Tongue Tie correction in toddler

thetwinkies&Vivi

DD1 has a short/tight lingual frenulum. We've known about it since birth,but her pediatrician was in the "wait and see camp." At birth,she was unable to latch properly which in hindsight,probably contributed to her FTT. She has been in ST for a month now,and shows no improvement.

She can bring it to the sides,but not to the top. Her therapist has suggested correction at this point as it affects speech and eating.

Does anyone have experience with this We plan to consult with the ped surgeon first.

Sorry for any errors,I'm mobile.

edilo

Lurking: We had DD's tongue clipped right after the doctor identified it during her newborn exam. (The procedure was done when she was 8 hours old.) While she was significantly younger than your LO, the procedure didn't bother her at all - I was surprised, actually. Since I'm a speech therapist, the doctor (a family practictioner who is certified in peds and OB) allowed me to watch the procedure and it was super quick, and hardly bled. DD stretched out her tongue as far as she could immediately after the lingual frenulum was clipped and visibly relaxed; she didn't cry at all.

I would guess that your LO would have a general anesthetic due to age, but the tongue (and mouth) heals VERY fast and recovery should be quick and relatively easy. Good Luck!

mommytoconnor

I had my son's done at around 9 months old.  It was done by a peds ENT.  The surgery was quick and recovery super quick.  It took the doc almost as much time to scrub in as it did the actual procedure.  My son ate solid foods that night and never had anything more than tylenol for like two days. 

zoeyandsummersmom

In a very similar situation. My dd is 17 months old is FTT has huge oral aversions and because of this ended up with a g-tube. She has the same range of motion in her tongue - cannot bring it to the top to say la or da. 

We saw an oral surgeon who recommended waiting as she has already had 2 surgeries.  However, given her history we are anxious to get this done. I contacted Dr.Kotlow, who is a leading tongue tie specialist, he's actually a dentist. He does it in his office without general anesthesia and using a laser. We are thinking about doing it as he isn't that far from us. Either way, I want to do it. If we don't do it and she continues to have issues, I am always going to wonder if we should have done it. If we do it and her issues persist, at least I will have known that we have tried everything.

I have heard it is a 1 minute surgery if you go through a regular pediatric surgeon. 

We are going to talk to our daughter's neurologist, who is really our sounding board for any of these big issues, and make a decision next week. Good luck.  

Yellow79

dcmetrobride:

In a very similar situation. My dd is 17 months old is FTT has huge oral aversions and because of this ended up with a g-tube. She has the same range of motion in her tongue - cannot bring it to the top to say la or da. 

We saw an oral surgeon who recommended waiting as she has already had 2 surgeries.  However, given her history we are anxious to get this done. I contacted Dr.Kotlow, who is a leading tongue tie specialist, he's actually a dentist. He does it in his office without general anesthesia and using a laser. We are thinking about doing it as he isn't that far from us. Either way, I want to do it. If we don't do it and she continues to have issues, I am always going to wonder if we should have done it. If we do it and her issues persist, at least I will have known that we have tried everything.

I have heard it is a 1 minute surgery if you go through a regular pediatric surgeon. 

We are going to talk to our daughter's neurologist, who is really our sounding board for any of these big issues, and make a decision next week. Good luck.  

 

We took my daughter to Dr. Kotlow when she was 3 weeks old for her posterior tongue tie. She was able to latch again immediately. I had to pump prior to taking her because she was able to latch but not stay on. Needless to say I was in a ton of pain!

The procedure was about 5 minutes start to her being back in my arms. She slept on the way home and had no issues healing.

I do not regre doing it at all and I think I would've had I waited. She moves her tongue all over now.

Yellow79

dcmetrobride:

In a very similar situation. My dd is 17 months old is FTT has huge oral aversions and because of this ended up with a g-tube. She has the same range of motion in her tongue - cannot bring it to the top to say la or da. 

We saw an oral surgeon who recommended waiting as she has already had 2 surgeries.  However, given her history we are anxious to get this done. I contacted Dr.Kotlow, who is a leading tongue tie specialist, he's actually a dentist. He does it in his office without general anesthesia and using a laser. We are thinking about doing it as he isn't that far from us. Either way, I want to do it. If we don't do it and she continues to have issues, I am always going to wonder if we should have done it. If we do it and her issues persist, at least I will have known that we have tried everything.

I have heard it is a 1 minute surgery if you go through a regular pediatric surgeon. 

We are going to talk to our daughter's neurologist, who is really our sounding board for any of these big issues, and make a decision next week. Good luck.  

 

We took my daughter to Dr. Kotlow when she was 3 weeks old for her posterior tongue tie. She was able to latch again immediately. I had to pump prior to taking her because she was able to latch but not stay on. Needless to say I was in a ton of pain!

The procedure was about 5 minutes start to her being back in my arms. She slept on the way home and had no issues healing.

I do not regre doing it at all and I think I would've had I waited. She moves her tongue all over now.

Assembly_Reqd

Do it.

My nephew, who is 20, did not have his tongue clipped because the pedi did not think it was necessary. He always had a slight lispy speech or like he had a marble in his mouth. He recently got it clipped and now he is going to and OT to learn how to swallow correctly. The way he learned to swallow with the tongue tie is f-ing up the thousands of dollars of orthodontia work done to his mouth.

thetwinkies&Vivi

Thank you all for the advice. I do wish we had pushed to have it done sooner.

Dcmetrobride,good luck with your daughter.