Tongue tie; WWYD?

[llareggub]

My 5 week old son has tongue tie. So far, it has not caused any pain during breastfeeding. However, I have read that it may cause problems with speech in the future.

I'd like to get the tongue tie snipped because I don't want to wait until DS has a speech problem before having it done, because then we'd have to correct the speech problem as well as get the procedure performed.

I've spoken to my HV who is non-committal. I have to get referred by my GP to a MW in another county as there is no one local who can perform it. I've spoken to her and she said she will only do it if it is having a negative impact on his feeding.

I've tried ringing the SALTs at the childrens centre but there is no one available. The MW can't advise because she hasn't seen the tongue tie and my HV only knows enough to recognise it, not to advise.

Help!

My ds, who is now 7.5 has tongue tie. It has never caused any problems with speech or eating.

He couldn't breastfeed when first born, but we didn't know about the tongue tie then, so not sure if that was anything to do with it.

My DS was tongue-tied when born and couldn't feed properly as a result (one of many complications with his birth) We had his tie snipped at 6 days old. it helped with feeding and they too mentioned the speech development problems at a later stage as a possibility (but not a certainty)

I didn't have ds tongue tie snipped. In hindsight I wish I had. Breastfeeding was fine in the first few weeks but it did get more difficult and affected my supply.

Be persistent as the earlier you get it done the better. There is a specialist in Southampton if that is near you.

my dd2 is 12 weeks old and we found out she had quite severe tongue tie at 8 wks. No real problems so we wondered whether we should get it snipped. We decided we would as its so simple to do when little and gets more complicated as they get older.

We went privately and had it done by a doctor the following wk. A really simple procedure and I think dd was more distressed by her vaccinations thanthe snip.

my DS2 was born with tongue tie, and I noticed it thru the feeding dificulties (after five babies, all breastfed, I knew there was a difference).

I took him to the docs on the MW advice, he was referred to a mr griffiths in southampton, and he was 'snipped' at 6wks old with no real trouble (he was sore for a day or so, altho thinking back not 100% sure if it was not just that his toungue felt odd when feeding, rather than 'sore' IYGWIM).

worst bit for me was that they took him into a seperate room to do it, then bought him back to me after. hated that!

whether it would have had an impact on his speach I will never know, but DD3 has a mild one and altho she did have to have speach therapy, the SALT never said it was down to that.

sorry, have not really advised there have I. I know that I am glad I had DS2's done, and would not hesitate should I have another with tongue-tie.

My ds was born with quite a severe tounge tie so much that he was jaundice because he was not feeding properly.

We had a nightmare trying to get his tounge snipped even in this scenario. As far as I understand it's to do with budgets. The Dr surgery didn't want to refer our son to Southampton because it would have come out of their budget but the hospital said the GP had to do the referral. Several Dr's told us there was no medical corralation between tounge tie and feeding / speech issues. This is all dispite the fact my son wasn't feeding and loosing weight rapidly!

We had to fight tooth and nail to get his snipped - it took us about 6 weeks before we finally got it done!

Good luck!

Thanks everyone. Instinctively I think we should have it done, but I am little at the lack of information available from the HCP. I have my 6 week check next week so will raise it with the GP. My HV keeps telling me there isn't a need to rush but I disagree.

if you want it done, then push for asap.

my friend had her son snipped at 8mths, as she took the HV advice (as opposed to me listening to the MW who clearly was better), and he had to have some anaesthetic as he was too wiggly to be just held still.

where abouts are you llareggub ?
I travelled into the centre of london to get ds2's done. Thats becasue Mr Patel at Kings is so recognised. Best thing I ever did.
Agree with pyschomum, push if you want it, and don't let anyone put you off.

the older they are the worse the proceedure is and as a child if they do have a speech impedement I believe they have to have a general anesthetic.

If you want it done you will have to be prepared to fight I would think but push for what you want!

Btw it is worth noting that there are only about 5 Dr's in the country who do this proceedure so you will probably have to travel for it. We went to Southampton.

There is a MW in Dudley who runs a clinic. She said if my GP agrees I can go there but I'd have it done privately or shout a lot if they disagree. I'm in the Midlands so anywhere is doable!

Really Sweetheart ? I didn't realise we were so fortunate that we had one 5 mins away ! That was at Kingston hospital if thats any help.

If you go privately you won't need GP/MW referal btw !

Ds had his snipped at 4 weeks as breastfeeding was excruciating and he was not getting enough milk. TBH, it didn't bother him at all and he stayed asleep! I would definitely get it done now as it is such a simple procedure, but when they are older it isn't.

We were referred by the GP and had it done the same week. We were also lucky that the local hospital do it.

Just to clarify a few things:

There are many many doctors around the country who will cut a toungue tie, but only under a general. There are only a few who will do it without a general and who run clinics for it. You can see a list here: www.babyfriendly.org.uk/page.asp?page=154 There is also good information about the condition on that link.

I saw Dr Patel at Kings myself last week about my ds3 who is 10 months old. He will only do it without a general up to 3 months old and I would guess the others are the same. You can pay to have it done privately - most insurance will cover it, or if you don't have insurance, it is cheap.

Dr Patel, and Dr Curry who I saw at the Portland today (and who is going to divide my son's) will not do it for speech reasons on a baby so young. They were quite clear on this. It is done that age for feeding problems.

As to the feeding issue, it may not be causing a problem now, but it may in the future. With my ds3, it only started causing problems when he got teeth. As his positioning was not good, the teeth started digging in. I have a friend whose son has tongue tie (never clipped). He fed fine until he had teeth. Then he bit holes in here breast and she stopped feeding him. In hindsight, I am sure it was the tongue tie (I was not a breastfeeding counsellor at the time and did not know anything about it, but it is really clear looking back on it).

There is real division among doctors as to how important tongue tie is. Look here for some excellent information.

And wish me luck as my ds3 is going under general next week for his!

There is a LC in Bedford who would probably do it for you. See the lactations consultants of GB web site for details.

My DS2 had a Tongue tie. His frenulum went to the tip of his tongue. He had no problems breastfeeding. We saw a consultant when he was about six months, who said that there was no need to do anything.

He was slow to speak - didn't babble - but when he did, at around two years, he was straight to full sentences. His diction has always been clear and precise.

At 17 years old, he is still economical with words, lol.

Haven't read through the rest of the thread, so sorry if I'm repeating what others have said.

DS had a tongue tie, but we didn't realise until he was a year old. We also made the decision to get it snipped, as we didn't want to take the chance with it creating speech problems later on. Also, we figured that if he'd had it done and he still did have a speeech problem, then we wouldn't be wasting time wondering if the tongue tie was the cause.

I was so upset that it wasn't pcked up when he was very young as when they're babies like yours, it is a minute little snip with no pain (there's no nerves there) and no blood (there are no vessels either). Over quiclkly, DC can feed straight away and hey presto it's not a problem any more.

Our DS had to go under general anaesthetic when he was 18jmonths to ge it done. This was only because he wouldn't have stayed still for the snip, andd he was only under for 5 mins, but still wish he hadn' gon ethhrough it.

if you have the opportunity now to get it done whithout the trauma, I'd go for it!