Should we get the tongue tie procedure done?

[SophieRules]

I wasn’t sure where to post this, but my son has a 75% anterior prominent tongue tie. However he feeds well (breastfed only), the latch isn’t painful etc and has gained weight effectively. His gas etc has improved and he sleeps well etc He is generally a happy baby. We think perhaps he has just adapted well to his restricted tongue movement. Do we still need to get the procedure done? Really worried about the recovery process

How old is he? One of mine went through the procedure at 2 weeks old, no anaesthetic etc, so ‘recovery’ was just having a breastfeed in the room the procedure was done in (probably for comfort). I noticed no other issues with him after that. But the breastfeed (immediately after the procedure) felt completely different (to me) - and much less painful.

I think once they reach a certain age it has to be done under a general anaesthetic, so recovery is more of an issue.

Can you take advice as to whether it is thought that the tongue-tie will affect how your son speaks? A friend (many years before my son had the procedure) could only breastfeed for a few months as it was so painful, and she got mastitis. Tongue-tie wasn’t spotted at the time. But when her daughter was five she had to have the tongue-tie procedure as it was affecting her speech.

Hi @SophieRules you could ask Mumsnet to move this to Parenting by reporting your post. You'll probably get more info there.
This board is about Pregnancy.

My friends’ child (not born in the uk) had undiagnosed tongue tie until he was 5! Like you describe, they had no problems with feeding etc. his voice was always a little immature but I think it was put down to cute. At school it became a problem learning to read and write with phonics. He had the procedure but is still (age 9) playing catch up with reading and writing as he used a lot of coping strategies in the first year that became bad habits in a phonics heavy curriculum.

I'd personally get it done as I wouldn't want to risk speech impediment.

I had it done on DD at 9 days old, because breastfeeding was very painful. There is no anaesthetic. You just breastfeed straight away. There was no problem after and breastfeeding was much easier once my nipples recovered.

My 3 month old daughter has a tongue tie but it didn't affect her latch, feeding or weight gain at all. I took her to be assessed at 9 weeks. They said they would do the procedure but it wasn't necessary as the appearance was worse than the mobility.

I asked about speech and they said because the mobility of her tongue was good it was unlikely to affect speech. Have you been for an assessment?

He’s 5 weeks and has been assessed privately but we will see what the nhs says (awaiting app) so at least we have two professional opinions. Wish it was just done immediately, 5 weeks is a long time in baby timelines to have learnt how to use his tongue.

I would have it done privately rather than wait for NHS. We ended up having it done twice, once by each.

DS struggled with BF but we didn’t get it done in the end (they asked me to continue trying to BF for another three weeks after diagnosis and the poor little sod would have starved!) He’s had no issues with his speech whatsoever. It’s impossible to tell what’s in the future but for us I’m really glad we didn’t get it done.

Shockingly we have only realise that DD has a tongue tie once she was able to lift her tongue up and you could see it - 16 now and never caused issues apart from freaking her younger brother out - she likes it makes her different

I already messaged above, about my son; I also have a daughter, and she very nearly had to have the tongue-tie procedure a couple of weeks after birth as well (it was all booked in), but as it happened, breastfeeding began to feel less painful, so in the end I cancelled the appointment. It is clear to see now when she lifts her tongue that the strip linking the tongue to the base of her mouth must have torn by itself, and had just healed, but giving more flexibility. I think if it is without anaesthetic anyway (as in the early interventions in the weeks after birth) these quick tongue-tie procedures aren’t really invasive, and as with my daughter, may just occur naturally by themselves without you (or them) really knowing anything about it. But obviously it may also not tear by itself, and might cause problems later on (or not!). My post probably sounds confusing, but what I am trying to say is that the procedure is very minor. I am not a medical professional, this is just my experience..

My son was born with a 100% tongue tie, spotted when he was just a few hours old. At the time I wanted the procedure done as I was worried about speech etc. I was told that I couldn't have it done in the hospital and that I'd have to go private. I eventually refused as I didn't want to have to pay for it when I believed the nurses should have done it there and then. I realise that this is quite an old school attitude! I had trouble with him latching and so endured painful breastfeeding. I received no help from the hospital. He was then bottle fed which seemed to help. For the first few years of his life, he was very dribble but we didn't have any other problems. Then when he was 3, I was referred to a consultant who assured me that it would stretch and he would be ok. She told me about the excess dribble and how to combat this, but that this would also reduce as he got older.
He's now 11 and he has no issues at all. The older he's got, the more I've forgotten about it. He has no speech issues and is actually very eloquent. He no longer has excess saliva so we don't have those issues anymore and whilst the tongue tie is still there, there hasn't been any issues with eating or drinking either.
Ultimately I'm pleased I didn't go through with the procedure and it hasn't caused any issues the older he's got.

Both my children had tongue ties cut. Eldest obvious issues due to damage to my nipples. Youngest no damage but struggled with solids so done at 8 months. Youngest fussier eater.

Hi - I know it's been a while since your post but just wonder if tongue tie release helped with your LO's fussy eating? Asking as in the same situ with an 8 month old who doesn't like/chew certain type of food and I'm wondering whether to get his TT released, given the age. Thank you.

I don’t know what kind of tongue tie I had but it wasn’t diagnosed until I was 11, when I started going to an elocution teacher in the hope of making my speech more intelligible before I started secondary and she spotted it.

After the op, 2 nights in hospital & a general anaesthetic, I kept going to her in order to learn how to use my tongue properly. Forty years on I think the only remaining side effect is that my lower front teeth are crammed together which can make dental checkups a bit trickier.

I wish it had been dealt with when I was a baby though. It wasn’t until reading MN threads that I asked my DM about breastfeeding & she said she’d tried but had to give up.

You’d think that with that plus speech therapy classes in early primary school, somebody would have bloody noticed.