. I am sure for my son it was fine. no pain for him, and he was gainign weight fine.

I eventually gave up breastfeeding because my nipples were so cracked they were bleeding all the time and getting infected.

after I gave up breastfeeding we found out he was tongue tied

fast forward to my second son.
similar problems with painful feeding. a midwife noticed he was tongue tied.

we were referred to the specialist and seen when he was 3 weeks old.
she took him into a room to snip the tongue tie.
I waited to hear his cry. about 2 minutes later she returned with him. still fast asleep.
it didn't hurt him, he didn't even wake up! there was the minutest bit of pinkish dribble from his mouth, but that was it

i fed him until he was 16 months old

MrsKitty · 05/01/2010 23:08

Good point Bertie It's all about the money over there isn't it .

Original poster
tarumpybum · 05/01/2010 23:08

Have had to watch it again as I didn't give it my full attention.
It mention's tongue tie right at the end, nearly missed it, and there I was thinking the doc was going round snipping at babies mouths! Ignore me

OP posts:
hambler · 05/01/2010 23:09

watch the clip.
It says doctor so and so" has found a way of making breastfeeding easier for EVERYONE"

that does not sound like only babies with tongue tie to me

Original poster
tarumpybum · 05/01/2010 23:10

Hambler, I'd written out a response saying it didn't mention tongue tie, but then it mentioned it in the summary, just before I sent it.

OP posts:
thisisyesterday · 05/01/2010 23:11

surely he means everyone as in, not just people whose babies aren't tongue tied?

you'll have to excuse me though as i have no sound on the pc, so can't hear it!!!!

i honestly thought though, that if there wasn't a tongue tie, there wouldn't really be anything to snip??? maybe i am wrong

CrosswordGeek · 05/01/2010 23:12

I don't know anything about tongue ties, when I was having problems with DD, they kept mentioning and sticking their fingers in her mouth and saying she didn't have one.

But I thought the snipping of tongue ties was standard anyway. What I got from the video (admittedly I didn't watch it all) was that it was done for the Mother's benefit rather than the baby's. Apologies if I'm wrong and made a tit of myself!

thisisyesterday · 05/01/2010 23:14

i've often thought that as the process is so quick, simple and painless that all babies should have it done tbh!
it can make such a HUGE difference to breastfeeding

SleighGirl · 05/01/2010 23:14

yes it can just be for the mother benefit, if you produce lots of milk easily baby will be fine, you meanwhile will be screaming/crying in pain throught each entire feed. If you do not easily produce lots of milk than the baby may struggle to get enough and "fail to thrive" as well as mother screaming/
crying in excrutiating pain.

SolidGoldBloodyJanuaryUrgh · 05/01/2010 23:15

What this goes to show is how keen some people are to believe that women are ignorant selfish cunts who don't care about their babies, really. Bloody women need keeping in their place, that's why the world's in such a mess, eh?