Tongue tie 5mo baby - reluctant to cut frenulum

[mumstrosity]

Hi,

My ds 5mo has tongue tie - it doesn't seem severe to me, he can latch on fine and is making all noises I would expect. He can't stick the tip of his tongue right out though.

The doctor said that he could have it cut but, having looked into it (on the internet only, admittedly!), I feel reluctant - not least because several places suggested that babies don't feel pain so it was fine to cut it without any anaesthetic!

I did find a couple of doctor sites that said the frenulum could retreat of its own accord over the first year and not to do anything.

Has anyone got any experience of this?

Thanks!

I thought they didn't snip now if it doesn't interfere with feeding as it can sort itself out as they get older. If you're happy with his feeding/weight gain I would leave it. Not sure about babies not feeling pain - surely that's not current thinking

Ok, thanks, I suppose sometimes GPs aren't up to date with specialist areas. Hopefully the specialist will just leave it.

And yes I think it's right out of date, I was quite surprised to see it - but old opinions hang around! Poor babies!

My son was tongue tied. We were told it may need snipping when he was about 3 months, but it never caused any feeding problems, so nothing was ever done about it.

A great plus - he has never been able to poke his tongue out!

It is still a lot tighter than other people's (he's now 13), but never an issue - and still cant poke his tongue out. I did overhear an intersting conversation between him and one of his older sisters recently about how his kissing technique may be affected by his "short" tongue! - hopefully he wont need to worry about that for a while yet!

um, it is fine to cut it without anaesthetic.
not because babies don't feel pain, but because they don't feel any pain when a TT is cut.

my ds didn't even wake up when his was snipped!

if i were you though i wouldn't get it done. simply because he is feeding fine, and if it ain't broke then don't fix it!

my first son didn't have his cut and he is fine, no speech probs etc. it can stretch of its own accord

DS had his TT cut (no anaesthetic) at around 7 months as it was affecting his ability to latch on. The surgeon explained that there are no nerves in the part they cut so the baby feels no pain. It was all over in approx 2 seconds and DS was totally not bothered by it! Surgeon did say that if DS was any older it would hae to be done under a general anaesthetic so I'd advise you to have it done soon if you are going to go for it.

tongueties are an interesting source of dispute sometimes.
My Ds had one - I made them check because DH has one that was never snipped and it DOES affect his (DH's) kissing technique! It doesn't affect DH's speech though - whereas a friend of mine's DS did have affected speech and his tongue tie wasn't picked up until he was ~3 (thanks to me trying to teach him to stick his tongue out and him not being able to) - they had to have it done under GA and it was sore for about a week after.

DS had his snipped at about 2w old because his latch was affected. It made a great difference and he had no problems, didn't cry, fed well straight after.

If you wait to find out whether or not your DS's speech is affected, the op will be more serious than if you get it done now. They have been known to spontaneously rupture but not that commonly so I wouldn't hold out for that happening. My opinion is get it done now; I wouldn't run the risk of the GA etc. if it becomes necessary later.

Two of my children had a tongue-tie. One had a snip because it WAS causing feeding probs, the other didn't as it wasn't. Both are now fine at eating and speaking.

This is completely random and probably irrelevant, but I ripped my tongue frenulum slightly (while kissing someone) when I was 18. It bled a bit and hurt about as much as a scratch, but my tongue swelled up slightly and I couldn't eat without discomfort for about 24 hours.

I think tbh the reason it hurt and swelled up was because it was torn rather than cut, and probably where it actually ripped (right at the top where it connected to my tongue - not sure which part they snip with babies) because I have known a couple of friends whose babies have had it done and they didn't react to it at all, and didn't appear to have any pain or discomfort while feeding for any time afterwards. Obviously a baby that young can't tell you in words but they are usually pretty quick to tell you they don't like something!

I agree that it's unlikely that babies don't feel pain, but I also think that there are very few nerves in the area (Try pinching your frenulum between thumbnail and fingernail and then compare with another part of your body) and it is very straightforward and quick. Apparently midwives used to keep one fingernail sharpened for the purpose of cutting tongue ties, years ago.

wow, that must have been some kissing sesh, Bertie!

I agree with you. DD has tongue tie, which was diagnosed by her GP at a very early age, but we didn't have it snipped, as it wasn't affecting anything with her, and both the GP and I couldn't see doing it if she was getting along fine.

Now that she's 4, we have a new dentist, and they're always on me to have it done, as they have a laser that can do it "in no time, and cause no pain." I'm quite offended at that, TBH, as it seems to imply that with her tongue tie she's inferior or something, which bothers me, as she got her tongue tie from me. I might be biased, but somehow I've managed to make it almost 37 years without eating or speaking problems.

My DS had his TT snipped when he was 3 Months old, he couldn't feed properly and was unable to latch on.

It was a really simple easy proceedure and I am really glad we did it as it meant I could BF without any problem.

I would, however, have been very relucant to go ahead if it wasn't affecting him. If your DS isn't affected by his TT then I would suggest leaving it alone why subject them to an uncessary proceedure,

Dooneygirl my dentist is still on at me about DS TT he says that it should be cut further back to allow his tongue to move more freely! I think dentist just want to use there new flashy lasers for something! Stand your ground if you DD has no problems from having her TT then why change that now.

My ds2 who is now 6 mo had a tongue tie but was feeding fine so we didn't get it snipped. He ruptured it himself at about 4 mo by shoving a toy in his mouth. He didn't complain, I only noticed because he was dribbling a bit of blood! Having said that, however, I think I would have ended up getting it snipped because as thumbwitch says, if you find out it is interfering with speech etc, by that time you may need a GA. Also the reason why dentists may go on about it is because tongue mobility contributes to dental health, through being able to dislodge food stick in your teeth.

Thanks everyone for the advice etc, and sorry I didn't reply sooner.

I think I will wait and see. I did try to get an appointment with a specialist but couldn't get one so will cross my fingers and hope it's ok...