DS vomits everything except fruit

[JessZ]

Our 10-month old son really didn't ever really show any interest in food at all. He was fine with bottles, but never tried putting things in his mouth. We tried several times to get him interested in food, but he just wouldn't eat. Over the last couple of months he started showing signs that he was finally interested in food and we managed to get him to eat puréed fruit in very small doses. Any time we tried anything other than fruit he just gagged on it and refused to eat.

We now have him at the point where he is happily eating once or twice a day, but still only on fruit. Whenever we try him on anything that isn't fruit he instantly gags on it as soon as it gets in his mouth. It doesn't even seem voluntary, its just an automatic reflex. When we do manage to get him to swallow any - even just a tiny amount - it is usually followed quickly by large amounts of vomit and he just keeps vomiting until his stomach is empty.

We've seen the HV today and she didn't know what to make of it so is referring him to Speech & Language as apparently despite the name they are the people who would deal with this kind of problem... but we're hoping someone may have some ideas for us to try in the mean time or may have experienced something similar and have suggestions as to what may be wrong?

Good luck and hopefully today wasn't a one off!

If you get nowhere, remember there are private options too if you are able/willing to use them.

Hello ladies! An update:

We went to the clinic again today, they know us as they've been following Our Girl's journey with food rejection. Since they ruled out anterior tongue tie in the early days, it hadn't entered their minds that it could be this but a variation of it. They have managed to contact the speech and language team (SALT) and have marked it urgent, so we await an appointment. In the meanwhile, they suggested a GP visit (which I was going to do after this visit anyway...) to just give DD a look over, including a glance/feel in her mouth. Also to contact the local LC and see if she feels confident having a look inside her mouth to check for PTT.

But today wasn't another great eating day. Only managed one taster spoon at breakfast and refused lunch, while in between gagging on some of the finger foods when crumbs touched her tongue or lip... She hasn't been losing weight, but she's only put on four ounces in four weeks. But she's alert, happy, active, and content most of the time. Will just persevere with the feeding while at the same time consulting as many health professionals as possible to rule out anything sinister.

I've found the tongue tie support group on Facebook and requested to join, so maybe I can get more advice/ideas/encouragement from there too.

Thanks so much for your input. I will pop back here to let you know how we get on...

Good to hear that you weren't dismissed! It's a good start.

But be prepared that SALT, LC and GP may not have enough knowledge to diagnose or rule out posterior tongue tie.

shows how to examine for posterior ties. If they don't do this, then they haven't checked properly!!

Also, there is lots of clap trap online about tongue ties, don't believe everything you read!

This guy knows his stuff and he's even a real proper Doctor Lots of info in his blog. Also Dr Kotlow (a dentist) is a leading expert but most of his stuff is in relation to newborns I think.

We went to the GP today, in the hope that he would refer us to the ENT clinic (our girl is now too old for the tongue tie clinic, they only perform procedures up until 12 weeks), which he did. The wait may be long, but at least we're in the system and we have a fallback in the event that nothing changes until then. The doc gave his opinion that she was probably a fussy eater with food aversion (!). But increasingly I feel that DD may very well have tongue tie - and now I've been Googling these things and attempting to look in her mouth, I fear she may also have lip tie. When I tried to view inside her mouth she wouldn't open up, but ended up having a little cry, which allowed me to take a quick peek. But the thing that stood out that I hadn't noticed before (because she chews her fists when she cries..) was that she doesn't lift her tongue when she cries, it lies flat on the base of her mouth, which I now know is a classic symptom of tongue tie.

My husband has a famously short tongue, and thinking about this topic, I asked to peer into his mouth (!) and he has a very obvious tie under his tongue at the back - and of course this condition is genetic, so that increases the odds of her having it aswell. He was bottle fed as a babe, so his mum wouldn't have experienced any issues with breastfeeding, but he is a twin, and was always the smaller of the two (don't know if his twin also has it...).

My only concern now is that if she does have tongue tie (and now all evidence weighs strongly towards that possibility) is that it will take a long time to get her seen and treated, which will prolong the feeding issues (both breastfeeding and offering solids). Going to make lots of phone calls on Monday morning to try and find out how we can try to speed up an appointment with a HCP who deals with these things and get her seen to asap. Will just have to carry on as we are at the moment and hope things come together quickly.....

Can a babe do ok with an untreated lip and posterior tongue tie?! What issues/challenges are we likely to face if she has these but they remain untreated for a while?!

Thanks in advance.

Ugh sounds frustrating.

Is going private an option? You may find you wait ages for the ENT appointment only to find them equally clueless.

If I knew back when DS1 was a baby what I now know about tt, I would have gone straight to one of the dentists who offer laser revision. Except nobody was doing it back then.

There are currently two dentists who trained with Dr Follow offering private laser revisions. It costs a few hundred quid but they also do lips if deemed necessary and do not put the child uunder GA.

We did a 400 mile round day trip to have DS1 revised after a local 'expert's failed to revise it properly.

These guys are dentists and would also be able to comment on oral structure - palate shape and the like.

After what we went though with DS1 until he was revised aged 6yo, I would stress the sooner the better!

Argh Flipping tablet and auto correct

Dr Kotlow is what I meant to say!

Yes, in the back of my mind I'm concerned that the referral to ENT will take ages and they won't know what to do either, and then so much time will have elapsed which still make things harder....

However, I've been making phonecalls and sending emails, and have got a varied response: the local paediatrician & neonatologist, who specialises in tongue tie and breastfeeding issues, responded to my email saying 'babies of this age are not affected by tongue tie' and that it must be something else. I sent the same email (word for word...) to a lactation consultant who performs tongue tie revisions and whose response was, 'those symptoms are certainly consistent with tongue tie, we should take a look and assess her'. Two totally different responses from two 'experts'. I'm a bit peeved to be fobbed off without even the suggestion of an assessment by the consultant. Maybe since I enquired about the route for an NHS referral he didn't want to deal with me as he wouldn't get the extra money if I went privately... Anyways, I digress...

I've been reassured by a local breastfeeding peer counsellor that the local lactation consultant (that I've seen before) specialises in this area, so will try to see her this week and get another opinion.

Our Girl may just be difficult. But she may have tongue tie, and I want it to be ruled out as soon as. The lactation consultant I've spoken to will assess and revise (if necessary) for about £150, which is well worth it if it resolves the issue.

Btw, can I ask which dentists these were that you referred to?? Do they have an age limit for revisions - would they revise a tie in an 8 month old??

Thanks!!

I post lots about DS1, sorry if I've said this already!

We went private to a paed surgeon who had previously been in charge of the tongue tie clinic. I chose him because I thought he would be an expert. He assessed ds1 by asking him to stick out his tongue and declared "no, he's not tongue tied". At that point, I should have walked. It was obvious that he didn't know/understand/believe/whatever in posterior tongue tie. But I was desperate and we paid £££ to go ahead with revision under GA. It worked as in it was freed enough to stop the reflux that ds1 was having, but he had not cut deep enough to release the entire frenulum. Bear in mind, this was an "expert". They are not all equal!

So, several months later, I took ds1 to Huddersfield to be revised with laser by John Roberts at the Cote Royd Dental practice. He did tongue and lip and gave advice on the orthodontic problems that were already apparent (age almost 7yo). He also told us of a dentist locally (we live 200miles from Huddersfield) and we have been able to seek the best help for ds1. No exaggeration, it has changed his life enormously.

The other dentist is Malcolm Levinkind in North Finchley. I took ds2 to him recently for assessment (we were in the area anyway, I didn't travel 800miles round trip for appointment ). DS2 is also tied (tongue and lip) but has had very few problems compared to ds1. Dr Levinkind didn't revise ds2 because he thought the ordeal might be too much for him weighed up against the possible benefits which were minimal. It's not to say that he might need it done in the future, but I was happy with his assessment for now and actually pleased that he didn't just go ahead and do it anyway and take the £££.

So, either of these dentists would be able to help you with diagnosis and treatment if it is necessary. Last I heard, John was only doing under 1s and over 6s, so if you were going to him, you would need to see him sooner rather than later.

Just wondering about your local lactation consultant. You've seen her before, presume for breastfeeding probs? Did she check for tongue tie then? The important thing to remember is that every case is different. I would be wary of any "expert" that makes sweeping statements about ties in general without assessing the particular set of problems relating to each individual. Ahem, like the first guy you mention