should I get his tongue clipped?

[Oliver'sMom]

Hello,

I have a 7 week old with tongue tie. He isn't completely tongue tied...it looks just like this http://forums.llli.org/showthread.php?t=72851

He was 9 lbs at birth, and yesterday weighed in at 13 lbs so he's gaining well. My nipples are slightly tender but nothing terrible at all. He's pretty gassy, but I don't know if that's just due to his age or if he's swallowing air when latched on due to his tongue tie.

My question is should I correct his tongue tie even though it doesn't really seem to be causing any problems at this time? My only concerns are that it may cause speech issues later on, or maybe affect my supply since he doesn't have a perfect latch. My supply is perfect now.

I'm just not sure! WWYD?

[PatioGardener]

I would get it clipped if that was my baby. I worry about supply issues in the future. I had a doc lined up to clip if needed before my baby was born - of course that meant he wasn't tongue-tied!

[Addie]

That's tough, but I'd probably get it clipped. When I was getting a consult about my son's tongue tie, my ped said that there weren't any studies showing that clipping a tongue tie could cause speech problems, though there were plenty of cases where not clipping it led to problems... I didn't do much research to that end, though, because I was in a lot of pain! But my DS was gaining well and I had crazy supply, so it wasn't obviously a problem. Still, we got it clipped, and things got better. FWIW, my DS's tongue tie was much more obvious than that on the picture you linked; it was connected right at the tip of his tongue, giving the classic heart-shaped appearance when he yelled.

Can you get an opinion from a pediatric ENT specialist? Personally, the procedure was such a piece of cake that I wouldn't hesitate to have it done if our next child looked tongue tied.

[mamaof5boys]

My oldest gained weight well, but didn't have a very good latch. It caused lots of breastfeeding pain and problems for me for about the first two months and as he grew it got better. My son did have speech problems though, and when he was 5 years old had to go under general anesthesia for surgery that could have been done a lot easier when he was a baby. In hindsight, I wish we would've done it when he was a baby and just gotten it over with. Good luck! I know it's so hard thinking about doing that with a LO!!

[ShwarmaQueen]

I'd get it clipped also. My supply started plummeting at 6-8 wks because DS wasn't able to stimulate my supply. Then I had to pump pump pump, take More Milk plus, and other things to revive my levels.

There is no benefit to keeping the frenulum tight, as there's no job that it performs. And something else to think about, they don't sedate small babies to do the frenectomy (it's quick and nearly painless) but they do sedate older, stronger babies/toddlers to perform the procedure.

[chellebee]

I'd also get it clipped. I have had mama friends who didn't clip the tie and ended up having problems when teeth came in. What was a minor tie ended up being a big hinderance once there were teeth to cover.