Experiences of getting an older baby’s tongue tie snipped?

[Blueyfan1234]

My baby is 11 weeks old and will be getting their tongue tie cut next week at nearly 12 weeks. It’s taken ages to get diagnosed due to NHS midwives/HV saying there was no tie, and eventually we went private.

Im really worried he is going to be in pain after/refuse to latch/not feed properly, does anyone have experiences of getting their baby’s tie snipped when they weren’t a little newborn?

Im doubting myself around getting it done, the practitioner said he had quite a severe tie, but I don’t have pain feeding but he is often v unsettled feeding and feeds every hour or more during the day! She said it would be in his best interest to get it done as may cause problems weaning but I don’t want to put him through a lot of trauma…I don’t know what to do for the best!

Also meant to add he really struggles with wind and seems in pain. After most feeds which is the reason I wanted to get it done!

No advice sadly but following as my 12 week old has been advised to have hers cut but I’m in two minds as she’s feeding and gaining weight. Just similar to you - feeds pretty much every hour and is latching on and off a lot!

Playing devils advocate here. I would be inclined to believe NHS professionals. It was very “trendy “ to have tongue tie done a few years ago. I have been a dentist for 35 yrs and have seen a handful of tongue tied children.
Most babies are tongue tied to a certain extent. Very few need cutting particularly if they are feeding well and gaining weight. BF babies do get wind and are fussy at times. They go through periods of cluster feeding to increase mums output. Also, if they get colds/ear infections suckling is difficult and often painful. If a baby who is tongue tied and doing well starts to fuss don’t immediately blame the tongue tie.
Ive always felt that tongue tied is a problem for women who maybe don’t want to be seen to give up bf. It’s a good excuse. If you are struggling to bf then just give up. Happy mum, happy baby and all that.
As a dental professional I would find it incredibly difficult to carry out a tongue tie release on a small baby. But that’s just my personal opinion. I’m sure there will be plenty of people who will tear me apart for having an opinion.

We had similar, I asked in the hospital if my DD had a tongue tie and three different midwives told me no. It was finally diagnosed with a private appointment at 10 or 11 weeks. I was loathe to have it cut as I was told that I would need to wake DD every three hours to feed to help the recovery and she had just started sleeping 4-5 hours… 😭

We had it cut as the tongue tie specialist was also a lactation consultant and explained that DD was feeding little and often which was keeping her weight up at that point but this would become more difficult as she got bigger and needed more milk (she was quite a small baby as she was three weeks early). The tie was stopping her feeding efficiently as she couldn’t get enough boob into her mouth (It didn’t hurt me but it did change the shape of my nipples due to the ‘end’ latch…!). We also had wind issues which was one reason I’d been seeking help. Tongue tie babies often take in a lot of air when feeding.

The cut itself is VERY quick. Two seconds on my sofa and a feed straight after. She cried more at her vaccinations and recovered very quickly. No trauma for her, just mum guilt to bat away. She is now 10 and can’t remember it… 😉

I took my second DD to be assessed three years later. She had s less significant tie and the feeding position wasn’t impacted so the specialist said no need to cut. I would personally take the specialist’s advice, your baby will be fine.

Good luck!!

I had my DS done at 14 weeks - he was having problems feeding and was very gassy. He cried after the procedure but was fine after that and fell asleep in the car on the way home. Took about a month to get the feeding right but it is so much better now - no regrets!

My eldest had hers done at 13 weeks due to a long wait for an NHS appointment. If I’d known what a positive difference it would make almost immediately, I would have paid to have it done privately. It was absolutely fine - very quick procedure.

Thanks so much for the responses! @BadgerFace the practioner we saw is also a lactation consultant and said the same…my thoughts are I don’t want to leave it till he is 5/6 months and then still be having problems. Your experience sounds like mine, my nipples are also misshapen after feeds 🙈Did your daughter have any problems feeding after?

Got my DS' done at about 16 weeks after a blue light to hospital for choking after a feed. The hospital tried to tell me he was allergic to dairy/milk. Knew that was bollocks so got him checked out by lactation consultant/tongue tie specialist. He had a 75% tongue tie.

Took less than 1 min to cut, including the time it took to lie him down, prep etc. His scream tore my soul (any doubt I had over whether I had a meternal instinct vanished in that second) but immediately feed and cuddles and he was over it. Person who did it said she's seeing more cases of it now our local NHS hospital only bothers doing it when they are breast fed (ignoring fact that most give up breast feeding cos of a bad latch due to tongue tie).

Did take him a little while to learn to stick his tongue out if i recall correctly. But beyond that no other issues again. When he eventually saw the NHS "he's got a milk allergy" specialist again at 8 months, she got a piece of my mind! Our GP was, likewise, furious about the whole thing.

Thank you for sharing @Glamisastateofmind abd @HDready i feel really reassured from hearing different experiences!! Did your babies struggle at all in the days after to feed? I’ve read some horror stories about babies refusing toilet latch after and then the breastfeeding journey coming to an end which is my worst fear. I need to step away from Google!!

I would be inclined to believe NHS professionals

I wouldn't. DD had a very obvious tie that was missed by the GP and HV and despite my insistence she had one I kept getting fobbed off. She couldn't eat solid food for 5 months because of it then I went private and had it done by a leading tongue tie specialist in the UK who's mission is train NHS GPs to understand ties more, she runs a pay what you can afford clinic so isn't doing it to make money. Totally changed my life, DD started eating the next day.

Anyway OP, your baby will be absolutely fine. DDs was done at 11 months old and she was upset being held down to have it done but was fine immediately after, fed straight away and wasn't in any pain. Make sure you see a specialist who offers oral exercises to do afterwards and not one who'll just take your money, cut it and leave you to it.

I can recommend a few specialists if you are interested

Feeding got much better post-snip which turned out to be very useful because after pumping enough for a top up bottle feed from birth (we had a tricky start) to 5 months she then became a bottle refuser and I never managed to persuade her otherwise from there! She self-weaned at 13 months just after I went back to work.

Ive always felt that tongue tied is a problem for women who maybe don’t want to be seen to give up bf. It’s a good excuse. If you are struggling to bf then just give up.

How ridiculous. Awful advice.

My eldest had a tongue tie cut with surgery before the age of 2 because she developed a speech impediment and also choked on food multiple times, that was hard work.

My husband then revealed he'd had his cut aged 7 and given an ice cream afterwards (not in the UK!)

My second I had done at around 10/11 weeks and it was fine, one cry and then latched on for breastfeeding, turned breastfeeding from extremely painful to perfectly fine, and gave us another few months.

My eldest's tongue still does not stick out hugely but she doesn't have a speech problem now.

It wasn't common to do it when mine were little and it caused us a lot of problems finding someone to do it, I'm sure your LO will be fine and crossed fingers for you both.

My baby had her tongue tie missed in hospital, and it was cut when she was about two weeks old. It then reattached, and she had it cut again when she was around 11 weeks. The second time was much worse because she was much more aware of what was happening, but it was over in an instant. She cried a lot and they made me breast feed her straightaway (pretty traumatic for both of us given she had a bloody mouth) but she was fine within five minutes or so and even better after an afternoon of cuddles on the sofa. She started putting on weight after that point and tracking along her percentile, and breastfeeding her became much, much better. She's nearly 17 months now and still breastfed.

My dd had hers cut at 10 weeks - the midwife had said at the birth that she had tongue tie, but in a new mum fug I just decided to leave it. She was a nightmare to feed and I was in agony, I really wanted to continue breastfeeding, so arranged for it to be cut. It was very quick, not at all traumatic for dd and feeding became a lot less painful after it was done!

Any possibility of going private? I had both of mine done privately. Also for their lip ties. Has yours been checked for lip tie?

My youngest had a tiny snip at 2 days old in the hospital but the dr already said then she might need a proper operation later on (she was born with a heart shaped tongue).

She had no problem feeding or eating solids but she finally had the operation at 5 years old as her speech was not very clear and her front bottom teeth were being pulled inwards by the tongue tendon. She also used to grind her teeth all night. She recovered well but we were given exercises to go fit a few months, so in hindsight I think it would have been better for her to have had the operation earlier. (She still grinds her teeth at night but no so often and not as hard)

Think DS1 was done at 11/12 weeks. I felt guilty for leaving so long … he felt like a very “proper” baby by that age. But as everyone is saying, it was over so quickly and I was very glad we had done it. Yes my heart wrenched in two to cause him pain (the nurse actually asked if I wanted to leave the room - in her experience it was worse for parent than child! Of course I stayed but I felt really upset, and was surprised how much I was - I rarely cry) but it meant that bf’ing was so much easier for us. DS2 didn’t need it.

My daughter whose 13 months has tongue tie. Missed by multiple midwives, HV etc even when she couldnt feed well. I didn't know she had it until she was trying to wean off boob to bottle at 6/7months (due to my health) and struggles with eating. She's been referred but been waiting months. Finally have an appointment in a months time but she will be nearly 15 months by then.

She still can't drink properly from a cup/bottle/bottle with straw so I can't stop bf her. Her latch isn't great but she manages to get enough to keep her hydrated.

Not sure if they will cut it, but she's clearly struggling and I desperately need to stop feeding her.

This was me with my DD at 11 months, I desperately wanted to stop breastfeeding but had no choice as she just couldn't eat solids and she really struggled with cups and bottles.

Whereabouts did you go? My little one also has lip tie so seeing a maxillofacial surgeon but worried they won't do anything.
I had both lip and tongue tie. Tongue was done at 6 weeks old. Lip tie done when I was 8/9yrs old.

@abbs1 Carmelle Gentle at The Tongue Tie Centre in London but she has trained a few others across the UK. Faye at Rockabye Hub is great also.

We had dc2's TT snipped at about 8 weeks iirc. That was NHS.

Long version; I'd taken him to the NHS TT clinic with a mw running it and she'd told me no TT twice. In the end my HV referred us directly to the consultant who diagnosed TT. Who should be assisting but the bitchy mw who had sent us away twice? Couldn't believe it when she said "oh yes, I see the tongue tie" 🙄.

She was a horrible, incompetent and borderline sadistic woman whose name sounded like a type of weather...just in case she recognises herself on here 👋😂.

Sadly, it didn't really do anything. I had been pumping to feed dc2 and I ended up doing 'exclusive pumping' for a year! Think it was a bit late for us and I really hadn't managed to feed without bottles at all.

Thank you.

Very late but I’m commenting for anybody researching.

I just had my 6 month old corrected, it was horrible and I hate that he’s had to get it done at this age. I noticed his lip tie when he was days old, told the health visitor and she just said yes he has a ‘small’ lip tie but wouldn’t do anything…she also asked how I’d even noticed it like I was looking for a problem and it wasn’t obvious when he cried 😡 Spoke to my GP who said he’d never heard of lip tie. Dentist confirmed he had quite a bad one and he’d have a gap but didn’t know where I could go to get it fixed.

I’ve been going back and forth with Dr/Dentist/Health Visitors not having a clue or not wanting to help. Everyone I spoke to only does tongue tie and not lip tie.

After 6 months of searching I finally found out that Paediatric ENT specialists are the people to do it, wish I knew this sooner as I didn’t mind paying private and found someone within a week once I knew what to look for. If we left it any longer he’d have needed general anaesthetic.

So for anybody needing it done please look at Paediatric ENT (Ear, Nose, Throat) Specialist/Consultants. We paid £350 to go private, don’t waste your time with the NHS it’s not nice having it done on older babies!