Tongue-Tie..?

[SassyMummy]

Yesterday, while getting her 12-month immunisations...the Midwife asked me a strange question.

"Did you breastfeed?"

I wanted to reply with, "Huh?" but instead said, "For a bit, yes."

She then commented that DD has tongue-tie...so breastfeeding was probably difficult.

I was shocked. I never knew DD had tongue-tie. (It's where that fleshy bit under your tongue is joint almost to the tip of the tongue...making it hard to move the tongue very much).

DP had to have his clipped when he was a baby...because he also had it. DD is 1, and it's only NOW that I've discovered it, so I'm wondering if anyone has a bub with it...and if so, is there any reason to get it looked at?

I don't want to get DD's tongue operated on if it's not necessary...of course, I will ask a doctor about it...but I just wanted to know if anyone had a similar experience.

[EskimoMumma]

My DS had tongue tie. IT was noticeable at birth. He had the operation at 3 days old. If left for long it can cause speech difficulty when older. All it is simply a snip of that bit of flesh. But that was as a baby, not sure if thats the same as a 1 year old as 1 year old is more likely to go :eek: at the sight of the tools and run.

I would suggest speaking to your GP about this and about the effects of it.

[Jenko]

My DD is tongue tie. They used to snip them at the GP years ago, but now it's surgery under anasethic (sp?)

I found out when DD was 2 weeks, i had drama's breastfeeding, managed to bf combined with ff for 5 months. With a nipple shield, she just couldn't latch on.

My GP advised me to wait and see if it affected her speech as it does not affect all kids. So far her speech seems fine (she's only just started really talking though and alot of it is toddler jumble) We will wait, and if it does seem to affect her speech i will get it snipped then. If she does need it done, i will do it before she starts school.

I think there a varying degrees of tongue tie. Jenna can stick her tongue out but she definately has the heart shape tongue. I haven't seen enough of them to know how severe hers is and my GP wouldn't give her opinion, as the tongue can stretch as they get older (or something like that:laughing: )

[maddysmama]

Hi

My bub was born with a tongue tie which I picked up straight away simply because it was so severe...her tongue was completely tied down to the bottom of her mouth. She looked like she had a lizards tongue because when she tried to poke it out it went forked!:D We had it corrected at about 3 weeks old, where the doctor simply snipped it. There was one drop of blood and she didn't even cry. However for an older baby, I think anesthesia is used??

I think most doctors now don't advocate to do anything about it, particularly if it isn't severe and if you hadn't noticed it, sounds likely your bubs isn't. The most common 'side effects' (sorry can't think of better term) are feeding difficulties and possible speech problems later on. The reason we corrected our bubs was simply because she had so much trouble feeding, even with the bottle, and I was worried about her speech development. If hers wasn't as bad as it was we probably would have left it. I have known a couple of people over the years with tongue ties...with one friend I never would have known if she hadn't told me.

I can give you the name of a doc in Brisbane who specialises in it, he is at Mt Gravatt.

[SassyMummy]

Wow...quick responses! Thanks ladies!

I think I had a quick check when she was born...because DP had it...but I couldn't see anything.

We DID have difficulties feeding...but I just thought it was my milk supply being slack. She would feed for AGES but never seem to be satisfied. As soon as I switched to the bottle, she was fine...so maybe the problems with breastfeeding weren't to do with supply at all!

I googled it...and had a little read...but DD DOESN'T have the heart-shaped tongue tip...which is probably why I had no idea.

She can also stick out her tongue (just the other day, she leant in for a kiss...and stuck out her tongue last minute and licked my mouth - gross!).

I will get it looked at, and see what the dr says.

I have no idea about language problems yet...she's only saying a few things here and there...just babytalk really.

Thanks again!

[MummyCharmzy]

My DD had tongue tie and it was not picked up at birth even tho she couldnt move her tongue, after a few weeks of her tearing my nipples apart we finally got to see a lactation consultant who spotted it straight away and sent us to a paediatrician. At 5 weeks old she got it snipped, no tears whatsoever! Its a TINY little snip and didnt bleed or anything!

The paed that did Bella's said he doesnt understand why ppl would hesitate to get it snipped when its so quick and easy and can help with breastfeed and help prevent speech problems.. which by the time they're picked up could take years to correct or a few seconds snipping the tongue tie could have solved it :)

One of the first things i asked when DD2 was born was if she was tongue tied but no way, shes got a longgg tongue that pokes out all over the place, if it had have been tongue tied too I would have got it snipped in hospital!

Its all personal choice though of course,Goodluck with your decision :)

[xkwzit]

There are various degrees of tongue ties.

Both DD1 and I have tongue ties. It did make feeding her a bit tricky, but we perservered and overcame those problems. It also doesn't worry us in terms of speech either - but ours aren't serious versions. Neither of us had it corrected.

I would wait and see, you might not need to do anything about it.

Cheers

[daisyxs]

hi,
my sister has a severe tongue tie, ie. she cant poke her tongue out past her lips :laughing:
she's now 20 never got it snipped and has had no problems whatsoever with speech of eating ( except when my older sisters used to stick the lolly grubs on her top lip where she couldnt reach them):laughing:
daisy

[2littleprincesses]

I am tongue tied but not severly. Found out when I had to roll my tongue for a song when I was in the school choir in yr 3. When I poke my tongue out it rolls down just past my lip and is as others have described as heart shaped.

Also wanted to get my tongue pierced but was told I couldn't as is, would have to have it clipped.

[reAllytee]

Boof had a tongue tie which is why he was able to cut open my nipples & do all the damage he did.
It was snipped by the paed at 8wks of age from memory. It was done in seconds he didnt like it at first so cried then realised he could move his tongue lol so that then became his fascination for the next month !
We chose to do it because family friends didnt pick up their son's TT until he was a lot older when he was having difficulties talking & had anger issues. The anger subsided once he was able to communicate.
If it had been picked up early enough i wouldve dealt with it straight up so i didnt have all the damage done to me.

[Jenko]

I was told by the lactation consultant at the hospital and also by my GP that it was now done as surgery under general anisethic. If it was offered as a simple snip i would have considered getting it done then as i had trouble breastfeeding. My nipples were shredded!!

I think a small snip would be less traumatic than surgery later on. But i guess as others have said it doesn't always cause problems.....hmm comes down to personal choice and options offered i guess.

[EskimoMumma]

I have to say that DS got his tongue tie snipped at 3 days...and i still had very bad problems breastfeeding. Weird.:eek:

[Sarak7]

Hey i was toungue tied when i was little, couldn't poke my toungue out at all, and couldn't talk properly.
They ended up clipping my toungue.

[Ky]

My ds is severely tongue tied and it wasn't noticed until he was 18 months old as I had thought that he was p[erfectly normal and just took after me! Turns out that I am severely tongue tied too and I didn't find out until I was over 30!

Ds didn't start talking until he was over 2 - didn't even say mum or dad and as I was a bit worried I took him to speech therapy. It turned out that he was just not ready to talk yet ... by the time the appointment came around (only a couple of months later!) he was talking better than most other kids his age:eek: . He does, however, have a problem with chewing and being unable to shift food around from side to side in his mouth and he will have to have his tongue tie snipped for this reason ... I have to contact a specialist and get him on the waiting list.

As for breastfeeding ... well, I couldn't feed my dd due to her having an unusually high hard palate and when ds just looked at me as if to say "what do I do with this thing in my mouth???" I resigned myself to yet again expressing for a few months then onto formula.

Personally ... I wish my tongue tie had been found when I was a baby and snipped ... it makes some actions very uncomfortable. It is embarassing to only be able to poke it out a little (almost to the outside of my lips, almost!), getting (for lack of a better expression) "tongue-tied" over certain sounds and words, being unable to "roll my r's" and licking icecreams is really painful!:thumbsdown:

The paed did say that over the early years, often a childs tongue tie will split itself through the usual childhood mouth injuries and DS has proven this to be right as his tongue will now go past his lips, but he still needs to have it snipped for eating reasons. Hopefully when he gets his adenoids out (to cure sleep apnoea) they will snip his tongue at the same time.:yes:

[Mischief]

Sassy - Have you spoken to your Dr yet? I'm curious as to what he or she says. Oliver has a tounge tie too, but every time anyone has looked in his mouth no one has said anything about it...and I have felt really stupid bringing it up. (might do it this week at CHN).

I have heaps of probs breastfeeding too, along with having emotional issues with BF, I also had OLIVER problems too.....he would feed for 2 hours then still scream cause he was starving! Its been a dream since I started expressing.

Oliver has a little tie that is attatched to his gum...his tounge isnt heart shaped and he moves it around a fair bit, but its definately there!

[jessgray]

i was toungue tied as a child and no dr actually agreed with my mum till i was in grade 3 at age 7 :(
i had the operation in grade 4 and havent looked back :D
my brother calls my tounge a bum crack lol it isnt shaped like everyone else's lol

[squishysmum]

We are getting DS checked out in a week or so for mild tongue tie, but not inclined to do anything about it. I am having some trouble with BF but some of the time it is fine so i suspect it is about incorrect attachment rather than his tongue tie. Speech problems are not a given, they may or may not occur. The only other possible problem as told by a friend who is an ENT specialist is difficulty shifting food around the mouth, from the teeth etc. This can eventually lead to problems like cavities. From what i gather they used to snip as a matter of course, now they take more of a "wait and see" approach. Also i believe the tongue grows from the tip, so for mild cases the difficulties can decrease as the tongue gets longer.
Funnily enough they only two people who noticed it or raised it were lactation consultants and that was because of the possible impact on BF.

[SassyMummy]

Thanks for the new replies!

Mischeif...I haven't seen the doctor about it yet...by the time I actually had time to go, it was the weekend and no drs were open (well, some might have been...but not MY drs anyway...). Yesterday I went out to lunch to meet a friend's new bf...and today I'm just...well, I've been out the past 3 days and just want a break. I may go tomorrow and ask. Either way, I plan on going before the weeks end.

Will let you know what happens!:thumbsup:

[Mischief]

Stacey - I saw my CHN today and she said Olivers tounge tie is fine. Its just a mild one and he will grow out of it. :D

[squishysmum]

Further to my previous post on this, we took DS to paed surgeon today for an assessment. He described it as moderate TT (we thought it was mild) and was ready to snip it there and then!:eek: We weren't expecting that, and decided to go away and think about it after reading some articles on the subject. The Dr's emphasis was on the BF aspect but we feel that is only an issue up to a point (and since he doesn't have to put up with the pain/discomfort, DH doesn't think it is an issue at all for only a few more months!:laughing:. Our bigger concerns are the possiblity of speech problems or oral hygiene problems later on. The articles we read were not conclusive.
If we do it now it would be a snip with no anaesthetic. if we wait to see if problems develop later, it is then done under general anaesthetic. I guess we need to think about it a little more...:confused:

[jojojojojojo]

Does any one know of side effects to tounge tied op as my 6 yr old has just been diagnose...Even though she didnt latch (midwife never picked it and said i wasnt feeding her properly) properly from day one and i was always bleeding...for the past 2 years been tryig to get diagnoses as she has delayed speak. Doc finally agreed she was tounge tied and wants to operate...can anyone tell me of risks/side effects???