Tongue ties and speech therapy

[OneTiredMama]

My DS is only 5 months old and feeds well despite being tongue tied so no concern there. This could just be pfb but I'm worried he'll have problems with his speech as he gets older. I too am tongue tied and remember speech therapy and getting teased for the way I spoke. Does anyone have a DC with a tongue tie whose speech wasn't affected by it at all? My experience of speech therapy is probably outdated now so any more recent experiences would be helpful.

I know this sounds so trivial and I'm jumping the gun a bit but I'd just hate for him to get picked on for it as kids can be so cruel. I know they were when I was at school so I'd hate for him to go through that.

You could try and have it snipped, although some practices won't do it unless is interfering with breastfeeding. My DS had it snipped at 7 weeks, only cried for a minute, breastfed straight away and then slept quite a lot that day.My husband has tongue tie and he never had a speech impediment bug his tie is only half way, while my DS,s was full, long till the tip of the tongue, she couldn't stick her tongue out at all. Maybe it depends on how long the tongue tie is...

Thanks Florentina. He can't stick his tongue out at all but is ff, as i can't bf, and it hasn't been a problem (maybe it's the shape of the bottle?). Thanks for letting me know that your husband didn't need it, that really gives me hope that his speech will develop normally. Thanks!

Ds1 had a very restrictive posterior tongue tie but had no problems with his speech whatsoever.

However, it caused him problems with eating, breathing and sleeping as well as needing orthodontics. Thankfully all resolved now, but it took it's toll on our family.

There is much more to tongue tie than feeding and speech and I would recommend that you look into it in depth so you know what you might be dealing with. Milk matters is a place to start and there are some tongue tie support groups on facebook. Including an adult one btw.

Thanks so much mawbroon (nice). I had no idea it could affect so much, mine only affected my speech. I tried searching it but didn't really get much info, I'll try milk matters now and look on fb. My LO would often snore loudly and sometimes make funny sounds when he's sleeping or awake and I'm now thinking maybe this could be tie related because of the info you've given me. Thanks mawbroon.

Sorry was supposed to say (nice name)!

My DS had a 100% tongue tie which was snipped with barely a flinch on his part when he was a week old. Made huge difference to feeding but we were told that unsnipped it could also cause future problems with speech and possibly with dental health (people without tongue tie clean their teeth with their tongues without thinking about it). I find it really strange that snipping tongue ties isn't more common ...

Ignorance amongst HCPs about tongue tie is rife.

My advice is to seek out somebody who has taken a specialist interest in it.

Glad a snip made a big difference Mumofsophie. This is often the case with an obvious anterior tie, but posterior ties can be more troublesome. And sadly, they are often not spotted by HCPs

Mawbroon Took five days in hospital post-birth with DS losing 12% of bodyweight but all midwives assuring me that he was feeding fine (I knew he wasn't ..) before a junior doctor noticed what the problem was!

Mumofsophie I never even realised how much my tongue rubs against my teeth, that's very true. My DS feeds OK but quite slowly. His tie is anterior, his tongue can just reach his gums and no more. I mentioned to my GP and he looked at me as if I was complaining DS had hiccups, didn't take concern seriously at all. I wasn't making a big deal about it or anything, just said what I've said here. Felt so stupid fit mentioning it that I just left it.

When he was born one of the first things I asked the midwife was whether he had a tongue tie. She said he didn't but when we got home it was so obvious, I don't know how or why she would say he didn't have one.

It's awful it took so long for them to spot your DS's. I think I'll get someone who knows a bit about them like mawbroon said now that I've heard both your experiences. Thanks for all the advice, it's really helped.

Good luck! Knowledge is power...

Thanks! Definitely going to go see someone and be better equipped to state my concerns and back them up properly.

My dd had her tongue tie snipped at 4 months. She was formula fed and the gp thought she was taking in too much air by sucking on her bottle improperly.
Hers was tied to the tip and the consultant paid felt it would cause problems when she was older.

It wasn't too bad on the day she was very sore the next day but took bottles much better.

My DP had a tongue tie and it did cause speech problems. He got it cut aged 7, was a much bigger deal than having it cut as a baby. Our DD also had one and we got it cut at 13 weeks. I'd get it done now if you can. You can pay a private practitioner if the HV / GP fob you off - costs around £100 I think.

Sorry, didn't abandon thread have been moving house. Thanks switswoo81 and Pannacott. I think I'm going to look into getting it done privately, I thought it would be dearer than £100 so with a bit of budgeting it would be possible.
I'd even settle for getting a private or more informed Doc's opinion as his tongue is so constricted. Thanks for all the experiences, it's really helped, especially as I was going to just leave it because of the attitude of the GP!

If the GP doesn't refer you call your hospital lactation consultant, they referred me after just a conversation over the phone and they made sure to tell the doc I'm breastfeeding as they won't do it otherwise. I was breastfeeding anyway, but they do give you the room for privacy afterwards to feed and settle baby so they wouldn't know

Hi, just to say you may want to get it done before 6 months as after that it needs general anaesthetic (unless done by laser IIRC but that is not widely available).

In case you are worried about getting it snipped at several months old, DD's was snipped at 4 months and she cried for a couple of mins tops and all healed fine (and can stick her tongue out MILES now!)

Oh thanks minipie that means I only have three weeks left to try to get it sorted without anaesthetic. I've phoned a clinic fit advice and they're due to phone back. I was worried about getting it cut so late but that's reassured me!

Thanks Florentina27 unfortunately I couldn't breastfeed but it does take him a while to finish a bottle with lots of stopping and wind after. Hopefully I hear back from this clinic and get it seen to one way or the other.

Thanks for everyone's experiences it's really helped, I'm definitely so much more informed now.

My son had severe tongue tie which was interfering with his breastfeeding. We had it cut at one week old (the midwife who did it said she'd never seen one so bad). It is still very severe, because the tongue is literally stuck to the bottom of his jaw (mostly) and he continued having problems breastfeeding. However, his speech is absolutely fine now. I trust it is because we had it cut. He is 4 now. I would say 'do it'!