Tongue and Lip Tie - To clip or not? - Page 3

[GoGoGirl]

Originally Posted by Pookietooth

Would anyone actually diagnose a tongue tie officially in a six year old anyway?

Totally. When we took DD to the ENT to get her tongue clipped, the doctor looked at mine and DH's tongues. DH is very, VERY tongue tied. She was so excited about his tongue tie that she literally chased him around the office trying to convince him to let her clip it.

We asked her if insurance would cover a tongue tie clipping for an adult even though he doesn't seem to be affected by it. She said that she would just diagnose it, and insurance usually covers it as a "quality of life" issue. I would think that if the tongue tie was affecting speech, they would be even more likely to cover it.

[Panserbjorne]

yup. If you can (or rather have a doc able to) diagnose speech, sleep, dental, swallowing or breathing issues insurance will generally cover it.

[maryjane]

Quick update: About a month after the clipping, her nursing had gone from extremely painful to slightly less painful back to extremely painful. She was very tense all the time while nursing, and her jaw was like a vice. I tried to find someone else locally to look at her tongue, without luck. At the same time, I called my m/w for her recommendation on a CST. The woman that she suggested I see is also a chiropractor (as a pp suggested).

We saw her for the first time on Monday and she was wonderful! : I still don't fully understand what the CST is doing, but I know that the change in DD's nursing has been dramatic. She even stuck out her tongue, ever so slightly, but passed her lips! We went again today and the therapist worked on a couple other issues. DD had definite tightness in her TMJ and palate issues as well, which have both been helped by the CST. I can feel such a big difference in how she holds her mouth now.

We'll follow up again next week, but I am very optimistic. I really want to thank everyone for the recommendation to see a CST. Her little tongue is still very "short" and I can see that the tie is very broad-based, but I'm hopeful that CST will help us overcome these issues -- from a different angle.

[Panserbjorne]

wonderful news! I'm so excited for you. This is precisely why I tend to say if you are going to clip you need CST. It makes all the difference in the world. Glad that has been the case for you.

[cyclamen]

I just want to follow up and say that DD had a second TT revision about a month ago. Her latch is still not "perfect" so I occasionally have some pain and compression, particularly if we are nursing while sleeping, but she is nursing SOOO much better and I have almost no pain. We don't need to use the nipple shield either. It's great!

She's become a bit of a fussy nurser but everyone assures me that it's developmentally appropriate (and the fussiness is waning) and she is gaining lots of weight, so I don't think that has to do with the tongue tie.

So take heart mamas! It can get better.