Tongue tie?

Bootsie327 · May 2014

So I've been having some BF struggles...initial baby weight loss followed by really slow weight gain, painful latch, lots of short cluster feeding...so I went to see an LC at the hospital yesterday. She gave me a lot of good tips, but she also looked in his mouth and said it seemed he had a slight "tongue tie" which could be hampering his latch. Has anyone experienced this? She went on to tell us about the quick corrective procedure they could do to fix it, but me and DH were skeptical because we have never heard of this. If you have any experience and wouldn't mind sharing, that would be awesome!

ajsweeton · May 2014

My niece had this. I went with my sister when they fixed it. It basically involved her holding the baby while the doctor cut the extra skin under the tongue with scissors. Baby cried for a minute, but we gave her the paci and she was fine.

LittleAngel09 · May 2014

My two week old had it. He was 80% tongue tied, which we had to have snipped at two days old. It really affected his feeding and I lost the skin on both nipples.
Since his procedure we've both been much better. X

SurprisePartySue · May 2014

I had the exact same problem to a T. But I couldnt concider the procedure cause they cut the piece of skin under their tongue. It just seems too painful to me. We ended up FF. (We had a lot of other problems also)

On a side note she still had trouble latching onto a bottle. I took her to a chiropractor for her acid reflux and he noticed her pallet was farther back. He moved it forward and I noticed she does better with the bottle now. So I can't help but wonder if that would've helped with her latch during bfing. Wouldn't hurt to look into it.

Bootsie327 · May 2014

Thanks guys! I appreciate it! Apparently the hospital uses a laser rather than scissors which heals faster. She said it's 10x less invasive than a circumcision which we already got, so it really may be worth considering.

tbiscuit18 · May 2014

My LO was born with a complete tongue tie. The pedi clipped it when he was 1 day old. He has had no problems with latching, feeding, etc. and had no issues prior to having it clipped. We did it as a precaution for breastfeeding. In our case, it's genetic, as myself and many others in my family have had to have their tongue clipped.

The procedure was quick, and he didn't even cry. They use sugar water to distract and then immediately gave him to me to nurse.

lavendergiraffes · May 2014

FYI my dh was and is tongue tied and it doesn't just affect them as babies. He got his cut when he was born and it slowly grew back over the years. He can barely extend it past his lips and has trouble speaking clearly sometimes. Basically he stumbles over his tongue especially when tired or drunk. :-) Not huge problems but still.

whitehousem · May 2014

Yep, we had our twins' frenulums clipped to correct tongue tie. The procedure took two seconds and they assured us it doesn't hurt ( virtually no feeling in that piece of skin). One of them didn't even cry. There isn't even a recovery period and it can help latching right away and be much better about a week after. Tongue tie can affect speech later, so it's not just to help BFing. Check with your insurance to see if it's covered. Theirs weren't even that bad but I'm glad we took care of it. Ask for a referral to ENT (ear nose and throat).

KBowen715 · May 2014

Your friendly SLP says snip the tongue as young as possible. Feeding will improve and lessen the likelihood of speech impairment later.

Bootsie327 · May 2014

Thanks again, everyone!

Lbarron915 · May 2014

Our son had this as well. They clipped it at 1 day old in the hospital, and we have had no issues since. I was really nervous about the procedure, simply because it sounded so painful, but they ooh him out and brought him back within 10 minutes, and he wasn't crying, there was no blood, and it was like it never happened.

Sam0905 · May 2014

jsquaree said:
I think this is interesting, because we have 2 pediatricians (partners at the same practice) who both mentioned a possible tongue tie with DS, but also say it's over diagnosed with lactation consultants. Our main pediatrician said he had never even heard of it during his residency, and has only recommended clipping in one other infant over his 12 years practicing. Both of them say it'll stretch itself out eventually, and neither have mentioned anything about speech problems in the future.

This is my experience as well. My son has some problems nursing, and both my LC and SLP said he may have a tongue tie. My pedi took one look in his mouth and said she wasn't concerned at all - that tongue tie has been a "hot topic" among LCs. She said over the last year, every single one of her patients who goes to a LC was told their baby had a tongue tie, but none have actually needed a frenulectomy. She warned us that if the LC recommended we have our son's clipped, to not do it. We are working with a speech therapist who has prescribed us mouth exercises to do with LO to improve his nursing. It's hard to know what's right to do when we receive so much conflicting information.

RachelCA29 · May 2014

The lactation consultant at the hospital mentioned our son had a slight tounge tie, but I was wary of blaming issues on that at only 3 days old. When we went for a follow-up this week we saw a different LC specialist and she mentioned it but didn't really think that was the issue with his latch (he will only latch with a nipple shield at this point). She said his main issue is that he sucks on this tongue at the back of his mouth to soothe (his arm was broken during labour so it's likely he started it as a soothing behaviour).
The LC gave us some suck training activities to help him extend his tongue forward when sucking. I do it before each feed for a few minutes and he is already off the shield on one of my breasts. I think my other breast has really fast flow so that is why only latches with a shield.
I've heard from a few health professionals that tongue ties seems to be a bit of a quick fix answer that LCs are recommending currently, but many times they stretch themselves out, and/or can be corrected in ways other than clipping.

ThereBeDragons · May 2014

I am tongue tied. It severely impacted my mom's ability to breast feed (I basically skinned her nipples and she gave up after several weeks of pure misery) and I had a minor speech impediment as a child which was corrected (by way of speech therapy) when I started taking singing seriously in my teens.

As an adult it's an interesting thing to know about myself, but it hasn't affected me in any meaningful way since correcting the speech issues.

E has a very very minor tongue tie which the hospital pedi declined to clip as it doesn't appear to be a breastfeeding impediment. And after a few weeks of BFing, I concur- her latch is fine. She's just a lazy/fussy nurser.

jenb_99 · May 2014

FWIW, I had my tongue clipped when I was 18, full grown and fully aware of pain and capable of remembering it, and it didn't hurt even as badly as a burn from hot coffee and was completely normal by the next day.

bumpuser10194737 · May 2014

I had mine clipped as a baby and my mom said I ate so much better after. I would never know I had it done now if she hadn't told me.

caycelee · May 2014

We had my DS clipped and it improved BF so much! He didn't cry at all when they did it and we were in and out of the ETN office in 15 minutes. He had a medium case we were told but it got so bad I couldn't BF him in the hospital and had to manually express milk and supplement formula the first 3-5 days to get his weight up. Hope that helps!

Nmooney1 · May 2014

DD is 16 days old. When she was 13 days, I took her in to get her lip tie lasered. We had latch problems, my nipples were scabbed, she was cluster feeding, not sleeping, still wasn't up to her birth weight). As soon as her procedure was done I attempted to nurse her in the car. She latched on with out my assistance and it didn't hurt! It was amazing.
If you are on FB, search for the page
"Tongue Tie Babies Support Group".
It's amazing the amount of info on there. There are a few Drs that also frequent the page and answer questions.

Want a personalized experience?

Tongue tie?

Re: Tongue tie?

Choose Another Board

Search Boards