Tongue Tie

[Shellyrayx]

My DS is 5 weeks and has tongue tie. He is feeding fine - a little gassy but so were my other babies.
DH wants to get it snipped to prevent speech problems in the future. I want to avoid the procedure if possible.
Does anyone know the likelihood of him developing speech problems?
Has anyone left a tongue tie and regretted it?
Our midwife will only snip up to 8 weeks so need to decide soon.
Thanks

Mine had it done at the age of 23 and it was awfully painful.
best dealing with it early.

I was talking about the babies who have it done with no pain relief. They can move just as much, maybe more, without the local. I think people are just making excuses and there aren't any excuses as far as I'm concerned, if you are going to cut a baby make sure they can't feel it.

Oh that's OK then, he'll cry as he's in pain but why waste a local on a baby who can't tell you it hurts. Oh hang on, the crying is telling you it hurts but so many are happy to ignore it.

Did that child have it snipped without anaesthesia? I doubt it.

Isn't it strange that people who have it done when they are old enough to comment confirm it is painful and that is in the healing period. They will have had anaesthesia, local or GA, for the actual procedure but we are expected to believe that it doesn't hurt a baby.

Get it done. DD had a thick posterior tie which was cut at 8 days. She was distraught for a few hours which I was told is unusual but it was described as very grissly and took two snips.

I took her to a baby chiropractor type person as she had limited movement on one side and I was told this is often linked to tongue tie. Would always, always snip.

@Iwasafool Did I mention using no anaesthesia? A numbing cream is normally used on a baby . They cry for longer after vaccinations with no numbing cream. Yes the 5 year old had a GA I think .

I have 4 kids all 4 had tt none were snipped 2 bf 2 ff of the 4 my youngest had a slight lisp but settled once his big teeth came in. I had a friend who took her baby for a laser treatment to snip not sure about that or if it’s less painful or how it works I just remember talking about it as my youngest was a similar age.

I got my sons cut. Team DH

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

If the NHS midwife will do it with no hassle, I'd go for it. I only wish the same had been available when my son was born.

You clearly have never seen this procedure done on a baby as your frankly talking rubbish. A young baby is held (this bit they do not like!) They are usually given some sugar solution (same with bloods getting taken) and anbesol or similar numbing depending on age.
They do not risk doing past a certain age without GA because of movement compared to a young baby.
My DS definitely cried more for his vaccinations then his tongue tie snip he screamed blue murder at being held in the position way before the consultant was near his mouth. He stopped crying as soon as he was released from the position.

A GA is much riskier full stop which is what is given to children to have the procedure conducted.

The OP has had advice of going to do her own research but confirming it does lead to issues down the line which is what they were trying to understand in their original post. Your posts however seem hell bent on scare mongering a anxious mother.

It's also been clearly stated that as you get older it gets thicker so an increase risk of pain. If you remember yours hurting like hell as you put it then you clearly had it done much later then what the OP is on about.

Both my children had theirs cut, at around 2 weeks old for my 1st and 6 weeks for my 2nd. I wouldn't hesitate to have it done again if necessary if I had a 3rd child! I imagine there is some pain involved, however both mine cried for literally a couple of seconds afterwards and were very quickly soothed. Much less painful than vaccinations based on their reactions. Obviously it's not nice to know you are inflicting any amount of pain on your baby, but I would much rather 2 seconds of discomfort for a tiny baby that won't remember it, than have to have an older child go through a GA which would (IMO) be much more distressing. For both of mine it resolved issues they were having with feeding (one wouldn't latch, the other dribbled out more milk than he swallowed!) and I have zero regrets over having it done.
In the past, the midwife would do it immediately after birth without even asking/informing the mother in some cases! Not suggesting that we should return to that, but it is a very minor procedure in the scheme of things.

It was much, much thicker as an adult.
Did not have general anaesthetic just local.
It has also partially grown back.
DC (23) also got two impacted wisdom teeth out on same day.
DC says they would absolutely have wanted it done as a baby, and why didn’t I?

Op, just curious as to what your concerns are? It's incredibly quick and easy..

I had ds's done at almost 6 months. Initially he was like yours, feeding and gaining well but very gassy. When he hit around 3.5 mths he couldn't get milk efficiently enough to maintain his weight so he started dropping and went from 50th centile to 9th centile for weight within a few weeks and I was having to feed him every 30-60min just to try and sustain his weight. It got incredibly stressful.

I ended up going private to get it done by the dentist. We were in the building 5 minutes total from we arrived until we walked back out, I couldn't believe how fast it was. It was assessed and snipped immediately. Ds didn't seem to notice, didn't cry or wince or react in any way and certainly didn't seem to be in any pain and I certainly wouldn't describe it as barbaric. I think for older children it would be harder as they're less likely to sit still and may need more sedating. Personally I was glad to avoid that.

Ds fed like normal in the car straight after and was his usual happy self, didn't seem to be uncomfortable or out of sorts at all. The whole thing was actually so simple and effortless that I was really kicking myself for over thinking it. It now bothers me much more the idea that he lost weight and was possibly hungry for long periods when I could have addressed it for him very quickly if I'd trusted my own gut instead of the advice that we were being given not to bother.

I was worried about the impact on his speech as well and my concern would be that it might be harder to resolve later. I'd just do it now when your dc won't remember and when you can be a more immediate comfort to them. When they get older it's more likely they'll be scared about the procedure and more aware of what's happening and react accordingly. Also we had to pay £150 to get it released whereas it would have been free if we had pushed for it earlier. I would strongly recommend just going for it. I was really nervous about putting Ds through something unnecessary or painful but honestly once I saw it for what it was I felt silly for worrying.

Thank you this is helpful.
My main concern, other than the momentary pain, is that it will affect his feeding negatively, as he has already learned to breastfeed with the tongue tie.
However the thought of him having eating/speaking problems later on and then wishing I had just done it when he was little pains me.
I feel like there is a lot to weigh up but maybe I’m making a big deal out of nothing like you say.

OP my baby has hers snipped at 7 weeks. It took her maybe another 2 weeks after that to learn how to feed using her new tongue function but it didn’t hinder our feeding at all, only improve it. Still exclusively breastfeeding now at 20 weeks.

As said my DS had it done early then reattachment around 4 months to be done again at 9 months (under a GA). It took him a few days to get used to it with it cut again. He definitely didn't lose weight after the 2nd one quite the opposite rapidly gained weight (like another pp he was fine then started dropping at the 4 months point).

I had some multimam compresses on hand incase (didn't need them) and also went to a bf peer support group to go back to basics (we were feeding for a long time in a laid back position to help). I bf ds1 til he naturally weaned at 22 months.
I recommend going along to a group just to get little tips.

The earlier the better if you're worried about feeding issues id say. Ds was 6mths and he adapted really well. They say that their wee tongue can maybe get a little tired for a day or two after, like you would feel after using muscles in a different way. But that's easily managed with calpol if you think they need it (ds didn't) and at such a young age baby is really still figuring out feeding. It changes a lot as they get older and are able to support themselves more/grip the breast or bottle etc. So their feeding technique is constantly evolving anyway in my mind. (At 1.5 ds is now at the gymnastics while feeding stage!) I know there's so much emphasis put on latch at the start but that doesn't matter just as much as they get older. Plus at 5 weeks you'd still be entitled to support from an infant feeding coordinator if you were worried after, you might not be if you wait and then need to pay for further support. Ds was initially referred at 2 days old (they lost the referral) then seen at 2 months old and they said not to bother because he was gaining well so we took that advice. Then when we started having trouble noone would see him because he was older and we'd already been assessed so it became a problem I had to figure out on my own. Just something to weigh up as well.

Ds5 has not had his cut, but has split his lip tie in a fall (as the dentist predicted he would). He's had a whole host of health issues so I've no idea what's causing what, but he doesn't sleep through and can't say the letter 'r'.

Dd had her cut at 4 days old, NHS, cancellation appointment. After that she could feed great, didn't take her literally 22 hours of breastfeeding a day anymore! She's only 2 now but great speech, great health. She can't say the letter 'r' properly yet either though. Also doesn't sleep through, but I think that's a breastfeeding thing...

Well funny you didn't mention using a local.

If a baby needs it done there is nothing wrong with doing it but I think it is barbaric to do it without pain relief. I didn't have it done as an adult, I had it done as a child but a child old enough to remember and I can assure you it hurts for days.

My posts are advising anyone getting it done to get a local for their child so they don't suffer. Sorry if that doesn't suit your agenda as obviously anyone who has had it done without a local will be defensive about it but going forward babies shouldn't suffer when there is an easy solution. The OP doesn't want her child to go through that pain so advising how to avoid it should reassure her not worry her.

The reality is no one can honestly imagine that taking a blade/knife/scalpel/scissors and cutting a baby's flesh is painless. It defies logic.

I don't have any agenda just simply to state you clearly haven't seen this procedure done or seem to be aware what is done for children and babies.

Past certain age it's GA as previously stated which comes with its own risks. Not local too many risks til they are much much older by which point if a tongue tie is enough of a issue to need cut by a consultant then already causing issues to speech/posture/feeding.

@Iwasafool I hear you.
My DC spoke to a maxiofacial surgeon, a consultant dentist and a speech therapist before going ahead. (I only attended the dentist's briefing.) The actual cutting was not what was painful. It was the three or four subsequent weeks with a swollen tongue which was far sorer than DC expected. The dentist did explain that in newborns it was a tiny thread rather than the much thicker thread of an adult. There is quite a lot of information online that OP can research.

Ds didn't even register getting it done. Didn't cry or flinch or seem pained in any way. Didn't put him off feeding or need any pain relief. I'm not sure your logic is always applicable and may depend on the severity/position of the tt.

My DD had TT. We decided not to snip as it didn't seem serious enough to do such an invasive procedure, especially when there was a good chance it could grow back. She is now nearly 4 and we have no problems with eating nor speech. It of course depends on the severity, but when she was a baby she couldn't latch on my nipple properly so we chose to FF instead. She was very gassy and reflux prone with exorcist style vomiting! but gavsicon helped a little and it got much better when she started eating solids more.