DS has short tongue - pronounces 'r's as 'w' - advice?

[IWipeArses]

Is there a proper term for this? Any exercises he can do?

How old is he? I think quite a lot do it up to a certain age. Dd has stopped at 4. I realise it can be a problem though.

He's 5 1/2. I think he's got some posterior tongue tie, we struggled with bf when he was small.

Who diagnosed "short tongue"?

It's usually what HCPs say who have no idea about tongue tie (and there's lots of them about I'm afraid).

Any other problems which are often associated with ties? Snoring, poor sleep, fussy eating and/or trouble when introducing solids, ENT trouble, gut issues, mouth breathing to name a few.

I realised DS1 was tied when he was about 5yo, we've had it revised since, happy to expand if you would like more info, but funnily enough, speech was never an issue for him

He's never had a diagnosis, apart from off me. I think short tongue is what I've always heard it called when they pronounce 'r's as 'w's.
When he was newborn we had excruciating lipstick shaped nipples, endless feeding and very slow growth. It got better around 4 months, but still basically feeding all day. The tip of his tongue is free, but it doesn't stick out far and is somewhat heart shaped. He has always been a picky feeder, mashed potatoes used to make him gag and he takes a long time to eat. He often just appears like he can't be bothered to eat, it's hard work.
His Dad is a picky eater so I asked him about his tongue, and he said that he can't touch the middle of his tongue to the roof of his mouth, just what I'd read about posterior tongue tie, and he's a picky eater too.
He is quite dribbly, especially at night.

What were your reasons for getting it sorted at 5yo?

That's DS that's dribbly, not his Dad.

DS1 was having gastric (reflux and bloating) problems when he was about 5yo, but in hindsight I think it had been going on much longer but he was not able to verbalise it.

The docs put him on medication which didn't really help and my suggestion that it might be related to the tongue tie was poo pooed. The paed said on his first appointment that "it might be that he has to take these drugs for life" I hate how they push medication as the only answer.

So, anyway, we went private to the paed surgeon who used to run the tongue tie clinic. He "revised" it at great expense under GA. I say "revised" because although it was revised enough to instantly stop the gastric problems, it later turned out that it was nowhere near fully revised.

I joined the Tongue Tie Babies Support group on Facebook and began to learn a great deal more about tongue tie. I took DS1 for a consultation with Dr John Roberts in Huddersfield (he's a dentist), who had trained with Dr Kotlow who is a leading expert on tongue and lip ties. I was pretty sure that his tongue was restricted and his oral structure was not great.

Dr Roberts confirmed much of what I had been thinking, and more. He also recommended a local dentist who could help. After seeing the local dentist, we went back to Dr Roberts and he revised DS1's posterior tongue tie and upper lip tie with laser.

We are a year down the line now and ds1 is responding well to the orthodontic treatment to correct his distorted orofacial structure (not that you'd notice it unless you knew what you were looking for).

He has stopped mouth breathing and sleeps much better at night now his nostrils have opened out a bit (he wears headgear at night to "draw out" the middle section of his face".

He is 8yo next week. He has handled it brilliantly even though I know he hates his braces. He said that his tongue was much better now, not sore and with lots more movement and that he would recommend revision to anyone who needs it.

After our experience, I would recommend that you skip the NHS and go and see about having your DS revised privately. Dr Roberts in Huddersfield is only doing under 1s and over 6s the last I heard, but Dr Levinkind in East Finchley does all ages, he also trained with Dr Kotlow.

They both use laser and local anaesthetic. The experts say that the patient should be awake during the procedure so that you can assess tongue function as the revision is being carried out. That totally makes sense to me and avoids the risks of GA. As far as I know, if you even got the NHS to agree to revision, they would insist on GA at your DSs age.

Posterior tongue tie really sorts out those HCPs who understand about it from those who don't, I'm afraid

PS It's not too late for your DH to have his revised either.

Oh yeah, experienced HV and Registrar paed at DRI confirmed no tongue tie, despite textbook symptoms.
Fascinating info mawbroon, thank you very much.
I did quite a bit of reading on tongue tie in prep for DC2 then had 0 issues feeding, but I think I'll have a look into DR. Roberts if it could improve things for DS.
Do you know where I can find out more about the oral structure distortion from?

DRI? Dundee?

Have a look at Brian Palmer's work Just beware that some of it is a bit graphic!!

That's where I learned a lot of stuff from. He talks about the "correct" tongue movement being learned from breastfeeding, but of course a tied tongue cannot physically do the "correct" movement which can result in oral abnormalities.

DS1 was tongue thrusting. The back of his tongue could not lift when he swallowed, so instead of going up the way, his tongue would come forward. This caused an open bite.

Ooh thanks, that looks really interesting. DRI = Doncaster Royal Infirmary, we're not so far from Huddersfield.

Hi I'm a speech and language therapist and changing r to w is a completely normal developmental process and nothing to worry about at his age. It is likely it will develop with time some children can be as late as 8/9 years before they grasp it.

This sound substitution is not likely to be caused by a short tongue. If he can make sounds like t and l fine then he should have appropriate tongue movement to eventually get r. It is one of the last sounds to fall into place for some children.