Tongue tie

[Jojo13]

Although my 11 day old is breast feeding with little difficulty and gaining weight really well, he is slightly tongue tied. The midwife picked this up and suggested getting a referral but my partner is not keen on the basis that "it's obviously not hurting him" but I'm worried it may affect his speech or something later on.
I'd be interested in hearing anyone's experiences on this.
Maybe worth attending a consultation at least?
Thanks

I'd go to the consultation. Dd had hers cut at 2 weeks because it was giving her a 'snakes tongue'.

Dh never had his cut and struggles pronouncing some words and is very self conscious about it.

My DS1 had tongue tie which we had snipped at 18months.

It wasn't effecting his speech but was causing unbelievable amounts of saliva/drooling. I'm talking 3 clean shirts a day. The doctor said the type he had made it pool at the front of his mouth. Even after he had it cut he still drooled excessively but luckily it seems to have stopped now. I heard some horror stories of older kids still dribbling when I was asking about.

MIL is severely tongue tied and you wouldn't know unless she told you.

One thing to mention due to his age my DS had it snipped under general anaesthetic which wasn't pleasant.

My nephew had it snipped at a few weeks old and they did it in the clinic by swaddling him and snipping it, much quicker and less traumatic for all involved. I presume they numbed his mouth similar to the dentist.

Dd had hers down with a pair of scissors and no analgesia. 2 weeks old and she cried for a minute then calmed. Took a long time for her tongue to regain a normal shape because in the womb it had obviously been shaped like that.

Thank you very much. I will convince other half to attend consultation at least to assess the severity.
Thanks

My 2 DDs had tongue tie.
Both had them snipped. First one cried for about a minute, if that.
Second one stayed asleep throughout.

My ds was similar. Tongue tie picked up at birth but he fed well and gained weight. We had an appointment for the snip because like you i was worried about it affecting his speech. The consultant said it wasn't severe and probably wouldn't affect his speech and said he would happily snip it or leave it. We left it and we'll assess as he gets older.

A couple of weeks after the appt ds started sticking his tongue out which he'd never done before so i don't think the tie is too bad.

You may as well see a consultant and see what they say. No one will force you to have it done.

Mine had tt snipped at four days, he didn't even cry! Unfortunately he also had a posterior tie that was quite severe that wasn't picked up on at the time.

My ds is 4 weeks old he's got a slight tongue tie, although he is gaining weight he can't suck properly he spits back half of what he's suckled. I need to put a tea towel under his chin at every feed otherwise his clothes are saturated a bib isn't enough to catch the drips. He's due to have it cut in 2 weeks I'll let you know how he gets on.

DS had his done at about a week old. Swaddled and snipped - no anaesthetic. I don't regret it.

DS is 2.5 yrs and has speech delay thought to be caused by his tongue tie. I wish he had been snipped as a baby, I would urge you to have it done.

D's had his to snipped at 6 months. The consultant who did it said that the bit they cut- under the tongue- has no nerve endings so baby does not feel pain. The reason they cry for a few minutes is cos they are being held down and there's a strange man putting something in their mouth! ! A quick reassuring cuddle or breastfeed and baby is fine.

Snipping the tongue tie had a massive effect on d's feeding, huge improvement

DD had her posterior tongue tie cut at 6 weeks. It was diagnosed by a lactation consultant/tongue-tie specialist at 3 weeks, she wrote us a referral letter to give to our GP. The GP took a very brief look and said it "wasn't that bad" and refused to refer us on to have it snipped on the NHS

We got it done privately but too late to help with breast feeding (horrendous cracked nipples that turned into mastitis and a breast abscess).

The tongue-tie specialist said there are no nerve endings in the skin they snip so it doesn't really hurt - the procedure took seconds once she was swaddled and DH held her head still while I hid in another room! She did say any child over 9 months has to be done under a general anaesthetic though, so definitely best to do it sooner rather than later.

DS had tongue tie which we decided not to get treated. It meant he had to be bottle-fed but hasn't affected his speech in the slightest.

I have posted on here at great length about the problems ds1 had because of undiagnosed tongue tie. There is way more to it than speech and feeding. It can affect the entire body and it took 2 revisions and 2 years of early orthodontics to get rid of all the problems he was having (there were many).

"Slightly" tongue tied is something that is often said by people who do not understand about posterior tongue ties. These are the ones which restrict the movement in the back of the tongue. Every bit as problematic, if not more so than the obvious ones nearer the front of the tongue.

I would suggest you have it assessed by somebody who has taken a specialist interest in ties rather than just your HV or GP and then take it from there. There are a couple of tongue tie groups on Facebook that you might want to join. Be aware that many, many HCPs are not clued up on the impact of undiagnosed tongue ties.

I would always advise someone to have their child's tongue tie snipped.