tongue tie - to snip or not to snip?

[deaconblue]

dd has a tongue tie and it's our area's policy to leave them until a problem occurs. This worries me as I'd rather get it sorted before she has speech problems Any views on the pro's and con's of cutting and experieneces thereof would be really helpful.

not all tongue tied children have speech problems, I think that's why they don't snip them as a matter of course.

personally I think all tongue tied babies should be snipped as early as poss to reduce breastefeding probs, but that's another issue entirely.

If your dd is older then she would have to have a GA to have it done. I wouldn't risk that just in case she has speech problems.

Hey,

My sister, 20, is tongue tied, and her speach is fine. she can't lift her tongue at all though, or stick it out.
I don't think they snip it just incase it isnt a problem.. don't know why though :|

DS2 had a tongue tie and it hideously affected breastfeeding and his speech.

Apparently it is only a very few percent of tongue tied children that will be troubled by it regarding speech. The difficulty is somebody has to be in that small percentage.

When the doctors eventually agreed to do it, it was very straightforward. As he was now three years old he had to have a GA but we were home by lunch time, giving calpol as when needed for a few days.

It helped with eating, dribbling and his speech has improved slightly since having it done. (ds2 has other difficulties that also have affected his speech)

Personally, I wanted my DD's tongue tie snipped asap (80% tongue tie). Done as a baby, the procedure is less than 30 seconds. She slept through it.

thanks all. Dd's tongue looks forked to me but she does breast feed really efficiently so she clearly has good movement of it. she can poke it out but only a tiny bit.
Simple pleasures like licking an ice cream or (a horrible thought but it will come one day) being able to French kiss might not be a possibility and I hate the thought of the humiliation when she comes to her first kiss and can't do it properly.
HV suggested (although she said not to quote her on it) that I should make as big a fuss as possible and get it sorted if I'm concerned. Have a doctors appointment tomorrow to discuss.
lou03 - how do they establish the % a tongue is tied?

I would have definitely had DS's snipped as a baby a) if it had been diagnosed and b) if the policy in our area wasn't the same as yours. But then we had horrible breastfeeding problems. If you don't then I would possibly leave well alone. DS's snapped of it's own accord btw, but his wasn't as bad as your DD's by the sounds of it.

Only snip if there are problems with feeding, and later on speaking.

My DS2 had a tight tongue tie, but it didn't stop his breastfeeding. The ENT recommended leaving it (and this was a private consultation). DS2 was fairly slow to speak, but when he did start, around age 2, it was straight into full sentences.

shopingbags, I am tongue tied too (there is a strong hereditary link) and I have not had problems kissing or eating ice cream! lol

they often stretch with time, so don't be unduly worried.
as others have said, if she can breastfeed ok then she will probably be alright.

If you did want to hae it done you would be referred to someone who would be able to check it for you before they did it. they do it by looking at the tongue and feeling under it. some babies are very obviously tongue tied, some less so.

ds2 had his snipped at 3 weeks. I can't remember what the cut-off is for having a GA though

DN has a tongue tie that is obvious, she had major problems with BF. Can't comment on the speech as she has developmental delay

Friends son had a TT and was snipped at 6 days as was causing probs with BF, he is now 2 months and is feeding fantastically

thanks for all the replies. Saw a great doctor who had a really good look in her mouth. She poked her tongue right out when he put a spatula on her bottom jaw (Ithought she couldn't do it, but she obviously never needed to before). Apparently the tie is quite fine and the fact that she feeds well and could poke her tongue out leads him to believe she should have no problems. He's going to review it at one year though so I don't have to wait until she already has speech problems which was my main concern.

That's good news, my dd had hers done because of hideous bf problems (when we tried her on a bottle it just squirted out everywhere) so although her TT was only partial it was clearly an issue.

Hopefully it will stretch etc you can encourage this by sticking your tongue out at her as babies love to mimic and she will try and do it back.