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Infant feeding

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

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Original poster

Tongue tie - to snip or not? Might it resolve itself?

41 replies

sushistar · 31/01/2010 18:43

Hi all
DS2 is 5 days and has quite a clear tongue tie. It's not causing me any huge pain, just mild discomfort, but it is making his latch inefficient - he breaks the seal al the breast a lot and 'slurps' air, and doesn't take a big mouthful of breat like his brother did. He hasn't been weighed yet so I don't know if he's gaining weight (although of course being only 5 days he may well have lost it regardless of the tie). I'm undecided whether to get it snipped or not.

For:
It would improve his latch (hopefully) and therefore the amount of milk he gets
It might remove the mild discomfort I have (although this is mild so it's not a big issue)
Cons:
I think it probably hurts them a lot more than people think
It's not causing HUGE problems so I don't want it done unneccesarily
It might resolve itself? Don't know if this is true?

What do you think? I really don't know what to do.

OP posts:

gaelicsheep · 31/01/2010 23:05

To me, Cornish, that sounds like it was a really bad tongue tie that should have perhaps been dealt with differently. I'm no expert, but I would have thought that snipping with no anaesthetic should be reserved for the ones that would previously have been dealt with by a long fingernail.

thumbwitch · 01/02/2010 09:48

Cornish, that is truly terrible! I am appalled on your behalf.
My paed was lovely, I was in the room but didn't have to hold him while it was done, they brought in a nurse to do so. All done very kindly and thoughtfully, he was handed straight back and I was given a room in which to feed him immediately. I am so sorry you had such a bad time

merrymonsters · 01/02/2010 09:59

My DD's tongue tie was cut at 9 days. She wasn't latching properly so that breastfeeding hurt like mad and she wasn't getting enough milk.

It made a huge difference and sorted out her latch straightaway. It took a week or so for the bruising/bleeding on my nipples to heal and for the supply to build up, but it then became painless. She also started gaining weight.

Yes, it hurt her when it was done but it's very quick. You then breastfeed her straight away and she was fine.

I would certainly recommend it.

CornishKK · 01/02/2010 10:49

Thanks, it was such awful experience that I know I can be fairly opinionated about it

I know it works in the majority of cases, it didn't for us and I wish I'd heard about both scenarios before making the decision to have it done. What was done to PFB would not have been done to an adult without pain relief

ladylush · 01/02/2010 16:49

How awful Cornish
We had dd's tt snipped two weeks ago. She was 6 months old - it was picked up late. She had it without GA (we wanted to avoid GA)and only cried for 10 seconds. In fact she was smiling within 30 seconds. It was a very quick procedure. She was taken into another room (which personally I was happy about as I didn't want to witness it)and in less than 2 minutes was brought in to me to be breastfed. I had complete confidence in the surgeon and had communicated with him via email and phone prior to the procedure. I think dd's tongue tie had affected my milk supply and her weight gain had started to decline quite considerably. Since the snip she bf better and has put on good weight. She is also finding solids easier to manage. HTH

juststarting · 01/02/2010 19:25

I havent read what other people have written, but my son had a tongue tie, it made it near impossible for him to feed, I ended up with a very battered nipple and when he was 6 weeks had surgical drainage on a huge breast abscess. We had the tongue tie snipped at about 10 days old and it made a huge difference to his feeding - he's still not a fab feeder, but we are still breast feeding at 15 weeks. He really didnt seem bothered by the pain at the time for more than half a minute, immediately took his first good feed, however there were then a couple of days where he seemed qutie uncomfortable and we wondered whether he had a little ulcer at the snip site. Either way, I have no regrets about having it done, and if I have another baby with the same thing, I will do it in a heartbeat. And the earlier the better I believe, too!

bigpreggybelly · 02/02/2010 09:08

They definitely don't go away by themselves so I would get it snipped IMHO, especially if you are having probs breastfeeding.

Apols haven't read the entire thread.

loubielou31 · 02/02/2010 21:38

DD1 had a tongue tie which wasn't snipped until 4 weeks old, this was probably too late as by then I'd had a lot of problems with BF and gave up soon after.

I asked for DD2 to be checked at birth and her tongue tie was snipped on the same day, (different hospitals). She's two weeks old tomorrow and feeds like a dream, (relatively speaking, I've still gone through the enormous engorged boobs and sore nipples.)

Different babies and very different births may mean that DD2 would always have been better at feeding but I felt it better to have it checked and sorted asap. Both babies slept through the procedure and had what looked like a small ulcer at the site of the snip under their tongues.

Good luck!

funwithfondue · 03/02/2010 12:31

I think you should get it snipped as soon as you can.
I'm fairly sure you'll be glad you did.

We had dd's tongue snipped when she was 10 days old. Up until then breastfeeding had been agony and was making my nipples bleed.

The procedure (it's not even an operation) literally took 30 seconds, and dd didn't cry once. Amazingly fast, clean, easy thing to do on newborns.

Since having it done, I've learned much more about tongue tie, including the impact on speech it can have (dh was tongue tied, couldn't breastfeed, had a lisp until he was nine), and the impact on feeding.

If you don't do it in the first few weeks, but your ds needs it done in the future, he'll need to have it under a general anaethestic.

Good luck!

funwithfondue · 03/02/2010 12:33

I meant to add, I went on to happily breastfeed dd for a year. The pain of feeding her literally went away as soon as my nipples healed.

I wish - like in France - midwives here were trained to spot tongue tie and snip it straight away at birth.

Original poster

sushistar · 03/02/2010 20:44

Tyhanks for all your replies. His feeding has improved a bit - as I said it was never really awful - but the tie is still very evident, he can't stick his tongue out far at all. The overwhelming experience seems to be positive - but it worries me slightly that Cornish's experience was so bad at Kings, as that's where we would go! Hmmm....

OP posts:

ladylush · 03/02/2010 21:17

Find out who the surgeon is and google or check back here to see if anyone has any knowledge of him/her.
dd had hers done at Southampton Hospital (Mervyn Griffiths) and were happy to travel there because he specialises in tongue tie divisions.

Original poster

sushistar · 03/02/2010 21:30

Surgeon is Mr Sheilish Patel. Anyone 'snipped' by him?

OP posts:

thumbwitch · 04/02/2010 15:52

bumping for you in case anyone has heard of him - or more to the point, that Cornish HASN'T heard of him.

ladylush · 04/02/2010 16:14

Indeed I googled but couldn't find anything.

kauto · 05/02/2010 13:34

My ds had his tongue tie snipped at King's by Mr Patel when he was 7 weeks old. We were given the choice whether to stay with him when he had the snip. We didn't watch the procedure being done but we were still in the same room and when it had finished a midwife bought him over to us. He had a severe tongue tie and he didn't cry at all. There was a little bit of blood but that quickly stopped when he breastfed. I'm really glad we had it done and for us it was a positive experience.

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